Stop passing the ball, KG

[Dirty Water]

Ok, KG played great overall last night. But I feel in crunch time he tries to be a hero and apss up open shots to try and get everyone involved. there was a specific play last night where he had an easy 5-6 ft. open jumper in the lane and he apssed it up to throw a bullet pass to Perk in the post. Not that Perk wasn't playing well, nor has he not proved that he is worthy of commanding the ball down low, but KG has to take the open shots.

His unselfishness was one of his problems in Minny and here we are seeing it. If he wants his number in the rafters and to win a title, sometimes he's going to have to turn that scoring mode into full-throttle - we all know he can do it. When was the last time he scored 30+. Not a knock on him, like I said he's a great passer but sometimes the game is dictating him to take it to the whoel or hit the open J and he will be relentless on finding a better shot. KG: if the other team is giving it to you.... take it. Simple as that. You are the man, be the scorer that you are able to be.

[wigglestrue]

How many players today, or ever, have been accused of excessive unselfishness as their primary flaw? How many players are criticized for not looking for their own shot enough? I'm pretty psyched to have Garnett and Rondo be two of that kind of player. It's not a horrible problem to have, I'm imagining it's much easier to tweak and fix than the reverse.

[Dirty Water]

You're right, if that is your flaw, this is a damned good team to be on with Ray and Paul as your supporting cast. I still think this flaw will come back and haunt him. It almost did last night. Speaking of which, KG isn't making a real name for himself in the 4th quarter lately either...

[UGA Hayes]

Look KG is a mixed bag in the clutch. I think his rep is unfair in that people act like he is never good in the clutch when he is. The biggest problem is b/c he is so pass oriented his bad clutch moments look like being scared as oppose to other players who TO or miss a shot and thus "wanted the ball" regardless of success. He has had several postseason games where he has won the game for us and several where he passed up shots he should take. It is what it is.

[GreenGrizz]

Oh man, I am glad you posted this thread. If KG were selfish, all Detroit bigs would have all fouled out. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce need to be wide open. I mean really wide not that narrow.

[ParticleMan]

It's amazing, Detroit is really playing KG for the pass now, like they do Rondo. They picked off like 3 or 4 of his passes last night. KG shouldn't pass unless he's doubled. Passing isn't always the smart play.

[GreenGrizz]

Look at Lebron. He makes 7 assists a game off selfishness. He just keeps on scoring until he sees one wide open.

[Dirty Water]

Oh man, I am glad you posted this thread. If KG were selfish, all Detroit bigs would have all fouled out. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce need to be wide open. I mean really wide not that narrow.

Are you high or something?

[tombattor]

How many players today, or ever, have been accused of excessive unselfishness as their primary flaw? How many players are criticized for not looking for their own shot enough? I'm pretty psyched to have Garnett and Rondo be two of that kind of player. It's not a horrible problem to have, I'm imagining it's much easier to tweak and fix than the reverse.

I don't necessarily agree that it's an easy thing to fix because we're talking about a players' personality. The Rockets have been on this with Yao for about 6 years now and even though he's become undoubtedly one of the top 5 bigs in the league, he still has trouble being assertive in certain situations.

However, I don't really see that as a flaw. You have to always assume that at this level where everyone knows how to play, that an open shot for a teammate is always better than a forced shot by you. If you remember last year, Lebron took a lot of heat for passing up the last shot in favor of a wide-open shot for a teammate. Looking back at it, how can anyone say that the choice he made was the wrong one? I think it's just a matter of critics looking for reasons for failure than looking at the process.

Do I wish KG would look for his shot more in some situations? Yes, but not at the expense of getting away from what's worked all year. KG is not just a scorer. He contributes in so many other ways and scoring is just a small part of what he does. Therefore, to judge him solely on whether he's willing to force up a shot is not doing him justice as a player.

[GreenGrizz]

Ghost of the Garden, have you seen him at Minnesota? He was most unstoppable.

[tombattor]

Look at Lebron. He makes 7 assists a game off selfishness. He just keeps on scoring until he sees one wide open.

Ha, Lebron selfish? In an offense, where he has free reign, how many players do you think will set up for his teammates the way Lebron does? And he only gets 7 assists or so because his teammates are trash and can't finish Lebron's set ups. If he had half-way decent teammates, he'd average 12 assists a game.

And while you think it's easy to dish 7 assists a game, look at Nash, one of the best pass-first PGs who has the ball in his hands about 95% of Suns' possession. He only averages 11 assists a game. And in case you didn't know, the Suns are one of the highest scoring teams while Cavs are one of the lowest scoring teams. So when you take all those things into account, you'll realize how good and unselfish Lebron is.

If he wanted to, he really can take 60 shots a game and no one in Cleveland will complain, yet he doesn't.

[Rondo_Fan]

I admit that there is something to this argument, but 1) WE WON, and 2) KG scored 33 points.

He's basically so efficient that he scored an invisible 33. Everybody thinks he played a crappy game last night. Unbelievable... He has been our high scorer in something like 15 of this year's playoff games.

Bottom line is, KG plays a winning brand of basketball. Sure, some people want to see offensive histrionics and chest pounding in basketball, just like they want to see home runs in baseball, but that isn't always what wins you games.

Remember the good old, bad old days of the Red Sox? We were a lot of fun to watch! Lots of big fat guys pounding lots of balls over fences, with no championships being won... I'll take today's brand of baseball in Boston, thank you very much.

And do you know how they say that infielders like to play behind a pitcher who works quickly? It keeps them in the game. They're expectant, knowing that the ball could come to them at any moment. Well, that's kind of what KG does to a basketball team. It's hard for guys to feel left out or take possessions off with KG on the floor, because he makes them a part of the team.

So, should he have shot a couple of those wide open looks last night? Maybe. But the positive tradeoff for the seemingly ill-timed passes is the way that we have approached team basketball this year. We are putting a team on the floor that everyone has bought into, where everybody is contributing, where everybody feels that they could get the ball at any time on any play. That's why we are where we are, basically.

Just as players stop running the floor if they know that they are not going to get the ball passed to them, they also stop moving in half-court sets if their star player gets a death grip on the ball each time down the floor. So KG is not necessarily hurting the team by passing up open looks. Far from it.

[tombattor]

Remember the good old, bad old days of the Red Sox? We were a lot of fun to watch! Lots of big fat guys pounding lots of balls over fences, with no championships being won... I'll take today's brand of baseball in Boston, thank you very much.

Great example. I'm sure you know which plays were the turning point of the Red Sox history as we know it. Not a gigantic grand slam or something.

It was walk by Millar. Stolen base by Dave Roberts. And a single up the middle by Mueller to tie the game.

The big plays may make the Sports Center, but every basket counts the same and at the end, it's the series of little plays that make the difference and not one big one.

[Dirty Water]

I for one wish to take the Brian Daubach&Trot Nixon dirt dogs/Nomar 3 throwing errors a game/2 stolen bases all season days of the Red Sox thank you very much

[doctaJ_92]

He scored 10 points in the 4th and the clutch ft's at the end. Although I agree with you he should be taking more shots its just in his makeup to be unselfish and try to get the other guys confidence up and trying to make them better. He does need to take his own advice though sometimes and just shoot it, but like others have mentioned, how many players in the league get ripped to shreds for their selfishness? If KG took like 26 shots last night he'd get ripped somehow.

[kmgarnett21]

i have been a HUGE fan of KG forever, like everyone here prolly knows.

& i AM very happy that he is such an unselfish player, but its started to be a fault of his. i agree. last night he coulda had 40+ points, but he passed up a few opportunities to score. especially when he was in the paint in the 4th & he tried to do a lil quick pass to PP which was stolen & ended up with a rip layup on the other end. SHOOT THAT CRAP KG!!!!

he CAN get 40 points, although most "experts" always says he's not one of those players, & the only reason he may not be one of those playrs is b/c he's so unselfish. i wish doc & PP & ray would let in to KG & tell him that HE's the man, if he's hitting like he was last night, he needs 20+ shots.

GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!

[drgonzo510]

Hey guys, Warriors fan here posting here because I really wanted to talk about this after last night's game. KG was unreal, and no one seemed to notice. All the buzz today is about Ray Allen's slumpbuster of a game and the officiating, but how many jumpers did KG hit last night as the shot clock went off? 5? 6? For every possession that one might complain he should have been more aggressive, there was an equivalent possession where he was bailing out his teammates with a superb one-on-one offensive play. Honestly, before the series started, I liked the experience of the Pistons against the star power of the Celtics, but if KG has a repeat performance next game, there won't be much the Pistons can do.

[GuyClinch]

I do think KG is clutch. Bill Simmons is wrong about him. Sometimes our entire team gets a little pass happy - and pass up perfectly good shots. But its preferrable to the alternative which would be a team of black holes much like last year's team.

Pete

[The Rondo Show]

I think KG has been pretty clutch, too. He's not exceptional in it, but he has hit more than his fair share of clutch shots for the C's this post-season. He's not a top 3 in the league type of clutch guy obviously, but he's also not this guy who completely folds under pressure and never comes through in the clutch like some try and make him out to be.

I think he gets a raw deal in terms of how clutch he is because he's never really won. People act like he is a playoff choker simply because he has had a bad supporting cast his entire career. There's been two years where he has had a legit title team and he took one to the WCF in '03-'04 before losing to a loaded Lakers team with a cast that really ended up being less than very good due to Cassell's injury and then this year, where we are now 1 win away from the finals.

You put a team around this guy and he wins, not his fault that he played for a franchise that had an awful GM up until now.