Why the Celtics Lost Orlando Series

[Jammer]

1. The Celtics did not have their best player, Kevin Garnett

2. Ray Allen played poorly in Games 1 and 6, which were easily winnable with a respectable performance from Ray.


My prejeudices revealed:

My favorite current Celtics, in order, are:

1. Rajon Rondo
2. Ray Allen
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Paul Pierce


Many tonight will point the finger to Game 7 performances, but this series should never have gotten to a game 7 (if Ray played decent in Games 1 or 6).

Powe's absence hurt, but was no where near as significant as KG's absence, ending the Celtics defensive domination, or Ray piss poor shooting in Games 1 and 6.

By the way, James Posey would have been a huge help in games 1 and 6. Seems like the Celtics presumed they had more depth than they did. Posey backed up Pierce at SF as well as being a mobile, 3 point shooting PF.

[NetsForce]

The better team won plain and simple. Had the Celtics had KG they would have been the better team and they would have won. No need to overanalyze what happened, the Celtics put up a good fight given their injury problem but the fact that they made it this far was impressive.

[jfs1000d]

Celtics lost the series No. 1, KG is not there.

Celtics lost game 6 and 7, and almost game 5, because Rondo slept walked through portions of the game. Celtics are an old team, with a young PG who wasn't up to the task.

Tremendous talent, way to inconsiststent.

Rondo got destroyed defensively (should give back hos award) and he is a liability on offense. When he is good, he is incredible. But, when he doesn't bring his A game he us useless.

I leave you with one question: Is there any bigger boom or bust player in the NBA than Rondo?

Consider when he plays well the Celts can't be beat. But, when he is not dominating, he gets dominated. The kid has a long way to go.

[GreenGrizz]

Why? We were as good as Chicago without KG and Posey.

[NetsForce]

To be fair though Rondo is a ROLE PLAYER not a STAR PLAYER. He can carry the offense for a spurt here and there but if you ask him to do it for an entire game he falters down the stretch and his defense SIGNIFICANTLY declines.

[L&H_05]

More times than not, this currently constructed C's goes as Rondo goes... Rondo not going so well, means the C's are not gonna be in a favorable position..

[Zin5]

To be fair though Rondo is a ROLE PLAYER not a STAR PLAYER. He can carry the offense for a spurt here and there but if you ask him to do it for an entire game he falters down the stretch and his defense SIGNIFICANTLY declines.

It really showed in this series, specifically this game: Rondo is the offense at this point. Rondo wasn't controlling the game on offense like he did throughout the Chicago series and earlier this series. We can't just bring it up and iso Paul anymore. You can get away with that when we have KG on defense, but we need to be a more efficient offensive team when we don't have that and when Rondo disappeared so did the team.

[celtics543]

Why? We were as good as Chicago without KG and Posey.

Well Orlando is better than Chicago, and we were just barely better than Chicago.

We lost because we were tired and had no KG or Leon Powe. They were the better team given the current health of both teams and they won the series. We put up a great fight, and I'm pretty proud of the way the Celtics competed throughout the whole playoffs.

[KobeChinaMan1]

Boston last year made Rondo a role player who killed teams. This year you guys made him CP3. He is not that good of a player. He is like a Brooks on Houston. Not bad players. But great role players.

But you guys had to play that way because no KG. KG makes everyone better.

[manoyski]

Celtics lost because Jackie Moon didnt get his groove on.... "love me sexy!!"

peace.

[SweetLewfor3]

It was not Ray being off. HE was being well played defensively. JJ surprised the hell out of me, on how well he defended Ray. Ray had no easy shots this series. Sure he missed a few wide open the were given, but he did not drop 51 on us for a reason. Magic are top 3 best perimeter defending team in the league. I knew Ray was going to have his best game today. I was just really impressed with Hedo. He played perfectly. Good series.

[SuigintouEV]

I thought more than anything, Perkins' lack of a jump shot hurt in this series. PJ brown's big mid range jumpers in game 7 vs the cavs just kept flashing by my head, instead of those, we had dwight howard rejecting hook shots.

I'm a KG fan first and foremost, so I guess it probably sounds wierd to say that not having KG wasn't the reason the celtics lost today. That would definitely have helped, especially if you put KG at center and went small.

But Perkins being able to consistently hit a 15 foot jumper would have iced the series. Think Robert Parish. Because he can't hit that shot, the Magic were just absolutely doubling any screen action with ZERO fear. Today Ray played his best game because he got the extra day to watch tape. But I still feel that perkins hitting a few mid range shots would have made that difference.

Here's hoping next year perkins turns into a better jump shooter. It's NOT a bad thing.

[mr_sunshine]

Boston last year made Rondo a role player who killed teams. This year you guys made him CP3. He is not that good of a player. He is like a Brooks on Houston. Not bad players. But great role players.

But you guys had to play that way because no KG. KG makes everyone better.

Please don't ever compare Rondo to Brooks again. The only thing similar about the two is their stature, position, and speed. Their games are totally different.

[celticfan42487]

The better team won plain and simple. Had the Celtics had KG they would have been the better team and they would have won. No need to overanalyze what happened, the Celtics put up a good fight given their injury problem but the fact that they made it this far was impressive.

...


...

who singed onto Netsforce and started typing for him?


Great post and exactly right.

Most on this board will admit they don't know how we ended up winning games 4 and 5. ORL should of won a long time ago, and in basketball... the better team usually wins.

[BillessuR6]

Celtics lost the series No. 1, KG is not there.

Celtics lost game 6 and 7, and almost game 5, because Rondo slept walked through portions of the game. Celtics are an old team, with a young PG who wasn't up to the task.

Tremendous talent, way to inconsiststent.

Rondo got destroyed defensively (should give back hos award) and he is a liability on offense. When he is good, he is incredible. But, when he doesn't bring his A game he us useless.

I leave you with one question: Is there any bigger boom or bust player in the NBA than Rondo?

Consider when he plays well the Celts can't be beat. But, when he is not dominating, he gets dominated. The kid has a long way to go.

100% agree with this!

[Jammer]

The Celtics, last season and this season, out shot opponents FG%.

In the 2009 playoffs, the Celtics were outshot FG% wise.
A partial explanation is that playoff defenses are ramped up, tight in your face,
with plenty of switches;

and the lack of their former low post scorers in KG and Leon Powe;
plus KG's spread the floor money 20 footer was also missing;

but bottom line,
the Celtics who showed for the 2009 playoffs just didn't shoot well.
Part of the reason for this is the thin bench,

but the Celtics, minus KG, needed players to step up,
and Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen's field goal percentages plummeted.
Rondo compensates in other ways, double digit rebounds AND assists;
but Ray and Rajon were too big a part of the Celtics playoff offense to both be shooting so-so.

Scoring wise, Marbury was a complete dud;
Mikki Moore was girly like on the block offensively and defensively;
and except for Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine,
the Celtics did not have a bench to speak of
once Glen Davis moving to the starting lineup.

[sully00]

You can't put a value on not having KG but that said as great as Rondo was against CHI he was that pedestrian in this series. He made some plays but we just could not find many easy baskets in this series.

Some of that credit belongs to ORL they do a great job of crowding shooters and all the 3 pt chucking raises the stakes as we saw last night a 3pt game got 17 in about 5 mins.

I thought Baby and Perk played about as well as they can offensively throughout the series, but if you live and die with those guys your going to die in the playoffs.

In the end if you rely on your stars to be superstars your run is going to end. We needed to close them out in Game 6 they had too many weapons to go the distance.

[celticfan42487]

I think Rondo's inconsistency was more a sign that he is an amazing role player and not a STAR player. Like Netsforce said.

He'll be able to step it up here and there, but not on command. Rondo just doesn't have the tools [ any jumpshot or free throw ability] to take over games or make those last second shots consistently.

Put someone in a position to fail; and they will often fail.

[Celts17Pride]

Celtics lost because KG did not play. End of story.

[Red2]

rondo didn't stop anyone in the post season