Category Archives: Hardwood Houdini

It Was a Good Day: Rajon Rondo and 27 Years of Triple-Double Ephemera

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Celtics 100, Bobcats 89. Rajon Rondo notched the 26th triple-double of his career (including postseason) with 17 PTS, 12 AST, and 10 REB. He is now tied with Clyde Drexler for the eighth-most triple-doubles since 1985-’86, which is as far back as Basketball-Reference’s game log database goes.

It wasn’t the best triple-double of his career, nor was it the worst. It wasn’t even the most average. It was just kind of a standard, ho-hum, workaday triple-double.

Rondo is not quite the modern master of the triple-double, but he is close. Since 2006-’07 (Rondo’s rookie season), only Jason Kidd (34) and LeBron James (30) have logged more TDs. Number four on the list? Chris Paul…with 11.

The next time Rajon tallies 10, 10, and 10 of some things, he’ll move into a tie with none other than Michael Jordan for the seventh-most triple-doubles (regular season and playoffs combined) since 1985-’86. Now is as good a time as any to relive the unmitigated glory of Rondo’s frequent merciless assaults on the stat sheet, or at least the somewhat notable ones.

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This Is Not A Photograph: Boston Celtics Screengrab Scrapbook

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October 30, 2012
Game 1: Boston Celtics (0-1) at Miami Heat (1-0)

Screengrabbing season kicked off on opening night with the instantly infamous Snub Heard ‘Round the World.  Kevin Garnett’s hilarious rebuff of Ray Allen’s petition for skin-to-skin contact (copyright Tas Melas) had hoops “commentators” and “analysts” from coast to coast falling all over themselves in a maniacal scramble to see who could wave the banners of good sportsmanship and common decency most gymnastically.

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Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks: The Boston Celtics’ Week in Review

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The following can also be viewed at Fansided’s Hardwood Houdini blog.  Scope ‘em out — if you dare.

Welcome to the Hardwood Houdini’s “Boston Celtics’ Week in Review!”  In our inaugural installment, we relive the hideous majesty of the Celtics’ 1-2 season start, blow by heinous blow…

Don’t Have to Like You

October 30, 2012
Game 1: Boston Celtics (0-1) at Miami Heat (1-0)

“Don’t have to like you if you’re my man
Said I’m gunning for you ’cause I know I can” –The Pack A.D.

The Boston Celtics returned to the spot of the dashing of their 2012 Title hopes Wednesday night and, after watching their most hated rival[1] hoist a banner and unwrap presents, got their season rolling with a 120-107 loss to the defending champs.

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The 50 Greatest Players to Never Make an All-Star Team, Part III

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Welcome to the third installment of the Hardwood Houdini’s series on the 50 greatest players who never made an All-Star team.  For the first installment, click here; for the second, click here.

Today, we look back on two players who headed the supporting cast on one of the greatest teams ever assembled.

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NBA Pacific Division 2012-13 Season Preview

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The following appeared on The Hardwood Houdini on September 12 as part of a series of division previews for the upcoming 2013 NBA season.  Click here, here, here, here, and here for the other five articles.

This summer, an incredible amount of player movement occurred within the Pacific Division.  At the time of posting, a total of 29 players had moved off of West Coast rosters, and a total of 27 had moved on to them.  Is that an incredible amount?  Maybe this happens every year.

The shifting around was especially noticeable as the impact of the sheer volume was compounded by the mega-wattage of the names involved.  An iconic point guard.  A larger-than-life center.  The husband from some TV show.  A world-renowned concert pianist.  A grown man named P.J.  It was the sort of offseason personnel whirlwind hoops fans scarcely dare to dream of.

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The 50 Greatest Players to Never Make an All-Star Team, Part II

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On Wednesday, our esteemed colleague Brett David Roberts ran the first installment of the Hardwood Houdini’s late-summer series on the 50 greatest players who never made an All-Star team.  Today, we continue the onslaught with three players who have next to nothing in common. Except, of course, that none of them ever made an All-Star team.

We kick off Part II with a player who even some Celtics fans might forget has his number hanging from the TD Garden’s hallowed rafters.

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Out of the Past: Orien Greene

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Part 1: Summer of ‘05

The Boston Celtics entered the 2005-‘06 season with the winds of a misguided optimism at their backs.  The previous season – the team’s second under the executive direction of former Toronto Blue Jays infielder Danny Ainge and first with head coach Glenn Rivers, Ph.D on the sidelines  – had been a surprisingly successful one.  Though they had muddled along at a sub-.500 clip for the better part of their first 50 games, the Celtics had taken first place in the Atlantic Division, finishing with a record of 45-37.  It had been their best regular season campaign since 2002 (49-33), and second-best since 1993 (48-34).

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The 25: The NBA’s Greatest Players, As Determined By Math

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Our editors here at the Hardwood Houdini recently asked us if we would be so kind as to compile a list of the 25 greatest players to have ever graced the NBA with the power and beauty of their play.  “Yes,” we said, and then with a suggestively-arched eyebrow and a dusky cloaking to our tone: “we’ll see what we can do.”

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Out of the Past: Ron Mercer

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Introduction: Nearly Seven Decades of Celtics’ Basketball in a Few Short Paragraphs

Through the first 47 years of their existence, the Boston Celtics were the NBA’s gold standard, the most accomplished, storied franchise that the league had ever known.  Between 1946 and 1993, the 2,322 regular season wins that they had compiled and 16 championship banners that they had hung were the most in league history, their .638 team winning percentage the best.  As of today, an incredible 26 of the 99 NBA players inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – players named Russell, Cousy, Heinsohn, Jones, Havlicek, Cowens, Bird, McHale, and Parish – have worn the green and white at some point in their career.

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Not This Again: The Dream Team vs. the 2012 Olympic Squad

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the dream team

Last week, our esteemed colleague Brett David Roberts, Esq. ran a piece pitting this summer’s Olympic Men’s Basketball team against the damn-near mythical ’92 edition, the one we’ve known from its inception as the Dream Team.  He stacked the two teams against each other position by position and went looking for the edges.

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