CelticsBlog analyzes Rondo’s free throw struggles

“Rajon Rondo needs a sports psychologist to help him get over his free throw blunders”

The headline is sure to draw anybody’s attention. If you’re not a big sports fan, it might be downright confusing. Some view psychologists as the means to solve seemingly more “important” personal existential crises or relationship problems, not someone to talk to when your shots aren’t falling down.

However, there is a field within psychology geared towards helping athletes analyze their performance, and I completely agree with the thesis of this blog post written by CelticsBlog contributor Kevin O’Connor. Rajon Rondo is a miserable 9-28 from the free throw line this season. That’s 32.1 percent. Even Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard – infamous for their incompetence at the line – shoot over 50 percent from the charity stripe for their careers. Why can’t Rondo do the same?

Photo uploaded by Ben Parker to sport-kings.com

It’s an interesting question to ponder. Rondo is a career 61.5 percent and 64.7 percent foul shooter in the regular season and the playoffs, respectively. While still terrible numbers (and even worse when you consider that he’s a point guard and it’s usually big men who aren’t great free throw shooters), they are nearly twice as good as his percentage this season. What’s even more puzzling is that Rondo actually can shoot, as this 2010 video demonstrates. There he is, a 25.6 percent career three-point shooter, going shot-for-shot against career 37.7 percent three-point shooter, 88.2 percent free throw shooter, and four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant.

I think that video is cold, hard proof that O’Connor is right. In last night’s game against Chicago, Rondo had the chance to give the Celtics the lead with a minute remaining. The score was tied 102-102, and Rondo stepped to the line. What happened? He bricked the shots, of course. I hate to say it, but this surprised no one. After the game, Rondo acknowledged that he’s thinking too much about his free throws.

Therein lies the problem. I’m not going to compare to myself to a multiple-time NBA All-Star, but to present a better picture of this phenomenon; I’m going to use an example from my own life. The summer after I graduated high school, I was playing much better basketball than I ever had. Long story short, I tore my meniscus and have never been the same. During some particularly painful years, I couldn’t even play because of the pain. My love for the game wouldn’t keep me completely out of it, though, so I had to come up with a way to quench this thirst that could also let my competitive juices flow. What I ended up doing was going with a friend or two to the court and shooting 100 free throws. One of us would shoot 25, then it would be the other’s turn. We still do this occasionally, and sometimes I even do it by myself just to see how many I can make.

I have written down how many of these shots I’ve hit every time I’ve done this, and my lifetime average is about 80 percent. Although I would like to make every single one of them, I’ll take the 80 percent, because my objective is to always hit at least 20 out of 25. Even if setting this goal for myself is what keeps me motivated to shoot, the problem is that thinking about it while I’m performing the task can be extremely distracting.

Let’s say that one day, I start off 10 for 15. When that happens, I can’t help thinking, “I’ve already missed five, now I need to make 10 in a row or I won’t get to 20.” That’s pretty much the worst thing you could possibly do, because thinking about missing will only increase the chances that you actually will. In fact, one of the most common things I’ve noticed during this free throw drill – even when my friends shoot – is that when we’re hot (let’s say we’ve made about 15 consecutive shots) and miss one shot, we most likely will miss the next one as well. Why does this happen? Perhaps a sports psychologist has the answer.

I’m positive that the same thing is happening to Rajon Rondo. Granted, he’s always been a bad free throw shooter with less-than-ideal shooting mechanics, but his performance this season has been more than atrocious. I once read that external factors (such as the noise from the crowd, fatigue, and the pressure of the moment) contribute to players’ free throw percentage being about 10 percent less in games than it is in practice, and that makes sense. In fact, I bet that if Rondo and I were shooting together in a gym, he’d get better numbers than me. Considering that he’s not even making a third of his shots right now (while I routinely make about four fifths of mine), this might be hard to believe, but Rondo is a world class basketball player and I’m a half-decent weekend warrior, at best. This is precisely why his average is so embarrassing right now – millions of people who have never played a second of professional basketball are probably shooting better from the free throw line than he is.

He’s not the only one for whom this has been issue. In early 2012, a leaked photo from the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice facility perfectly illustrated this problem:

The Lakers’ free throw percentage went down an astronomical 20 percent in game situations, with Dwight Howard suffering the largest personal decline. Look at Howard’s numbers again. He can’t even make half of his shots during games, but in practice, he’s better than me!

This gives weight to the theory that guys whose free throws issues have already been documented are particularly susceptible to further decreases. I hope Rondo sees a sports psychologist before it’s too late, because the Celtics have been blowing a lot of games lately and the first month of the season has just passed.

Mark Murphy: hard work and dedication

In the era of ubiquitous blogging and of fiery talk shows like “First Take” and “Pardon the Interruption,” one might assume that all sports reporters are larger-than-life personalities who teeter between being charismatic and obnoxious. Sports fans are so adrenalized that it’s not uncommon to see their fervor rub off on commentators, and some of them thrive on this particular brand of ostentatious reporting.

Nevertheless, not every sports journalist out there fits this description. Mark Murphy, the Boston Celtics’ beat reporter for the Boston Herald since 1988, is living proof that one does not need to resort to cheesy histrionics to achieve success in sports journalism. Don’t let his calm demeanor fool you, though; Murphy is an extremely passionate reporter who feels a profound sense of gratitude towards his profession.

“I’m very lucky. Writing is what I do well, and when it comes to newspaper work, some of the best pure writing opportunities are in sports. I’ve also covered some great teams, like the KG-era Celtics,” he said.

A 1978 graduate of Suffolk University, Murphy parlayed his bachelor’s degree in journalism into a lengthy career that has also seen him cover the Boston Red Sox, the UMass Minutemen, and USA Basketball. Along the way, he has come across every kind of character one could think of in the sports world. From the very private Kevin Garnett to the extroverted Shaquille O’Neal, and from the reserved Avery Bradley to the attention-demanding John Calipari, Murphy knows the value that reading personalities offers to the beat reporter.

“You have to ask tough questions, but you’ve got to be friendly. You can’t be hostile. Some guys want to get stuff off their chest, and if you approach them as non-confrontationally as possible, they’ll answer it,” he said.

This easygoing approach to human interaction led him to become close to players such as the notoriously quiet Robert Parish, whom he describes as “funniest guy in the world” and someone who “would talk about anything.” Even Kendrick Perkins, famous for his ever-present scowl and tough-guy demeanor on the court, is the “greatest guy in the world, just phenomenal,” according to Murphy.

However, this does not mean that he can’t be critical when he needs to be.

“You have to remember that you’re there to do a job and not to be a fan. It’s a very important distinction to make. I did a story on Jared Sullinger the other day where I was talking about his attitude last year, and you have to write that his attitude sucked,” he said.

Although he is able to be objective in his writing, Murphy is still a Celtics fan at heart. The subject of Ray Allen’s departure from the team in 2012 appeared to be a delicate one, especially considering the fact that he named Allen as the one player he became particularly close to.

“Well…I didn’t want to see him go…but, you know…I had to…you know, he didn’t like some stuff that I wrote when he left,” he said.

“Like what? What did you write?” I asked.

“Uh…his motivations for leaving, you know? He obviously wasn’t doing it for the money, because he took less to go to Miami, and he had issues with Rajon Rondo. He was in denial about the effect he had on Celtics fans. He thought they respected him still; he just didn’t want to admit to himself that he was persona non grata, or at least not to the media,” he replied.

When Allen left the team, Boston sports fans felt a similar sense of betrayal to when Johnny Damon left the Red Sox to sign with the New York Yankees. What shocked people the most was not that he left, but that he went to the Miami Heat, the Celtics’ most recent rival. Murphy summed up the feelings of every Celtics fan with one brilliantly succinct phrase that simultaneously demonstrated his ability to interpret specific situations and his love for the team:

“He could’ve gone to the Lakers and it wouldn’t have been that bad.”

Statements like these reveal Murphy’s attachment to the Celtics and his devotion to his work, and this has endeared him to his coworkers and drawn him closer to his family. Adam Kurkjian, an editorial assistant at the Boston Herald, praised his hands-on approach and availability.

“Mark simply makes you a better writer and reporter. He’s very detail-oriented and he brings out the best in you. If you have a story or feature idea, he’s really good at helping you flush things out,” he said.

Murphy has also had a profound influence on his daughter Emma, a journalism major at the University of Vermont.

“I always thought it was so cool that my dad covered sports for a living. I love to read and write, which my parents really encouraged growing up, and my dad has always been there to give me advice. What he’s taught me has really helped me to figure out what I want to do and has helped me grow as a journalist,” she said.

Even when his reporting duties become challenging, Murphy remains unruffled in the face of adversity. He admits that getting the most withdrawn players to open up can be a daunting task, but he persists until he gets the material he needs, even if it doesn’t come directly from the source.

“Some players can be really difficult to cover. You just gotta keep going back at ‘em. After a game, you gotta be there at their locker, even if he doesn’t want to talk to you. Hopefully, over the years you develop other contacts with these players – high school coaches, all the people in their agent’s office, family members. Sometimes they’re going to tell you more about the athlete than the athlete himself,” he said.

According to Murphy, the key to getting interview subjects to open up is being able to speak to them privately.

“You try to get guys alone, because they’re going to be less likely to answer tough questions in a room full of reporters. In these days, with so many different websites and blogs popping up, it gets more difficult to get a guy alone. It’s easier to do it when you’re traveling, because when you’re on the road, the crowd isn’t there.”

The constant traveling that comes with sports reporting results in a hectic schedule with irregular hours, and Murphy joked that his wife likes to stress that it’s a great job for a single person. Despite these complications, he always makes sure to check in with his family.

“When I was in high school, my mom and I tended to oversleep, and regardless of the time zone he was in or how much sleep he’d gotten, my dad would make sure to call us every morning to make sure we were up. I also played field hockey, and so long as he was home he made sure to be at every single one of my games. Given his busy schedule, I think it’s pretty great that he chose to spend his limited free time watching a high school field hockey game. Not many people would do that!” said his daughter Emma.

Indeed. The world needs more people like Mark Murphy.

Today was a good day

To the average hoops head, the NBA offseason feels like an eternity. We love basketball so much that not seeing it played at the highest level for a few months is enough to make life a lot less interesting. I personally can’t do it. Whether it’s watching FIBA tournaments or clips of old games on YouTube, I always get my summer hoops fix. Still, nothing compares to the thrill of an 82-game NBA season stretched out over six months.The well of NBA-relate material never runs dry from November to April; there are tons of games to watch, a lot of story lines to follow, endless debates to have with friends, and a vast amount of stats to read. This particular season is more special to me than most of the previous ones, because now that I live in Boston, it’s the first one in which I can actually go and see the games in person. In fact, just today I printed my ticket for the Celtics’ season opener against the Nets.

As if things couldn’t get any better, it turns out that Rajon Rondo might actually play in the game. His recovery has been running ahead of schedule, and he just got through his first full-contact practice since his mysterious injury. I was feeling a little bummed out when he got hurt; not only for the selfish reason of not getting to see him play after I had already purchased the ticket, but because it was a meaningful setback for this up-and-coming team. This news today is therefore twice as sweet. If he comes back ahead of time, the team will be in a better position going forward, and I’ll also get my money’s worth on Wednesday. I can’t wait!

P.D.: Sorry for quoting Laker fan Ice Cube in the title of this post, but that song is a rap classic, and as my blog post illustrated, it truly was a good day. I also bought a fantastic book about The Beatles in Barnes & Noble (with a 15 percent discount), so you can imagine how happy I am.

Don’t Look Back, Part II

(Continued from Part I)

This series meant a lot to me for many reasons, but two in particular stood out above the rest: my love for Rasheed Wallace and my hatred towards Kobe Bryant. Everything about Kobe screamed insincerity, from his blatant co-opting of Michael Jordan’s moves and body language to the phony “street” cadence he inflected in his speech. “Sheed”, on the other hand, was never afraid to be himself and always spoke without a filter. Even if his attitude occasionally hurt him and his teams, I admired his authenticity. The fact that three of my five favorite players since I started following the NBA closely in 1999 were Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen (Allen Iverson was second only to Rasheed) only added fuel to the fire. I needed to see them beat Kobe again and shatter his dream of winning back-to-back titles as the leader of his team.

After five games, the C’s looked good with a 3-2 lead in a highly competitive series, but everything came crashing down (no pun intended) when Kendrick Perkins suffered a knee injury in the early moments of game six. Clearly distraught by this unfortunate turn of events, his teammates were unable to focus on the task at hand and the Lakers comfortably tied the series. Boston still had one more chance to beat L.A., but it would be considerably more difficult to contain seven-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum without one of their best rebounders and interior defenders.

Kevin Garnett (5) goes up for a jump shot against Pau Gasol, while Kobe Bryant (24) looks on. Photo (cc) by Eric Kilby and published under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.

Driven by pride and a sense of urgency, the Celtics came out swinging. The sheer bliss I felt during the first three quarters of this game was similar to the one that every Puerto Rican shared on August 15, 2004. The Celtics were sharing the ball and working hard defensively while Kobe was forcing the issue and missing almost every shot he took. Lakers fans were not only watching their team lose, but their hero was tarnishing his legacy, perhaps irreversibly. There was a palpable silence in the Staples Center, but in San Juan, I was screaming my lungs out.

All of a sudden, everything began to fall apart. We started missing shots. Kobe and Gasol attacked the boards relentlessly. The C’s seemed to run out of gas right as the Lakers got their second wind, and the crowd went wild. How were we going to get out of this and regain control of the game?

To be continued…

Don’t Look Back, Part I

The very first thing I did when I bought “100 Things Celtics Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die” was check the date on the inside cover. I wanted to see when it was written because that would tell me whether or not it included my saddest moment as a Celtics fan: game seven of the 2010 NBA Finals.

As you can see, I haven’t stopped thinking about that game even four years later. I try not to – it hurts too much – but I can’t help it. It’s intrinsically human; even after all the wonderful moments in our lives, we always think about what could have been and tend to dwell on missed opportunities.

For those who might not know what happened in 2010, here’s a brief summary: after Kevin Garnett missed the 2009 playoffs due to an injury on his right knee, the Celtics met their biggest rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, in rematch of the 2008 NBA Finals which the Celtics won in 6 games). They were up by as many as 13 points in the third quarter of the deciding seventh game, but were unable to close the deal and the Lakers won the championship on their home court.

The Celtics’ roster that season was extremely deep. Six of their players were current or former NBA All-Stars. Rajon Rondo emerged as a dominant force after having played a complementary role in the 2008 championship. Rasheed Wallace was a dependable veteran with championship experience. Nate Robinson, Glen Davis, and Tony Allen provided youth and energy off the bench. Despite a rocky regular season that ended with the team posting a 50-32 record (after winning 23 out of their first 28 games), they began the playoffs on the right track when they eliminated Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat in five games.

After beating the Heat, the challenge that lay ahead was seen as an insurmountable one by many observers. Every single basketball analyst at ESPN predicted the Celtics would fall to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who boasted the league’s best record and its Most Valuable Player, LeBron James. Against all odds – and without the luxury of home court advantage – Boston beat Cleveland in six games and moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they defeated the Orlando Magic to set up the rematch with the Lakers.

Basketball fans around the world rejoiced. We had been waiting for this for two years, and now that Garnett was back, it was on. The teams were evenly matched, and their historic rivalry only added to the drama. Would Kobe Bryant get his revenge, or would the Celtics embarrass him again? We couldn’t wait to find out.

To be continued…