Pushing perfection
C’s are starting to sound a lot like the Patriots
NBA. Suddenly, the Celtics are turning into the Patriots.
Despite the fact the Green entered last night’s contest against the Nets with their first 6-0 record in 20 years, they’re still striving for perfection, even if they look like the NBA’s best team at the season’s early juncture.
In their first six wins, the Celtics have outscored their opponents by a league-best 16.33 points per game, more than six points better than the second-best team, the defending champion Spurs. The C’s are shooting an NBA-best 50.7 percent from the floor, and they’re holding their opponents to a league-low 39.7 mark.
But, that doesn’t seem to matter.
“You want to play hard, and you want to be perfect,” Ray Allen said. “Rarely is anything ever perfect, because all of us in our minds are perfectionists.”
“We probably would have had less turnovers in [a perfect script],” Kevin Garnett said after the Celtics’ 20-point win over the Wizards in the season opener. “Doc [Rivers] asked us how we thought we played, and we thought we played OK, not our best. We made countless mistakes. We turned the ball over, and at times we weren’t as patient as we should have been. We didn’t execute the way we know we can, so we still have some work. This is a work in progress. This is about the journey. We’ve got to take this one game at a time.”
Bill Belichick would be proud.
Turnovers have been an issue at times, though. The Celtics have averaged 17 per game in their first six contests, the 10th most in the NBA. Conversely, however, they’ve forced 19 per game, the second-most in the league.
They’re also trying to limit Rajon Rondo’s early foul trouble, and Rivers wants better execution in getting the ball to Allen when he works off screens.
Even when the Celtics had their starters in during the third quarter with a 30-point lead against the Nuggets last week, they weren’t letting up. They figure if they’re not getting better, they’re only getting worse.
“There’s nothing wrong with being good and beating up on your opponent because that’s what we did is beat our opponent,” Allen said after the win over Denver. “We don’t need to apologize for being good if we continue to push forward, and that’s the attitude we need to have every game.”