Let's Sum It Up: What Are the Problems?

[Cyclical]

Rather than commenting on 10 reactionary posts, let's try to sum up what has been hurting us so far, which at 30-6 is a fairly short list.

1. Ray Allen's Slump
Probably due to his ankle, then nerve injuries. Hopefully he'll be back to his old self soon. Currently, in stretches he's been hurting us more than helping. Sad to say, but I think it's true.

2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
The healthier Tony Allen gets, the smaller this point becomes. He has been a savior in big stretches lately (though he still scares the s#!t out of me when he dribbles in traffic. As long as Eddie and Ray are not shooting lights out they should NOT be our backcourt combination at the end of games -- IMO that's what lost us the Wizards game.

3. Lack of a solid, consistent bench big.
Pollard was decent for a short stretch but we haven't found a permanent resolution yet. If he's healthy and Big Baby keeps it up I'm less concerned about this point.


To me, that's it.

Everything else falls under the category of "bad game" or "bad game plan". The refs aren't against us; we don't need to trade anyone from our 8 man rotation; Big Baby shouldn't start; Perk and KG are still learning to play together; Pierce is mostly clutch and still one of the most versatile players in the league; the team and Doc are still learning about themselves.

Am I missing anything here? All gripes welcome, but please, keep your perspective - we're still a top team in this league.

[Datruth345]

2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
The healthier Tony Allen gets, the smaller this point becomes. He has been a savior in big stretches lately (though he still scares the s#!t out of me when he dribbles in traffic. As long as Eddie and Ray are not shooting lights out they should NOT be our backcourt combination at the end of games -- IMO that's what lost us the Wizards game.

just to elaborate on this point...i posted this earlier...but i'll post it again, because i'm trying to waste time at work

the reason we have lost 3 out of the last 4 is pretty simple to me

it has to do with rondo being hurt, there has been no "floor general" or anyone to handle the ball and more importantly set up the offense in the 4th

he didn't play a minute in the 4th quarter last night
he didn't play a minute in the 4th quarter of the first lost to the wizards
he played about 8 1/2 minutes against the bobcats...which is normal...so that loss i give to the bobcats


with Eddie House Ray Allen and Tony Allen all splitting the responsibility, it takes them away from there strengths, causing the offense to become stagnant like it did last night. I love Eddie house as a celtic, i love him as the spark plug microwave player, but not as my 4th quarter point guard. the offense becomes frenetic, disorganized, and extremely inefficient. we are being forced to take long jumpers at the end of the shot clock

if i have noticed this i'm sure danny has and he is working on a fix/tweak...it's good we learn these lessons now, so hopefully we are not forced to use house as out 4th quarter point guard in the playoffs...while it does suck we lost 3 out of 4 and the last 2 i am not generally concerned for the long run

[ParticleMan]

yeah, i think we're seeing just how important Rondo is. the Laker game was a fluke, the C's were just ready to play all around because of all the hype. otherwise, rondo gives us ballhandling and runs the offense smoothly like nobody else on our team can.

i'm not sure the answer is just to bring in another PG. i never thought GP was that good at running teams. boykins is a 5-3 SG. cassell would be useful but somehow he has to convince the clips to buy him out because we have nothing to trade for him. duhon would be another good pickup if we could pry him away from the bulls. but i don't see anyone available right now being able to help much.

[Celts17Pride]

The problems are pretty simple as far as I'm concerned.

Rondo & Perkins are fine but once one of them comes out of the game or if they are not playing the Celtics are in deep trouble and will get exposed in the playoffs.

The C's need a quality backup PG & backup C. The same problems as when the season started. Now maybe Big Baby, Pollard & Pruitt are the answers but you need to play them.

House & Tony Allen are nice useful players but neither one is a PG.

[return2glory]

He need a back up PG at can create easy baskets when Rondo is out. Rondi is good at getting to the basket and giving his teammates open looks. We have been missing that in that last few games with Rondo hurt.

[UGA Hayes]

2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
The healthier Tony Allen gets, the smaller this point becomes. He has been a savior in big stretches lately (though he still scares the s#!t out of me when he dribbles in traffic. As long as Eddie and Ray are not shooting lights out they should NOT be our backcourt combination at the end of games -- IMO that's what lost us the Wizards game.

I agree with this.

2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
The healthier Tony Allen gets, the smaller this point becomes. He has been a savior in big stretches lately (though he still scares the s#!t out of me when he dribbles in traffic. As long as Eddie and Ray are not shooting lights out they should NOT be our backcourt combination at the end of games -- IMO that's what lost us the Wizards game.

This too.

2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
The healthier Tony Allen gets, the smaller this point becomes. He has been a savior in big stretches lately (though he still scares the s#!t out of me when he dribbles in traffic. As long as Eddie and Ray are not shooting lights out they should NOT be our backcourt combination at the end of games -- IMO that's what lost us the Wizards game.

Woah, you are on a roll.

It doesn't have to be a PG either. It needs to be someone who can dribble against pressure and gets us into the offense relatively early.

[theman]

Scott Pollard got zero minutes against Washington in the two losses. Why?

I don't put this on the lack of a backup point, more a problem with coaching and team attitude, but we are not moving the ball well and players are not moving without the ball. Move, move the ball and get open for the easy shot. We are settling for way too many jump shots/3 pointers. Someone mentioned using Pierce are a point forward. I would rather see that responsibility go to KG.

[UGA Hayes]

Scott Pollard got zero minutes against Washington in the two losses. Why?

I don't put this on the lack of a backup point, more a problem with coaching and team attitude, but we are not moving the ball well and players are not moving without the ball. Move, move the ball and get open for the easy shot. We are settling for way too many jump shots/3 pointers. Someone mentioned using Pierce are a point forward. I would rather see that responsibility go to KG.

KG is a very poor ball handler, he hides it well, but it is true. In fact everything you said sounds like we need someone to handle the ball to resolve.

[MJallday59]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the past couple of losses. The Celtics are to a certain extent over achieving. To have this great of a record with a skim bench is incredible! Besides, before the season is out, you'll probably have Webber and Cassell to help out with your problems. So relax and enjoy the ride!

[cisco]

I think the #1 problem is coaching.

The last two losses were a direct result of Doc's awful coaching, imo.

[Banks2Pierce]

Yes. The lack of a second ballhandler is especially harmful if the only one that can handle the ball is hurting. Rondo's hurt and this team will be playing at a championship contender level again when he gets this injury bug settled.

[SuperDeluxe]

1. Ray Allen's Slump
2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
3. Lack of a solid, consistent bench big.

Spot on!

One more:

4. The fans.

[theGreatRC]

5.Tony to never bring the ball up.

[SuperDeluxe]

Here is Peter May's balanced analysis of the situation. The only stupidities:

...but what is keeping the Celtics from bringing in someone with experience to back up Rondo; in other words, a point guard?

What is keeping the Celtics from bringing someone? Number one, you don't know if the Celtics are doing nothing about it. Number two, who's available? Number three, what can we offer? Scalabrine and a future second rounder?

...why not thrust Gabe Pruitt into the mix? Isn't that why they drafted him?

May I link you to one of your countless articles about young players not ready for the limelight? Gabe Pruitt looks like a nice prospect, but for the time being he has that deer-in-the-headlights look during all his waking hours

[Jammer]

Rather than commenting on 10 reactionary posts, let's try to sum up what has been hurting us so far, which at 30-6 is a fairly short list.

1. Ray Allen's Slump
Probably due to his ankle, then nerve injuries. Hopefully he'll be back to his old self soon.

2. Lack of a secondary ball handler
The healthier Tony Allen gets, the smaller this point becomes. He has been a savior in big stretches lately (though he still scares the s#!t out of me when he dribbles in traffic.

I also think that if the other players on the court properly triangulate themselves to always leave two passing options at near right angles for Tony Allen or Eddie House, that the traps will be less successful. This is what my teams did when we played and we faced trapping defenses, rather than strand someone in the back court against a double or triple team.

I also think that if Eddie House is not dead on for a given game, that Rajon Rondo or Tony Allen are better choices to pair with Ray Allen in the back court at the end of the game .

3. Lack of a solid, consistent bench big.
Pollard was decent for a short stretch but we haven't found a permanent resolution yet. If he's healthy ... I'm less concerned ...

To me, that's it.

Everything else falls under the category of "bad game" or "bad game plan". The refs aren't against us; we don't need to trade anyone from our 8 man rotation; Big Baby shouldn't start; Perk and KG are still learning to play together; Pierce is mostly clutch and still one of the most versatile players in the league; the team and Doc are still learning about themselves.

Am I missing anything here? All gripes welcome, but please, keep your perspective - we're still a top team in this league.

Well said.

Dunt dunt dah. Concise.

To expound on the Big Man, this, to me is the biggest weakness on the Celtics this season.

We can all say if Ray Allen were performing closer to his
career average of 23 ppg, 4 rpg and 4 apg; the Celtics would have 2 losses.

Or we could say that if Rondo didn't get hurt, that the Celtics would have 4 losses.

But, the problem that concerns be the most is the Big Man situation.

Other than Kevin Garnett (19 ppg, 10 rpg and 4 apg in 35 mpg) and
Kendrick Perkins (7 ppg and 5.5 rpg in 25 mpg); the Celtics are not getting consistent production out of their Bigs.

Actual Big Rotation in MPG Last 10 Games

PF: KG 23, Posey 13, Glen Davis 12

C: Perkins 25, KG 12, Other 11

The problem is the other 11, and Davis. Where has Pollard been of late?
And Glen Davis doesn't seem to be able to ready to produce anything on a consistent basis, other than live off the feeds of PGA and the spread floor of the 3 point shooters giving him a one on one isolation, which, when someone drives, causes his man to step up and give him a window.

The best hope is for Pollard to get well (or for Doc to play him) 12 minutes per game. Against a 7 footer like Brandon Haywood, it's inconceivable why Pollard didn't see more time.

[bawstin]

4. The lack of an offensive system.
Why do we always end up with iso's and no ball movement?

[Jammer]

4. The lack of an offensive system.
Why do we always end up with iso's and no ball movement?

Great post.

I touched on this a while back.

Perhaps the lack of a true point when Rondo is out. Particularyly evident the last 2 games.

We could whip the ball around more.

This is something that comes from the coach, getting the players to buy into it.

This is also how the Celtics of Red Auerbach played for a very long time.

I'd be surprised if Danny Ainge didn't understand this, and Doc. Eventually, let's hope it comes along.

Let's just say it's an inevitable way for the team to improve.

But until Pollard starts playing 10 to 12 mpg, they don't have a consistent Big to shore up the defense and rebounding when KG or Perkins are out.

[BillessuR6]

"We started our offense [with] 12, 10 [seconds left on the shot clock]," Rivers said. "Then we showed them a quarter of a game earlier this year where the lowest we started the offense was 17. You can see the difference.

"[In the old tape] they were sprinting up the floor. They were running up the floor. They were running into their sets. Of late, they're kind of getting into it and thinking the offense will take care of itself. And it won't."

Defensively, Rivers sees far too much switching. In fact, if he sees any switching, that's not a good thing.

"We don't switch," he said. "So, if you see switches, that means [we're making mistakes]. We had so many times [against the Wizards] where the wrong guy was guarding a guy because it's easier to switch. We got away from what we trust defensively."

Rivers said one possible explanation for the team's play of late is a cutback in practice time. He did it after consulting with the bosses and the veterans, in hopes that players won't be fatigued at season's end. The immediate result, however, has been play that shows, well, a distinct lack of practice. "I told the guys it was going to hurt us more than you think," Rivers said. "Veterans think it's not going to hurt them, but in watching the film, they were shocked at the difference of our execution - at both ends. That's what no practices does. We'd still do it the same way, but they now understand you have to have great focus when you are getting more rest." . . .

Link: http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... 50/?page=2

[jfs1000d]

First off, the primary reason No. 1 (Ray's Slump) is a direct result of No. 2. And, I would go as far as saying even a healthy Rondo is too inconsistent. Rondo has too many 2 and 4 point games. That's just not good enough.

In the last three games he played, Rondo has 13 pts, 4pts, 4 pts and has a GRAND TOTAL OF 6 assists.

7 pts per game and 2 assists isn't enough production out of the position.

We have to call a spade a spade here. Rondo is a good prospect, but is not supplying enough production. When you couple that with the lack of even a marginal backup it is killing our offense.

You can get away with Perk at center if you have good scorers at other positions. But the lack of ability by Rondo to consistently create offense hurts this team. There is no other answer on the roster.

We have to stop babying Rondo. I like him, A LOT. But its about production right now. If he plays better, we are fine. But he has too many 4 point, 2 assists, 1 turnover in 25 minutes type games.

That is why we are struggling to get over 90 points, and that is why Ray allen is struggling. He isn't getting the ball in spots he is comfortable shooting in. That's the PGs fault.

[Datruth345]

generating fluidity, cohesiveness, and putting the offense in good positions to score isn't always indicated by the number of assists a player has in the box score

with 3 superstars the ball isn't in rondos hands as much as other point guards around the league