no more Pierce ISO in the 4th

[Red2]

back when we were a losing team Pierce was the go to guy every nigh. During the winning streak Pierce's numbers were actually down a bit and his lack of scoring was a big topic of conversation. ray Allen was shooting well and rondo was scoring but Pierce's numbers were off. Starting with the Laker loss Pierce started scoring while rondo and ray stopped. In addition during the losing streak we have been running the Pierce ISO as our main offense down the stretch of games. It's not working! What happens is the other guys stop moving and if Pierce doesn't score then we get nothing out of the possession. I put this on Doc more than Paul;. Paul has demonstrated that he is willing to pass the ball but it's clear than the Pierce iso offense is the sign of a desperate team because our usual ball movement offense is not working. So if Pierce only scores 12 today and we win that will be a good sign

[BillessuR6]

I actually disagree. When we are down in a close game that is our best play, IMO. He is by far our best offensive player and he should have the ball in his hands. The problem is Rondo is in the game as well and that is why it doesn`t work. Pierce should be the playmaker with Ray and House/Pruitt on the wings waiting for a pass if he is double teamed...

[canman1971]

I agree and disagree. Certainly Pierce is our best offensive player, and it does work and he is clutch. But, there seems to be a point where when in this play, he gets tunnel vision. He loses sight of other defenders and either disrupts his rhythm or turns it over. The Celtics best offensive play is ball movement. When they do this quickly, they get good looks. If Pierce posts his guy at the top of the key in an ISO, they always double him. He needs to recognize this and hit the open man and the open guy needs to hit a freaking open 15-20 footer. I mean, it appears to me that so many teams have these guys and our guys are not spot up shooters, Ray Allen excluded.

[Cyclical]

The only reason we've gone back to PP Iso plays is because nothing else has been working. When outside shots are no falling and Rondo is not penetrating the Celts are at a loss. It pretty much HAS to be Pierce in isolation for them to get anything going on offense. It's happened in at least half of the games in last year's playoffs as well. PP and Rondo often pick & switch so Paul winds up with the opposing PG guarding him - it's a smart and effective play. Problem is, nothing else has been working. When outside shots are falling everything else seems much easier.

[SuigintouEV]

The ideal play would probably be KG deep in the post with time to reset.

But the main problem with that is double teaming because of Rondo and inability to get the ball inside because of House.

[PPAW4Life]

I think Pierce does recognize the double teams from the post the problem is this year his outlet pass is not Posey in the corner....it's either

Scalabrine

or

Tony Allen

and they both are terrible 3 point shooters!

I think there are times where PP is over passing and those passes get picked off or deflected resulting in a turnover. Pierce needs to get the ball on the move more or he needs to run some more pick 'n rolls with KG.

[Bad-Thoma]

When Paul is forced to ISO and try to carry our team on his back it's an indication that our offense has stalled more than anything. I think the thing that has stood out the most during this rough stretch of basketball is the amount of standing around on both sides of the ball by the C's starters. When the offense moves and the ball moves we get an amazing amount of open looks for Paul, Ray, and KG, all people that should never get open looks from a defensive POV.

[Al-Haqq]

Pierce is the only reason why we were close in some of the losses and won some of those games. We actually tend to lose because we can't score a basket, oddly enough it's when we go to someone else but Pierce is when our offense goes bad.

e.g - Portland game. Pierce got us back into it. We're down 3pts, so we go to House who misses the 3-pointer. We lose.

I've been saying it for a lil while now, we, if anything, under-utilise Paul Pierce by not going to him enough when he's clearly got his shot stroking.

[armageddon]

The poster is absolutely correct.

The PP iso is plain stupid anymore. It kills the offense. Same with the low post in the middle of the lane lob pass to PP which doesn't work anymore. There are times for it like when he has a good mismatch, or the shot clock is getting short, but not to start and end a 24 second possession. This was a large part of why we've been losing. PP iso's and a complete stagnation of their passing offense. Also, once RR give PP the ball he becomes useless.

I also absolutely hate that we can play great team passing offense for 11 and a half minutes of each quarter, then we have to run a PP iso for the last shot. I'm willing to lay money down that we only convert about 25% of these. Just run a damn play. We're about the last team in the league that still does this. The MJ days are gone.

[GuyClinch]

Go back and watch the finals.. A bunch of losses and we have the old disregarded ideas brought back to life. PP won the finals using ALOT of ISO's. ISO's work in the NBA. They aren't going away. People have been beating that drum for ten years now and if you think differently you better be wearing a ring to back up YOUR theory..

[goulardi]

Go back and watch the finals.. A bunch of losses and we have the old disregarded ideas brought back to life. PP won the finals using ALOT of ISO's. ISO's work in the NBA. They aren't going away. People have been beating that drum for ten years now and if you think differently you better be wearing a ring to back up YOUR theory..

Good ball movement, getting it into the hands of an open man works better than YOUR theory.

[Red2]

I'm not saying that we can't run a Pierce ISO. What I'm saying is that it can't be your only offense because it kills ball movement, leads to turnovers and allows the other team to set their D. We won the game yesterday with a Pierce ISO so obviously there is a time and a place for it just not all the time. When we resort to giving Pierce the ball every time down the court then you knw our O is in trouble

[sully00]

We aren't running an isolation play. While Paul is being isolated were are not clearing out the side of the floor he is on or even trying to do this. As Cyclical pointed out, when teams switch on the pick and pop and get Pierce a mismatch obviously Paul Pierce on a 6ft point guard at 15-17 ft is our best match up. The problem is with Ray, KG and Rondo all struggling it is like the old days were teams don't switch they double. Until yesterday Ray and KG have allowed themselves to be single covered and that should never happen but they are in a funk. Rondo is struggling wide the hell open and no one on our bench can knock down anything outside 5 ft and we couldn't even do that against TOR.

Your blaming the symptom not the illness. The over relying on Pierce and yesterday Ray because everyone else is sucking it isn't what is making everyone else suck. We are running the same offensive sets the results are different because teams are able to pack the paint instead of defend man to man. When they are going good those same pick an pops free Pierce to take it right to the rim and go to the line.

Obviously the guys on this team are capable of flat out playing better. But they also may have to look around and find another offensive option. One may be the guy that Posey essentially replaced for NO and that is Jannero Pargo, who is rumored at least to be looking to get out of his deal and comeback stateside. I think a big man or at least a combo forward might be a better fit but something is missing.

[MasterRyu]

Just like some have said, the only reason we're resorting to ISO with PP is the regular Celtic offensive hasn't been working. So instead of moving the ball around and creating open shots for people who would miss, going to a hot PP would be the better option. Once the outside shots start falling and Rondo starts cutting the opposing defensive a new one, then the PP iso is not needed.