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Finally Rivers gave Eddie a chance instead of Cassell last night and our whole team looked much better. He was 10 games too late but at least he did it.

What I am wondering is when Rivers will give some of Ray`s minutes to Tony Allen. Tony was our backup SG in the regular season and all of a sudden he doesn`t play anymore.

We all know Tony can be frustrating to watch at times but OTOH he will at least look alive on the court. I have no problem not playing Tony if the guy ahead of him is playing well. But Ray Allen has been absolutely atrocious in the playoffs! I have no idea what happened to him but he looks like he is done.

And if someone is playing as bad as him why wouldn`t a backup get some of his minutes? We had the same scenario with Sam and Eddie and we saw what energy, speed, quickness can bring to a team.

What hurts me is that Wally Szczerbiak is dominating Ray Allen! Wally Szczerbiak is dominating Ray Allen! That is just unacceptable!

In CLE series Ray has played 37, 37, 37, 39, 40, 42 minutes so far! His minutes are actually going up when from game to game he has looked worse. The problem is also that if his shot isn`t falling it is not like he is contributing in some other way. Spacing is the only thing Ray brings but he just hurts us in other areas so much more.

Tony Allen can defend Wally better than Ray that is a given. TA can also get to the rim. He can run circles around Szczerbiak on offense there is no way Wally can stay in front of him.

Most importantly Tony brings energy, intensity, dynamic to the lineup and if he plays 15 minutes Ray can be much fresher at the end of the games and he can actually hit a shot or two!

If someone is playing as bad as Ray Allen you need to give someone else a chance! I don`t care that he is an allstar (how did this happen?) Tony Allen can not play worse than Ray is playing ATM...

Please, limit Ray`s minutes and give Tony a chance!

Ray's best play of the night was the dish to Perk in the 1st 15 seconds of the game. His worst was the dumb foul on Wally nearly at half court.

Give some of Ray's minutes to Tony?

er,

Yes

tony is done, pack it in buddy! he wont be resigned unless its for the min and the celts need him. its a shame cause he was gonna be pretty good. TA sucks!


as for EH, I was all for SC in back of rondo. but seeing how he just likes to stand around and jack up shots I am all for EH playing behind rondo. I am ashamed I jumped on the SC bandwagon. house played great up until he came and it was proven lastnight how much better he is. house sitting on the bench is a waste of a really good shooter, without him last night we arent even in the game.

not to mention he really handled the bal well against the cavs. made some great passes too.

I agree, why not put Tony Allen in there. Ray is giving NOTHING right now, he can't even defend Wally, who I'm pretty sure I could defend at this point in his career. Ray's giving no offense, certainly no defense, and is just out there for an occasional three or a jumper. Stick Tony in there and we have another slasher that will run and D up. I don't think Doc has the backbone to do what is necessary though, because he doesn't want to upset Ray or anyone else. I can't believe Ray has pulled this kind of disappearing act though, if he could just give us his normal 15 points a night, we would already be done with this series.

Doc was almost ready to play Tony last night, (I think in order to foul), but he pulled back. Maybe since substituting House for Cassell worked so well, he'll be tempted to play Tony some minutes. Despite the loss, the House, Ray, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins lineup was a +17 last night. (top 5 man unit from all of last night games.)

Doc didn't have any trouble playing Tony a lot in the regular season, so unless TA has become injured and we're all unaware of it, I don't see why he'd have a problem now. Tony with the starters was our 2nd best 5 man unit this year.

Yeah, I doubt we'll see Doc go to TA because he respects Ray too much and is also probably weary of possible mistakes by TA. But I believe Doc needs to send a message to Ray by playing Tony Allen. Doc just thinks it's a vote of no confidence to Ray if he plays Tony but thats just not the case. I believe the C's best team aside from the starters is Eddie, Tony, Pierce, Glen Davis, and KG. That lineup has the right mix of shooters, slashers and rebounders/defenders. It's simply amazing that Doc hasn't even given TA a true chance in the playoffs.

Tony's not done, he's learned to dish the ball quite nicely on drives, he still defends well (aside from the unforgiveable foul on Billups) and can make the 18 footer and can still blaze by defenders.

The old Ray was about my favorite player in the NBA, but the existing Ray looks too much like last year's Wally, only he's shooting much worse.

I agree - play Tony. In fact consider trading Ray Allen for Camby and then giving Tony the starting spot at SG next year. Ray Allen should be WRECKING Wally. He is not even outplaying him.

TA will show RA how you can beat up on Wally - just watch.

Pete

it's almost like they are trying to keep house/posey/tony/powe off the court so their stocks don't jump up and we can resign them

No. Doc has always made suspect choices when given alot of them. Remember how Gomes sat on the bench? Only injuries forced him into action.

Pete

TA hasn't played significant minutes in a month or so, that has to be a concern.

Opposing teams still fear Ray Allen, no matter how poorly he has been shooting as of late. No one fears Tony Allen. Ray can at least spread the floor; Tony just gets nervous whenever he plays.

TA doesn't suffer from nervousness - LMAO. If anything his problem is egomania. That's why he makes those terrible turnovers he can try to do to much.

Pete

Tony has absolutely no confidence in himself. I'd give him a couple minutes because when he does something well, he usually continues to do well and plays with confidence. As soon as he does 1 or 2 things wrong, he needs to be pulled because he loses all confidence (you can notice it just by his facial expressions) and makes mistake after mistake.