What was that sound that caught my sabermetrically-inclined ear in the runway before tonight’s game? Why it was George Karl, coach of the Denver Nuggets, talking about “efficiency.”  Or, more specifically he was talking about recently acquired Chauncey Billups.

Someone asked the question about whether the Nuggets gained anything from Mr. Big Shot’s championship-tested mettle and Karl responded with some wonk about possessions and the like. In other words, Karl went from a question about an intangible to describing a tangible.

“(Billups) is a very efficient player,” Karl said. “He’s not going to be on SportsCenter (intangible). His efficiency is geared toward winning the game (tangible). It helps the coach. It helps the game’s flow.” OK, those last parts were intangible benefits of a tangible, but you all get the drift.

Let’s slow down and talk about what all this means. Read the rest of this entry »

All five members of the Boston Celtics starting lineup will be named to the 2009 All-Star ballot today, presented by T-Mobile. The ballot will be unveiled today during a special kick-off ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins are all up for spots on the Eastern Conference team. The Big Three participated in last year’s game (Allen was a replacement for Caron Butler) while Rondo and Perkins have never been named to the team.

The All-Star Game will be held February 15 at the US Airways Center. Voting will begin on Thursday, November 13 and run through mid-January. This season fans will be able to cast their votes in every NBA arena, online at NBA.com in several different languages, and via cell phone.

When Jermaine O’Neal looks at Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, he can’t help but get frustrated.

Very few can do this in just one season.

Garnett and Allen were able to hit the ground running in their first season with the Boston Celtics, starting off 20-2 en route to the first NBA Championships of their career. For O’Neal, his debut season with the Toronto Raptors has anything but a joyride.

“It’s been kind of a roller coaster for me,” he said. “And it’s been hard.”

This summer O’Neal was traded to the Raptors from the Indiana Pacers, a year after Garnett’s blockbuster trade to the Celtics. The move paired O’Neal with dominating big man Chris Bosh and positioned the Raptors as an Eastern Conference contender. Like the Celtics, the Raptors united unfulfilled All-Stars in hopes of winning a title.

“You try not to base your career and your success off of somebody else’s,” O’Neal said. “A lot of people can say, ‘I want it to be like this,’ but it’s not necessarily like that. [The Celtics] definitely have put together a format on how to do it, for sure. Sometimes you’re not able to go that route. You’ve got to take another route and that’s the route that I’m on.”
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Once down by as many as 16 points, the Boston Celtics staged a fourth quarter comeback to beat the Toronto Raptors 94-87 on Monday night at the TD BankNorth Garden. Paul Pierce scored 22 points in the final 12 minutes alone and finished the night with 36 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Kevin Garnett added 21 points and 10 boards. Jermaine O’Neal posted 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors.

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Just passing along a few Celtics-related items…

It’s not that the C’s blowout loss in Indiana was completely unexpected. (The NBA: Where sleep-deprived blowouts happen). What is disconcerting is that this sort of thing never happened last year.

The Celtics were 8-0 in road games the night after home games last season, which reveals something about their A) Preparedness, B) Professionalism and C) Mental toughness. I’ll be curious to see what happens Tuesday against Houston, but if getting run off the floor against a mediocre Indiana squad doesn’t get their attention, nothing will.

After the jump, three more things while trying to figure out what to do if a Cheetah gets loose on your plane.

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Vinny Del Negro’s return to Boston is more than just a homecoming for the Springfield, Massachusetts native. Tonight the newly appointed head coach of the Chicago Bulls is going up against his former teammates in all levels of the Celtics organization.

“I played with Doc, I played with Danny, I played with Ray Allen,” Del Negro said before the game.  “So to come back and see those guys is great. I’m just happy with their success last year and for all those guys.”

Here’s how it breaks down:

1988-90: Teammates with Danny Ainge on the Sacramento Kings

1994-96: Teammates with Doc Rivers on the San Antonio Spurs

1998-2000: Teammates with Ray Allen on the Milwaukee Bucks

Celtics fans rose to their feet as Brian Scalabrine made his regular season debut with 1:07 to go in the first quarter. He subbed in for Ray Allen. The “Scal-a-bri-ne” chants started immediately, as imagined. Scal showed a new side to his game at the end of the quarter. Rather than settle for outside jumpers, he attacked the lane before dishing it off to Leon Powe who drew the foul.