Time to sit Perk & Rondo?

[Big Baby]

The Spurs used to face the same dilemma every year until about two years ago. Tony Parker, their blue chip PG, played crazy good basketball until just the right amount of pressure mounted in the Playoffs. Parker was quick and could get to wherever he wanted on the basketball court but like Rondo, Parker had no shot. And that allowed other teams to collapse on Duncan and stifled their game plan. So what did Popovich do? He sat Parker in favor of guys like Speedy Claxton. And you know what happened? They won Championships.

Right now, Rondo is a liability and Perk is constantly forgetting his role every time this team hits the road. This has to stop.

Doc has Eddie House, Sam Cassell and PJ Brown at his disposal. He needs to start them over Rondo and Perk on the road. It's called "adjustment" and Doc should really try it because he has nothing to lose.

[cavsfan_osiris]

Changing the starting lineup is not an adjustment, it's a complete overhaul, it reeks of panic and desperation. Boston doesn't need that. They just need to make some minor adjustments offensively and defensively.

[tlee324]

West completely outplayed Rondo tonight, but Rondo's been good all playoffs except for one game, and has been very good all year. He'll come back. I really don't know about Perkins though. Z's game takes away Perk's effectiveness, and maybe someone who can get out and challenge his shots would do a better job. I'm not sure... I think the team can win with Perk in there if they come strong with a team effort defensively like in game 2.

[threrf23]

Changing the starting lineup is not an adjustment, it's a complete overhaul, it reeks of panic and desperation. Boston doesn't need that. They just need to make some minor adjustments offensively and defensively.

Thank you. You should be a Celtics fan

[Joselo16]

The thing with Rondo that is very frustrating right now is that he won't take the open shots that he had no problem taking before, why is he scared now??? Also his defense on West was just horrible, why didn't we pressure West more?

Perk I think is doing his job, remember that the strategy here is to stop Lebron's penetration with our bigs and force others to beat us (which they did in yesterdays game). Perk has been rebounding and playing good solid D on "Z." If you are saying that he is playing horrible because of the shot he air balled then you are just looking at the negatives and there is a reason why he's not in there for his offense.

He had 12 points (50%FG), 7 boards, and 2 blocked shots in 26 mins. He was not or has not been our problem!!!

My problem is our rotations. Why aren't we using our situational guys in their specific situations. Like Tony on Wally in the first 2 quarters when he was torching Ray? What about putting in House, the guy that was our second PG for most of the season at any point after we realized that Cassell was not effective in the game (he could not have been any worse)?

[The Rondo Show]

Ignoring the fact that we are 72-20 with Perkins and Rondo in our starting lineup and it would be (Please Use More Appropriate Word) to bench them right now for a moment...do you realize just how awful Sam Cassell has been on the road? He's now 3-21 on the road in these playoffs and he hasn't run the offense well at any time as a Celtic aside from game 2 of this series. He's been worse than Rondo on the road, not better.

Rondo did have a horrible game and was clearly vastly outplayed, but West was averaging 3.5 points and 3.5 assists going into tonight and he held Bibby to about 30% shooting. His D had been tremendous until tonight. He does have to take that mid-range jumper for two reasons though: 1. He can hit it and has hit it all year. 2. It'll pull West up more and keep him honest. When he was honest in game 1, Rondo blew by him whenever he wanted and had a bunch of points in the paint. That also gives KG some more room in the post when West isn't bunched down there.

Perkins help D was poor tonight, but he had 12-7 and has been great defensively this series (and really all year) aside from tonight.

I think people are looking at Big Z having a very good statistical series and not realizing the impact Perk has had defensively or what the gameplan appears to be (to me, at least). Perk's #1 priority is his help D/clog the middle and don't allow LeBron to get layups and dunks. His #2 priority is to not allow Z to score in the post. His #3 priority is to close out on his jumpers as often as he can. He's been PHENOMINAL at his accomplishing his first 2 priorities and not so good at his 3rd, but I'm pretty sure TT and Doc are fine with that as stopping LeBron (or any Cav, for that matter) from getting layups/dunks is a significantly bigger deal than stopping Z from shooting 18 footers, even if he is good at them. KG and Perk have effectively turned Cleveland into a team that take jump shot after jump shot with their incredible help D this series.

Sam Cassell and PJ Brown are not the answers to our road woes.

[ParticleMan]

well, Cassell HAS been playing more in the playoffs, particularly when Rondo has had poor games. we don't have to bench Rondo and Perk, just give them less mins.

I can understand the Rondo worries, but Perk??? C'mon, he's the one guy who's showed up pretty much every game. Him and KG. He's played great D, has gotten tough boards, and has scored a few buckets when asked. What more can the guy do? He's not Dwight Howard.

What I don't understand is calling for House over Cassell. House has veritably sucked. He hasn't hit shots, he can't get open, and the team doesn't even let him bring the ball up because the Cavs would obviously trap. He isn't even really a PG, just a 5-11 SG. I thought he was great in the RS when opponents weren't playing as intense D, but in the playoffs every weakness is exposed, and House has a lot of them as a PG. Cassell, OTOH, can play much better than he's played. He has the potential. He hasn't done it except in spurts but he is a vet who has been thru the wars before.

[cloverleaf]

Which game was it, the 3rd one in Atlanta maybe? But Doc publicly dressed down Rondo for taking so many open jumpers. Said something to the effect that they tried to tell him that just because they gave him so many open jumpers didn't mean he had to take them. (This of course after spending an entire season telling him to take that shot.)

Right on cue, Rondo now looks indecisive and too often passes out of those opportunities, and when he does that the Cleveland D can cheat off of him and hurt the other guys' looks.

[MVP16]

I understand Rondo being up and down because he is just a 2nd year player and he probably has more confidence in his shot at the Garden, but Cassell is a veteran who you expect to be the steady force if Rondo has an off game. Instead, Cassell has been even plain awful on the road while he has been pretty good at home during the playoffs.

On the road, he has averaged: 1.75 points on 14% shooting.
At home, he has averaged: 9.5 points on 50% shooting.

I'm not putting the blame on him for the Cleveland loss because the whole team is at fault. On the other hand, as Cassell goes, so does the bench because he has the ball most of the time and takes most of the shots. If he is playing so poorly on the road, that means the bench isn't giving us much. Without getting a lift from the bench, it's very difficult to win on the road in the playoffs. Cassell needs to step up in Game 4 and play like he does at home. If he does, I feel much better about our chances.

[billfromBoston]

...anyone who thinks Perkins needs to sit more clearly doesn't understand what's going on on the court...he's been outstanding...

[CHryptic]

Absolutely not. Both Perkins and Rondo have been catalysts for every single one of our playoff wins. This is a terrible idea.

[Big Baby]

There you go again, Bill, telling people what they know or what they don't know.

Think back to 2002 when Pierce and Walker-led Celtics went to the Playoffs. Despite having 4 & 5 years of NBA experience under their belts at the time, and despite being better players (at least in Pierce's case) than Rondo and Perk, their inexperience eventually caught up to them and they got bounced by New Jersey whom they had no trouble beating 3 out of 4 times during the regular season.

Rondo may bounce back eventually but right now, he's run into a wall BIG TIME. His unwillingness to shoot the ball when WIDE OPEN is killing our offense in 1000 ways. And he's throwing the ball away as much as he's dishing it out. In other words, Rondo's inexperience is hurting this team right now.

As for Perk, I'd still give him minutes, but not down the stretch. In fact, I think we'd have a better chance with playing Posey or Pierce at the 4 spot and putting KG on Z.

Either way, one of Rondo or Perk needs to sit. This is not the time to rely on two wide-eyed young players to wake up and answer the bell for us. This team has only one goal and playing two inconsistent young guys at the two most important spots on the floor is like playing with fire. Yeah, they played for us all year and we did well, but this is the Playoffs and we're 0-4 on the road. It's a different ball game and we need to adjust.

[ParticleMan]

Even if you think you should sit Rondo or Perk... exactly who do you replace them with? Ubuntu murderer Cassell? Eddie "1-12 shooting the playoffs" House? Leon Powe, who's even less experienced? PJ Brown's reanimated corpse? Posey... right, let's go even smaller against the best rebounding team in the NBA, good plan!

It's not a different ballgame. It's still two hoops and a ball. We've won a lot of games at home and on the road this year. Panic moves would be dumb. Last time I checked, we're still up 2-1, in the 2nd round.

[canman1971]

I really think Doc has hurt Rondo's confidence with how he has handled him. Sitting him for extended periods of time this late in the year is not a good thing to a young player psychologically. I'm not even talking about last game. Even in the Atlanta series Doc started deferring to Cassell down the stretch and I think it has damaged Rondo.

[billfromBoston]

There you go again, Bill, telling people what they know or what they don't know.

Think back to 2002 when Pierce and Walker-led Celtics went to the Playoffs. Despite having 4 & 5 years of NBA experience under their belts at the time, and despite being better players (at least in Pierce's case) than Rondo and Perk, their inexperience eventually caught up to them and they got bounced by New Jersey whom they had no trouble beating 3 out of 4 times during the regular season.

Rondo may bounce back eventually but right now, he's run into a wall BIG TIME. His unwillingness to shoot the ball when WIDE OPEN is killing our offense in 1000 ways. And he's throwing the ball away as much as he's dishing it out. In other words, Rondo's inexperience is hurting this team right now.

As for Perk, I'd still give him minutes, but not down the stretch. In fact, I think we'd have a better chance with playing Posey or Pierce at the 4 spot and putting KG on Z.

Either way, one of Rondo or Perk needs to sit. This is not the time to rely on two wide-eyed young players to wake up and answer the bell for us. This team has only one goal and playing two inconsistent young guys at the two most important spots on the floor is like playing with fire. Yeah, they played for us all year and we did well, but this is the Playoffs and we're 0-4 on the road. It's a different ball game and we need to adjust.

...and there YOU go again Baby...trying to pass off your own conjectured opinion as fact...

You make assumptions in all of your posts that make very little sense and the basis point for most of your assumptions is clearly flawed...frankly, you sound like a parrot of the media...

Rondo's been super agressive the entire playoffs, he's barely passed up any shots...but he has been off the past two games, has made a couple of poor decisions with his shot at times...and NOW he's "hit a wall" as you put it?

Perkins has been the anchor of the defense and has been rebounding and scoring the ball in an efficient manor...but since Ilgauskas has had good numbers its time to sit Perk? That shows a complete lack of understanding the team defense and role responsibility...

Look, I get saucy with my replies when I see ill-informed, crazy, nonsense written...I respect differences of opinion, but only differences that are based in sound NBA logic...I've spent waaaaayyyy too much time in NBA circles getting acclimated to some basic truths of the game not to be a bit matter-o-fact when I read something that flies in the face of everything i've been told by the people that matter....

...and if you're going to counter that after stating the team should switch out their starting PG and C, then you're truly lost...

[tanat-0s]

Start PJ Brown over Perk?
Are you crazy?

[MyInsatiableOne]

The thing with Rondo that is very frustrating right now is that he won't take the open shots that he had no problem taking before, why is he scared now??? Also his defense on West was just horrible, why didn't we pressure West more?

Perk I think is doing his job, remember that the strategy here is to stop Lebron's penetration with our bigs and force others to beat us (which they did in yesterdays game). Perk has been rebounding and playing good solid D on "Z." If you are saying that he is playing horrible because of the shot he air balled then you are just looking at the negatives and there is a reason why he's not in there for his offense.

He had 12 points (50%FG), 7 boards, and 2 blocked shots in 26 mins. He was not or has not been our problem!!!

My problem is our rotations. Why aren't we using our situational guys in their specific situations. Like Tony on Wally in the first 2 quarters when he was torching Ray? What about putting in House, the guy that was our second PG for most of the season at any point after we realized that Cassell was not effective in the game (he could not have been any worse)?

That's what has been pissing me off to no end about Rondo. He passes up the open shots to either force a bad pass or drive into the teeth of the D, double or triple teams, and get swallowed up with nowhere to go and nothing to do in the paint. Kid needs to start taking those **** shots!

And Perk...jeez Louise, he is even more offensively inept than I thought. Not only does he still have NO TOUCH and NO MOVES around the hoop, but WHEN THE **** WILL HE LEARN that when he gets a pass under the hoop to just GO UP WITH IT!!!!! He either throws fakes which no one bites on, or more often he puts it on the floor and either a) gets stripped of the ball, b) loses his dribble due to his ballhandling "skills", of c) allows double and triple teams to collapse on him so he either gets it stolen, blocked, or makes a bad pass. Seriously, I don't expect him to be the next McHale under the hoop but he makes Ben Wallace look like **** Karl Malone sometimes!!!