When we last left the Celtics, they had gone through the Texas Triangle at 3-0, for a combined 6-0 against the three Texas teams for the year.
But a fourth quarter let-down against New Orleans on Saturday night was understandable; tonight's meltdown in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Iguodala's much less so.
After letting the Sixers stick around for 3 quarters, the Celtics stopped scoring in the fourth quarter (just 10 points in the first 11:40 of the last period), and Iguodala punished them with 10 straight points (3 dunks, 2 FTs and a jumper) and led the 76ers on a personal 10-0 run against the Cs.
There's undoubtedly a let-down after the Celtics have effectively clinched homecourt advantage, and Doc Rivers experimenting with the lineup is also a factor. But despite the good work that the Celtics have done over the past six months, there's an unease in Celtics Nation on the eve of Red Sox Opening Day (albeit 8,000 miles away in Japan).
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Monday, March 24, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Who's Afraid of Texas?
Not the Celtics, who beat the Spurs on Monday night, and stopped the Rockets' 22-game winning last night.
The Spurs win was particularly impressive, as the Celtics dug out from both a 20-point deficit in the first half (the Spurs opened the game on fire) to tie and briefly take the lead in the third, and then a 7-point deficit with 8:04 to play in the fourth quarter.
KG, who kept Tim Duncan in check (10 points), dodged a bullet when he turned the ball over on the inbounds play with 2 seconds left after a Spurs score. Robert Horry missed the open 3 that would have won the game, even though the Spurs had a time-out to spare.
Last night, the Celtics dominated defensively, especially in the third, where they outscored the Rockets 32-16.
Back-to-back wins (on consecutive nights) without G Ray Allen means that the Celtics are sending a message to the Western Conference.
They are in Dallas tomorrow night.
The Spurs win was particularly impressive, as the Celtics dug out from both a 20-point deficit in the first half (the Spurs opened the game on fire) to tie and briefly take the lead in the third, and then a 7-point deficit with 8:04 to play in the fourth quarter.
KG, who kept Tim Duncan in check (10 points), dodged a bullet when he turned the ball over on the inbounds play with 2 seconds left after a Spurs score. Robert Horry missed the open 3 that would have won the game, even though the Spurs had a time-out to spare.
Last night, the Celtics dominated defensively, especially in the third, where they outscored the Rockets 32-16.
Back-to-back wins (on consecutive nights) without G Ray Allen means that the Celtics are sending a message to the Western Conference.
They are in Dallas tomorrow night.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Fuzzy Math in Texas?
At 9:48pm ET, CNN is reporting the following results in Texas:
Obama: 579,152
Clinton: 506,197
Total votes: 1,085,349
Yet, only 6% of precincts have reported results.
By that math, more than 18 million Texas Democrats would be voting in today's election.
The total population of Texas is 23 million.
Hmmmm...
Update: The consensus is that the early numbers reflected "early voting." Late deciders broke overwhelmingly to Clinton (61-38%).
Obama: 579,152
Clinton: 506,197
Total votes: 1,085,349
Yet, only 6% of precincts have reported results.
By that math, more than 18 million Texas Democrats would be voting in today's election.
The total population of Texas is 23 million.
Hmmmm...
Update: The consensus is that the early numbers reflected "early voting." Late deciders broke overwhelmingly to Clinton (61-38%).
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Where Did the 527 Go?
A week ago, it was announced (to great fanfare) that the Clinton campaign would soon be the beneficiary of an independent expenditure or "527" group, called American Leadership Project (ALP) in Ohio and Texas.
To date, there has been no news on whether the ALP has produced -- or aired -- any ads supporting Hillary.
The feel on the ground, according to NBC, is a 4-to-1 Obama advantage:
To date, there has been no news on whether the ALP has produced -- or aired -- any ads supporting Hillary.
The feel on the ground, according to NBC, is a 4-to-1 Obama advantage:
Obama's financial advantage: Watching local TV here in Ohio, it feels like Obama has a 4-to-1 advantage -- with SEIU, UFCW and Obama just blitzing the airwaves compared with Clinton. It's happening in all four states. In fact, per TV ad expert Evan Tracey, Obama has outspent Clinton $23 million to $14 million in the last 30 days. How is she expected to hold a big lead if she gets outspent this badly? The third party groups are like salt in the Clinton wound.Meanwhile, an email sent on behalf of Bill Clinton (asking for money), said:
[L]et's show the Obama campaign that they can't win this race just by throwing more money at it.Looks like ALP is MIA.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Hillary for...Majority Leader?
Somewhere in the warren of the Clinton campaign offices in Arlington, Virginia, a small office should be working on a contingency plan for Hillary's future -- one that does not involve the White House.
(For Hillary's sake, this office should be different than the one in charge of post-Super-Tuesday strategy, which has been disastrous, and allowed Obama to win 10 contests in a row. Symbolically, Hillary failed to seat a full delegate slate in the potentially key state of Pennsylvania, although that gaffe will be corrected thanks to the PA Governor (a Clinton supporter) extending the deadline. Oh, and her campaign was out of money after Super Tuesday.)
Hillary now has a choice to make. She ran the first negative television ads in Wisconsin (attacking Obama for failing to debate for the 19th time - a somewhat silly argument), raised specious 'plagiarism' charges, and opened herself up to a tough counterattack on "going negative.". Then she got thumped, both in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
In her "concession" speech, for the second week in a row, Hillary failed to congratulate Obama, or acknowledge her own supporters in the states that had voted. The former omission allowed Obama to step on her speech by walking out into the Toyota Center in Houston just 15 minutes after Hillary started - her retooled speech (complete with teleprompters for the first time this primary season) was lost to all of those who were not sitting in the Youngstown (OH) high school gym with her. (Obama's 44-minute stemwinder was the first rhetorical clunker of the campaign; however the net effect was to prevent any of the cable networks from covering Hillary.)
Tomorrow night's debate puts Hillary in a box: either sharpen the rhetoric, attack Obama directly, and drive her negatives up, which will accelerate the trend of male voters abandoning her for Obama. Or have a repeat of the Los Angeles debate, which helped Obama by muting the differences on health care and allowing an extended discussion of Hillarys Iraq War vote.
The Clinton campaign is still spinning a Hail Mary strategy of winning both Ohio and Texas, decisively, to turn the momentum around. The reality is that she is now fighting a two-front war, and her pre-Super Tuesday advantages -- name recognition generally, especially among early and absentee voters (who helped her hold off Obama in CA) -- is rapidly evaporating. (Early voting in Texas, for instance, began only this week.)
Another sign of a campaign on the brink: unauthorized leaks, like yesterday's one that Hillary was considering targeting 'pledged' (rather than super) delegates to close the gap with Obama. It was bad politics, reeked of desperation, and allowed Obama to again raise the theme of 'whomever-wins-the-most-pledged- delegates-is-the-rightful-nominee' that works to his advantage.
And if you doubt all of that evidence, the final piece to the puzzle was John McCain's victory speech last night: despite his own need to unify the Republican party (Mike Huckabee, with 36.9% of the Wisconsin vote, did almost as well as Hillary's 40.7%), McCain did not take the opportunity to mention Clinton's name; rather he referred to "an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history."
The truth is that Hillary was by all accounts, and will be, an effective Senator. She pays attention to details, gets along with colleagues, and understands the legislative process. Current Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid is 68 years old; current Majority Whip Dick Durbin has been a stalwart Obama supporter and could move up to an Administration.
She may not be the first woman President, but being first female Majority Leader would also be making history.
(For Hillary's sake, this office should be different than the one in charge of post-Super-Tuesday strategy, which has been disastrous, and allowed Obama to win 10 contests in a row. Symbolically, Hillary failed to seat a full delegate slate in the potentially key state of Pennsylvania, although that gaffe will be corrected thanks to the PA Governor (a Clinton supporter) extending the deadline. Oh, and her campaign was out of money after Super Tuesday.)
Hillary now has a choice to make. She ran the first negative television ads in Wisconsin (attacking Obama for failing to debate for the 19th time - a somewhat silly argument), raised specious 'plagiarism' charges, and opened herself up to a tough counterattack on "going negative.". Then she got thumped, both in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
In her "concession" speech, for the second week in a row, Hillary failed to congratulate Obama, or acknowledge her own supporters in the states that had voted. The former omission allowed Obama to step on her speech by walking out into the Toyota Center in Houston just 15 minutes after Hillary started - her retooled speech (complete with teleprompters for the first time this primary season) was lost to all of those who were not sitting in the Youngstown (OH) high school gym with her. (Obama's 44-minute stemwinder was the first rhetorical clunker of the campaign; however the net effect was to prevent any of the cable networks from covering Hillary.)
Tomorrow night's debate puts Hillary in a box: either sharpen the rhetoric, attack Obama directly, and drive her negatives up, which will accelerate the trend of male voters abandoning her for Obama. Or have a repeat of the Los Angeles debate, which helped Obama by muting the differences on health care and allowing an extended discussion of Hillarys Iraq War vote.
The Clinton campaign is still spinning a Hail Mary strategy of winning both Ohio and Texas, decisively, to turn the momentum around. The reality is that she is now fighting a two-front war, and her pre-Super Tuesday advantages -- name recognition generally, especially among early and absentee voters (who helped her hold off Obama in CA) -- is rapidly evaporating. (Early voting in Texas, for instance, began only this week.)
Another sign of a campaign on the brink: unauthorized leaks, like yesterday's one that Hillary was considering targeting 'pledged' (rather than super) delegates to close the gap with Obama. It was bad politics, reeked of desperation, and allowed Obama to again raise the theme of 'whomever-wins-the-most-pledged- delegates-is-the-rightful-nominee' that works to his advantage.
And if you doubt all of that evidence, the final piece to the puzzle was John McCain's victory speech last night: despite his own need to unify the Republican party (Mike Huckabee, with 36.9% of the Wisconsin vote, did almost as well as Hillary's 40.7%), McCain did not take the opportunity to mention Clinton's name; rather he referred to "an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history."
The truth is that Hillary was by all accounts, and will be, an effective Senator. She pays attention to details, gets along with colleagues, and understands the legislative process. Current Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid is 68 years old; current Majority Whip Dick Durbin has been a stalwart Obama supporter and could move up to an Administration.
She may not be the first woman President, but being first female Majority Leader would also be making history.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Alamo or the Battle of Wisconsin Heights?
There are already indications that the Clinton campaign is re-thinking its strategy of ceding Wisconsin to Obama.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported this morning:
Will the Clinton forces retreat to a last stand in Texas (shades of the Alamo) or try to duplicate the successful raid known as the Battle of Wisconsin Heights?
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported this morning:
After sending out mixed signals about its seriousness here, the Clinton campaign took several steps Monday that it said underscored its commitment to the Wisconsin contest. It launched its first TV ads, almost a week after Obama went on the air. It announced that former President Clinton will campaign Thursday in Wisconsin. It announced that Sen. Clinton will be in the state from Saturday night through Tuesday morning, the day of the primary.
Will the Clinton forces retreat to a last stand in Texas (shades of the Alamo) or try to duplicate the successful raid known as the Battle of Wisconsin Heights?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)