RealGM

Horford and Zaza can't keep up with Garnett, put Posey or Cassell into the lineup and move Garnett to the middle.

More spacing with more outside shooters, big lanes for Pierce to drive to the basket and Garnett can get Horford into foul trouble quickly.

Perkins would be back starting for the next series, when a big body and fouls in the middle were needed to stop taller centers.

Rondo

Allen

Pierce

Brown

Garnett

Brown vs Josh Smith?...Um not so sure I like that matchup.

I think the OP has a good idea, and i'd use Posey instead of Cassell because of Posey's defense.

Why change a starting line up that won 66 games? They just need to start playing defence again and stop jacking so many jump shots.

I do agree that Tony and Eddie should be getting some time in the second unit though. Baby has also made some things happen when he has been on the court. No more Cassell please unless we are up by 25.

Garnett
Posey
Pierce
Ray
Rondo

we have our 3 best shooters on the team on the floor, double teaming us would be costly. Posey is savvy enough to stay with Josh Smith. Josh isn't THAT good. Garnett can pretty much take care of Horford.

what they need to do is stop the hawks from getting rebound after rebound.

esspecially those offensive ones.

I agree that we have to adjust.

In the gamethread I thought of a Ray,Posey,Pierce,KG,Perk lineup specifically for guarding Joe Johnson and getting a height advantage out on the floor for the loose balls/offensive rebounds.

Essentially what we need is a Maxiell from DET who is athletic enough to match the Hawks for all these long rebounds.

I think CHL's lineup too. I know it's us adjusting to the Hawks but these are ideas that need to be considered now that our backs are against the wall. Somehow we have to stop the bleeding and it isn't like were getting rebounds ourself offesnively. All last quarter of game 4 it was one and done offensively.

s1ickd wrote:Garnett
Posey
Pierce
Ray
Rondo

we have our 3 best shooters on the team on the floor, double teaming us would be costly. Posey is savvy enough to stay with Josh Smith. Josh isn't THAT good. Garnett can pretty much take care of Horford.

Id like to see that lineup as well and think it would definitely change things up. Not only would Posey be able to stay with Smith defensively, but offensively Posey is very perimeter oriented and because of this Smith and his weak-side shot blocking would be pulled out of the paint. If Smith tries to drift inside to help out, you kick it out to Posey for a wide open 3. If not then the middle is open for KG to work inside and Pierce to slash. I say you roatate Pierce, Ray, and TA on Johnson depending on what is working well. Even if you have TA in for Ray, you still have Pierce and Posey on the floor to shoot. Seems like something worth exploring...

The key is to stick with what worked all year! We beat the Hawks 3 times in the regular season without making these adjustments. We cannot afford to freak out and change what worked, like Dallas did last year, because THEN the Celtics will be in danger of losing.

I dont think it should be something we go with all game, but instead a rotational lineup that we can explore at certain points during the game to mix things up

Reality is that we don't have any athletic freak tha can handle Josh Smith period. Or we keep winning in our way and let ATL be afraid of us or we are not going anywere...

I really don't think we switch around our starting lineup because of an Atlanta Hawks team. Stick with the starting lineup that got us here. No need to panic--yet.

Do NOT change the starting lineup! What is this, the rerun of DAL-GS series last year?

We won 66 games, let them adjust to us and not the other way around!

The starting 5 needs to stay the way it is but Rivers must establish a fix rotation. The bench players need to get their confidence back and they need to know their roles. More stability, more logic and more order must be implemented in our rotation and our substitution pattern.

The team doesn't need to do anything with the starting lineup. Jesus guys, have you seen the difference when the bench comes it? If anything, the starters need to play more and just do a better job rebounding the ball. You seem to forget, the did a fine job guarding the new "almighty" Johnson in games 1, 2, and 3, so now they can't do it because he played out of his mind for 1 quarter?

If you put Posey on Smith, Smith will take him to the post and use the 25 extra pounds of muscle he has. Of course Boston could prevent that with good ball denial but the point is that, as most of you have said, Boston needs to make Atlanta adjust. If Smith's jumper isn't falling that makes life a lot easier but I think that he, more than Johnson, is the key to this series.

Celtics_History_Lesson wrote:Horford and Zaza can't keep up with Garnett, put Posey or Cassell into the lineup and move Garnett to the middle.

More spacing with more outside shooters, big lanes for Pierce to drive to the basket and Garnett can get Horford into foul trouble quickly.

Perkins would be back starting for the next series, when a big body and fouls in the middle were needed to stop taller centers.

Any lineup with Cassell is a losing one. We should just stick with what's been working for us all year. No need to make stupid moves like that for the sake of changing it up.

I agree that the starting lineup doesn't need to be changed, but using the Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Posey, Garnett lineup when Perk leaves the game is a good idea.

The Cs just flat out have to play better. Tighter rotations, quicker cuts, smoother jumpers, better box outs, harder moves to the rim.

Atlanta had us reacting to them. Time to impose OUR will, like we've done 68 times this year. Stop walking on egg shells and play like a CELTIC!

Rule # 76: No excuses, play like a champ.

No need to change the starting lineup, and I think Perk played a great game in game 4. Posey getting more minutes with Pierce, Rondo, Allen, and KG is a good idea to keep Josh Smith away from the hoop, but he also cherry picks a lot too and he's going to get some easy dunks on the runouts like he did in game 3. But you have to make some sacrifices, do you want his shot blocking abilities forcing us to take jump shots, or do you want to give up a couple easy dunks a game?

We just need to play like we should and like we did for most of the year. We should not be adjusting to the Hawks. We have the better players, so mismatches should be in our favor.

It has only been 2 losses, albeit in a row, but sill... only two.