Ray Allen Rules!

[grantlongforpresident]

It had to be said.

I expect a big series from Ray. All the haters, doubters, and chicken littles will once again pay for their stupidity.

We won 66 games and Allen was a big part of that.

This is the same guy that should have been the All-Star game MVP!

He may not have played his best ball so far in the playoffs, but he hasn't taken a lot of shots, he has played solid defense, he has made his FT's, and he hasn't turned the ball over much. The only thing that is missing is the scoring. Do you want him to hog the ball and get his #'s or do you want him to play a team game like he has been.

There is no doubt he is in a shooting slump, but come on people.

[GreenGrizz]

Yes, I am with you!

[greenbeans]

like i said in the gamethread, this series is the Ray Allen revival project. Nip Hamilton will get lit up regularly this series imo

[Friar Dan]

Hear hear

[ermocrate]

Yes, I am with you!

Me too, I love the guy and the player.

[celtsloyalty]

Rays going to be chasing Rip around a lot this series and hopefully vice versa. God I am nervous about all four of the matchups ray rip, garnett wallace, rondo billups, and especially pierce prince. Everyones nervous about the rondo matchup but I think he will be just fine, but even after pierces dominating performance I just have a lot of respect for prince and hope he doesn't shut pierce down.

Lets go celts!

[daveisceltics]

I surely hope so.
He is due for a great series.

[Al-Haqq]

Well the Cavs did implement the same defense which the Pistons used on Ray Allen in the series that just passed, so I'm not sure how much he'll pick it up. They'll constantly run defenders at him, and as you saw, the Cavs done a good job covering Ray, like the Pistons did.

Similiarily, the Celtics used the same defense the Spurs used against LeBron, so I don't know how much better Ray will play against the Pistons.

I hope he does, but we'll see. He needs to knock down the open jumpers, and needs to penetrate more, 100%!

[meatball sub]

I'm all about getting Ray Ray going in this series, we need the guy to be productive to win the championship. I think him hitting his first shot tonight is important with this slump he's been in. He starts tonight with a clean slate in this series and nailing that first shot would definitely go a long way in getting his confidence back. His performance in the series doesn't hinge on his first shot in game one, I just think with how badly his shot has been off recently, gaining that confidence back immediately could completely turn his postseason around.

Ray once said he never loses confidence in his shot, but it certainly does looks like he did in the semi-finals. If Ray "I'll nail a three in your eye because I'm a **** cold blooded assassin" Allen returns in this series the Pistons are in trouble.

LET'S GO CELTICS!!!

[MalReyn]

Rays going to be chasing Rip around a lot this series and hopefully vice versa. God I am nervous about all four of the matchups ray rip, garnett wallace, rondo billups, and especially pierce prince. Everyones nervous about the rondo matchup but I think he will be just fine, but even after pierces dominating performance I just have a lot of respect for prince and hope he doesn't shut pierce down.

Lets go celts!

Funny, the one you didn't mention (McDyess-Perkins) I think is the one with the biggest talent mismatch. I'm just not sure Perkins is a smart enough player to stay with Antonio, who's a very solid player still.

[Dogen]

I gotta rock the Ray avatar!

[casey]

All the haters, doubters, and chicken littles will once again pay for their stupidity.

I hope Ray has a great series, but he deserves every bit of criticism he has gotten.

[GuyClinch]

I like Ray Allen but he is slumping. JVG is right on target in his criticism. If we want someone to play D and slash we can just go with Tony Allen who is better at both of those things. Ray Allen is paid to shoot.

[Maple Green]

Sacrificing your own trade mark as a scorer for team goal and plan are more holy than ballhogging the shots to win the team.

[GuyClinch]

It's not about ballhogging - its about Ray Allen passing up GOOD shots. He is never a ball hog..

Pete

[DieselCeltic]

Ray Allen is mentally not there, period. His mentality has to do something with him being so poor in these playoffs. We are talking about Ray Allen not some average player.

He is getting looks but he is just not shooting right.

[MyInsatiableOne]

Ray's gonna come around...he was aggressive last night and looked better than he did at the end of the Cleveland series...he's gonna bust out in game 2, I can feel it.

[DorfonCeltics]

Ray's gonna come around...he was aggressive last night and looked better than he did at the end of the Cleveland series...he's gonna bust out in game 2, I can feel it.

Agreed, despite shooting 3-10 or whatever, I thought Ray played a pretty good game. He was aggressive on both ends of the floor. He spread the defense well and had some nice takes to the hoop. The shot will start falling at some point in this series. I'm sure of it.

[GuyClinch]

Agreed, despite shooting 3-10 or whatever, I thought Ray played a pretty good game. He was aggressive on both ends of the floor. He spread the defense well and had some nice takes to the hoop. The shot will start falling at some point in this series. I'm sure of it.

Yes but he airballed a wide open 3. Can you imagine the chaos on this board if PP played like this? I like Ray Allen but this is just ridiculous. Half the SG's in the NBA could give us more then this guy right now.

Pete

[MyInsatiableOne]

Agreed, despite shooting 3-10 or whatever, I thought Ray played a pretty good game. He was aggressive on both ends of the floor. He spread the defense well and had some nice takes to the hoop. The shot will start falling at some point in this series. I'm sure of it.

Yes but he airballed a wide open 3. Can you imagine the chaos on this board if PP played like this? I like Ray Allen but this is just ridiculous. Half the SG's in the NBA could give us more then this guy right now.

Pete

But after he airballed that he started driving. Got aggressive. I want to see more of that. The outside shots will start to fall, but he needs to get to the hoop and the line, too.