KG is Starting to Play Soft Again

[The Rondo Show]

KG is not playing anywhere near the way he is capable of, but he's not playing soft. He is averaging 13.5 boards per game and playing his typical great D (aside from that one poster Gasol put him on in the 1st). That's not the type of thing someone soft does.

As for his offense, I'll just second BrokenLeftyJumper's post. The only difference in his offense the fact that he's missing good looks that he's hit all year--which has nothing to do with softness and has to do with a (mini) shooting slump. Those 16 footers will fall again and we won't hear about how soft KG is.

I would like to see him play inside a bit more. More so than playing on the post, I'd like to see him put the ball on the floor and go to the hoop, though. LA is doubling him on the catch every time he's on the post and he has to kick it back out. LA doesn't seem to take too many charges, so he doesn't have to worry a ton about offensive fouls the way Kobe does with our D.

[The Rondo Show]

-= original quote snipped =-


There is a reason why KG hasn't made it to the Finals and his teams have struggled in the playoffs. The reason is that KG settles too much on his outside game.

No, it's not. The reason why KG has never made it to the Finals until this year is because he's only had 1 other supporting cast remotely close to championship caliber, in '03-'04 with the Wolves when he made the WCF and lost to the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. Considering Cassell was injured in that series, you could argue that wasn't really a championship caliber supporting cast either, at least not in that series.

In the two years KG has had a good supporting cast, he's made the WCF and lost to a dominant Lakers team with his 2nd best player and PG injured and he's in the Finals, up 2-0. His style is fine for the playoffs. He's been our best player in these playoffs (or 2nd best behind Pierce) and he has career averages of 22-12.3-4.5 in the playoffs.

[pfm]

Agree with most here that Garnett is not playing soft, but I would definitely like to see him go inside more often. I really like his face up game on Gasol because of his quickness advantage. When KG faces up from about 15 it seems he almost always can get by Gasol to either finish or distribute and at worst he pulls up for a 5 foot jumper off the drive.

[celticfan42487]

Soft is a touchy words these days, especially since The Great Gonzolays has practically trademarked it with a Laker downfall.

Stupid is a diffrent word. Offensively KG is playing stupid. He has a matchup advantage with Pierce, and is the only other capable offensive player on our team with this advatage.

And when his shot isn't falling instead of getting high percentage shots he stays out shooting the same shots he has been missing, when he gets closer opportunities he passes the ball from open 12 feet shots to have a less capable player bail him out with under 8 seconds on the clock. He doesn't ask for the ball down low.

[Doc mentioned in both post games that they wanted it in the post more with KG.. you can't get it to him if he's out in 18 feet]

So when you ARE an offensive mismatch, an all-star, and the logical assumption is that your team NEEDS you to contribute offensively and rather then maning up and taking advantage of matchups offensively you pass the ball off rather then take it to hoop when struggling you are playing stupidly. You are making your teammates work harder then need be.

In the first half of game 1 we saw KG drive twice, TWICE to the hole. Both times he scored and there was nothing LA could do. More times would of lead to fouls [thanks for showing how it's done Powe]. We need to have KG step up offensively and recognize he is a major mismatch offensively like he was in the regular season against the Lakers...

[BrokenLeftyJumper]

BrokenLeftyJumper wrote:
Quote:
What I don't like is when people can't admit when a player isn't playing well. I gaurantee a lot more people would be on KG right now if the series was 1-1.


You should have just named this thread 'KG is missing his shots again', not restarted your 'KG is soft' diatribe. Why do you just assume that KG is a dominant post player? That he can score down low easier than he can from the outside? It makes no sense to me. KG has built a hall of fame career on being able to play away from the hoop. What your seeing from him every night is his game, when he misses shots it doesn't mean he's being soft, it means hes just missing shots. I'll take the 'soft' KG who has become a dominant player based on his ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter, over this idealized fantasyland 'tough' version of KG who has this dynamite post up game.


No one is saying KG has a dominant post up game. He doesn't come close to being a dominant post up player. But he can be an effective post player. He is 7 feet tall, has long arms, good jumping ability, and a very high point of release on his shot that is nearly unblockable.

And I don't have a problem with KG shooting 20 footers, I mentioned that and realize that is a huge part of his offense. What I mind is that when his outside shot isn't falling, he needs to get closer looks and get to the line.

There is a reason why KG hasn't made it to the Finals and his teams have struggled in the playoffs. The reason is that KG settles too much on his outside game. In the playoffs, it's more about getting easier baskets.

Everytime we needed points last night with the Lakers making that huge run, KG was nowhere. Pierce is the one that got us the points. How did Pierce do this? By driving to the basket and either getting to the line or scoring on lay ups.

This team needs another low post scorer in a bad way. I've been saying this for a while now and hope Ainge can improve the team in this area in the draft.

KG is what he is and I'm grateful that he is on our team. And I know his what his game is and what his weaknesses are. There aren't many. But I now KG is a capable low post scorer and he needs to get on the block a little more and make some plays down there.

I see where your coming from, I think the flaw is that you and others automatically assume that KG is taking easier shots by posting up. I think KG's easiest shot is the 15-20 footer. He hits that with great regularity. And its the only shot KG has no hesitation about shooting, so its quite clear its the shot KG is more comfortable with.

I agree with you that the C's need to get easy shots down the stretch of games. But I think KG is taking an easier shot when he faces from 15 than when he posts and shoots a turnaround.

[Albanian Damien]

KG has been taking the shots the D's given him He's supposed to do that. It's not like he's just shooting jumper after jumper with a defender in his face.

[Gomes3PC]

Garnett is not playing soft. Like Ray Allen, he is a jumpshooter, and a damn good one at that. Like Ray Allen, he has hit a bit of a funk on offense. Unlike Ray Allen, when he isn't scoring, he's still bringing good/great defense and 12-15 rebounds, which is huge for a team like LA that loves to push the tempo. If you control the glass you control the tempo.

Seems like you always have something to nitpick about r2g. Even with a 'soft' KG and a 'stupid' Perk, we're still outclassing the media- (and Vegas-) favored Lakers. That's a good thing in my book.

[Joyeuse]

The mid-range jumper is his shot. I thought he was taking them from a little too close to the three point line, but if he has an open jump shot, I want him taking it.

[bruno sundov]

I think when they did get KG the ball he made an effort to take it to the hole.

[cisco]

KG made no efforts to play in the post last night. He was driving me NUTS! What's going on with him. He played so great in the post in game 1 and we haven't seen him play like that the last two games. In fact, he is just settling for jumper after jumper after jumper even though he is struggling with said jumper. I understand that it not KG's game, but it MUST be his game for the next few games if the Celtics want to win this series. I know PP struggled too, even more so than KG, but the Celtics would still have won that game if KG had asserted himself in the post.

C'mon KG, get your ass in the post! And the players should even let him touch the ball if he is standing at the 3 point line!

[celticfan42487]

KG has been taking the shots the D's given him He's supposed to do that. It's not like he's just shooting jumper after jumper with a defender in his face.

Well have to edit this post after last game. hands in face, even a block and still shooting jumpers and still missing them.

[return2glory]

This was posted in Larry Joe Bird's thread.

It seems like foxsports agrees with me.
This is what they wrote after game 3:

2. "KG's versatility doomed Celtics in Game 3" By Mark Kriegel

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8233516/KG

Excerpt:

Garnett is 7 feet tall. His wingspan approximates that of a private jet. He's a vastly superior athlete

[tombattor]

I'm beginning to see why KG never could lead his team anywhere. He's a great player and a great talent, but his offensive game is lacking consistency. Thank God, we have Ray and Paul to do the heavy lifting on offense. Even then, KG's D has been as solid as always and that's one of the biggest reasons we're where we are.

With that said, if I had to pick the MVP of the Celtics in this series, so far, I'd go with Ray. He's shown up for every game and if it wasn't for Doc's genius game plan to go away from Ray in the 4th quarter, he may have carried us to a win last night.

[Barry Lird]

R2G, I think it's clear that you were right from the get go. A lot of people had problems with the terminology, the 'soft' moniker.

Definitely, if you're knocking down the jumper at a good clip, and that's what they're giving you, then take it. If your shot is (and has been) off, then start taking it to the hole. Good things happen when you do; you'll make the shot, or they'll foul you, or they'll double you and you can get a good look for one of your mates.

It's just stupid to keep settling for jumper after jumper when it's not working.

I think Garnett will get the message and mix it up more inside enough for us to win 2 more games. Let's face it, we played a really crappy game (outside of Ray), and still nearly won the game. I think it's clear that we're the better team, but we need to snag one of these last 2 games in LA. There's no way they beat us twice in Boston.

R2G, good post and good observations.

[return2glory]

Thanks,Barry Lird.

But why can't the coaching staff and KG see this? They should have made an adjustment in KG's game approach going into game 3. KG is not a great low post player, but he is a very capable player. He is too good of a player to just settle for those shots nearly all the time. It's getting frustrated. We could have easily one that game, despite Pierce's off night.

[ShowtimeFan]

Question for Boston fans, How did KG do on the Road during the Atlanta and Cleveland games?

[chuckerz]

KG: "man i can make any of my jump shots"

Doc: "Don't be like Stack, take it to the rack KG."

Right now, with KG taking outside shots, they are becoming more of a shooting team. There's no one right now who can score down low besides Powe and maybe Perkins. If KG starts posting up or getting in the paint, maybe things will be different.

[TheMartian]

Good news fellas... it seems KG is finally beginning to see the light:

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/10862052

If you're a Boston fan, there is good news here. Other than me, because I'm awfully disappointed, nobody is more disappointed in Kevin Garnett than Kevin Garnett.

"I think for the most part, shooting-wise, I had a pretty awful game," Garnett said. "As far as energy and grabbing rebounds and trying to block some shots, I thought I was active at times. But for the most part, hey, it's not a perfect game. I know at times we make it look easy, but that's the great thing about this league; we have some more games to play, and I'm sure I'll get better."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson tried to give Garnett an out. Without taking any credit at all for Garnett's 6-for-21 shooting performance, which included a measly one appearance at the foul line, Jackson opined that Garnett stopped Garnett.

"I just think Kevin ran out of gas," Jackson said.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers tried the same tack, noting Pierce's foul troubles forced Garnett to try to do too much.

"I don't know if Kevin was tired or not," Rivers said, "but we rarely play (him) 12 straight minutes, and with Paul in foul trouble we basically had no choice."

Garnett wasn't having it. He was a disappointment Tuesday night, and he knows it. To be honest, he has been a disappointment throughout the NBA Finals, even if he is averaging 18 ppg. For most players, 18 ppg is a great series. For someone with Garnett's unmatched skills, it's a letdown.

He says he'll be better Thursday.

"I probably do need to take the ball to the basket a little more," he said.

Let's just hope he remains true to his word.