This sums most of it up

[leper-con]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2 ... aws_080503


Great article but this is the tame national medias version. The problems in my opinion are greater. I'll add it later.

[Spud34]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=celticsflaws_080503


Great article but is is the tame national medias version. The problems in my opinion are greater. I'll add it later.

Pretty much sums it up.

[SonicYouth34]

Sadly it does...

[MaxwellSmart]

"Here's the weird part: Once the Celtics fouled Bibby, Rivers never put House back in for Rondo. He didn't have a timeout, but when Bibby missed the first three throw, it was clear a 3-pointer was what Boston needed, and that's House's specialty. Instead, Rondo had the ball at the end for a desperation triple that missed."

That's what I was thinking at the time----Rivers became a spectator at that moment,not a coach---but,even the real spectators knew House should've been brought in.....Rivers can't coach his way out of a paper bag.

[campybatman]

See, this is why I don't understand why fans get on the case of Pierce and him wanting to take the last shot. His shot selection is of a different topic. Still, Pierce is indeed the go-to guy on this Celtics team and every team no matter good or bad has to have at least one player willing to take on this type of responsibility in a given game. You can't shy away or defer to someone else. You must be the one. You must be the captain to go down with the ship. Your teammates either sail or sink with you. I mean you'll win some and you lose some if I may sound clich

[leper-con]

And now for the rest of the story.


1.The bench players have failed us on the road.
2.Rondo played tentative.
3.PP must be hurt otherwise he has been non-existent this whole series.
4.KG ain't clutch.
5.This teams reserves are being exposed as second rounders. They lack nba athleticism and length.
6.As a collective our D is good but individually it is poor. (this is being exposed)
7. Ray is a shell of himself and i can't figure out if it is his fault or the coaches.
Now to the coaching problems:
1.irrational substitutions.
2.offensive confusion. with 3 twenty point scorers we shouldn't be sputtering this much.
3.WE never stay with the hot hand. We fail to establish a hot hand.
4.Lack of an Alpha do leads to the tentative mess we have seen in Atlanta. If the game is close in Boston we re doomed. This team has struggled in close games all year.
5.Poor adjustments both on offense and defense.
6. Doc lacks game composure and does radiate confidence when his team needs it. In fact he panics.


Now the FIX:
This team needs to be the aggressor, it needs to attack the rim and force the refs to make calls. They have been the tentative team and are not controlling the game.
TA needs to play as he attacks the rim with abandon and can defend JJ one on one.
Change in strategy, let JJ get his points just cover everyone else.
Rondo needs to attack the rim and penetrate for kick out. He also needs to do what he did th first two games when everyone wrote endless articles about him. Shoot the rock, get your swagger back.
PP needs to attack the rim.
Ray needs to attack the rim.
KG needs to attack the rim.

[Fencer reregistered]

I didn't see Pierce's lack of aggression -- he fouled out for a reason.

I didn't see Rondo's lack of aggression -- he was doing the same things he did in his more successful games, just with a slightly lower success rate.

KG is simply NOT as good a shooter or scorer as we'd want him to be.

The big men have to be better at closing down paths to the basket. What is their problem?? They all have proved many times over they know HOW to do it. But except for Powe, they're doing it very inconsistently at best.

[3pt %]

The aggressive doubling on JJ left a massive hole on the baseline, and then JJ hit a great 3 and a tough couple of FT.

We need to put Posey on JJ and keep our normal D.

/2 cents