Great article on Celtics stats last year Vs. this year!

[klemen4]

I found this great article on Celtics stats on NBA.COM comparing first 12 games to last season.

Read it!!

http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/john_schuhmann/11/19/111908_numbersgame/index.html

[Havlicek17]

It is a small sample size (12 games), but dem are the facts. We're not dominating teams like we did last year when the season first started.

Last year, the excitement of starting the Big Three up, created a lot of energy on the team that hasn't been duplicated by a short summer this year. These guys just don't have the same energy as they did early last season and are trying to coast a lot more this year. Losing big leads or having to climb back from being down 15 or 20 is has been all too common, and because of this, instead of resting the big three, they have played more minutes per game than last year.

It's still early, 10 and 2 is all that matters, so I am not worried. We will improve our turnovers and overall offensive efficiency as the season goes on. But in order to lower starter minutes, I think we will need to improve our bench a little. Although I think Posey was good ballplayer while he was here, and I hated to lose him, I believe we did the right thing because will get a veteran by the allstar break to replace his contribution off the bench.

An interesting side note. Ray has been getting a lot of negative press on this board about his play this year and yet his offensive efficiency numbers are the best of the big three.

I have little doubt, PP, KG, and Ray will do better and we will play better as a team as the year goes on.

[ParticleMan]

i think we peaked too early last year anyway. i'd rather struggle and get by now, and turn up the heat in the playoffs. that's what championship teams do. last year was an exception, not a rule.

[lastgh0st]

Remember no one knew what we could do in the first 12 games of last season. At the beginning of this season every team has 102+ game tapes with what we like to run all diagramed and noted. Plus they had an entire offseason to try and find a way to break us. Also what team isn't going to play their heart out to dethrone the champs? Fun article though.

[BillessuR6]

Great article! It tells us a lot about why we are "struggling"...

I am really looking forward to seeing how these stats change during the course of the season...

[GuyClinch]

A very good article - but I think the crux of the problems with the offense isn't the laziness on the part of the big 3 - but teams learning how to defend the C's better. They take advantage of Rondo and Perkins to double cover the big 3. Notice how many difficult shots both Paul and Ray put up late in the shot clock..

[celticfan42487]

decent article... although we were getting blowouts and now were not. So it's pretty self evident the stats look worse from last year.

Last year we have the 7th best point diffrential ALL TIME in the NBA for a regular season. There have been many many teams with regular seasons played before last year... it was a special season. And setting NBA records shouldn't be expected.

[return2glory]

Good article. The turnovers are still an issue as everyone knows, we are the worst in the league in that area. And we are scoring about 8 points less a game than last year. That is why it's important for us to add a good offensive player. That is why I hoped we could get McDyess, we would have helped a lot.

[pERKiSaBEAST]

I read this article, I think it's horrible.'

The stats aren't even that far off, and we've had some horrible shooting nights.

classic example of trying to make a mountain out of an ant dune.

[return2glory]

I read this article, I think it's horrible.'

The stats aren't even that far off, and we've had some horrible shooting nights.

classic example of trying to make a mountain out of an ant dune.

It's a good article, it's not great and it's not horrible. It's kind of obvious. Those that follw the Celtics closely now that we aren't getting the blowouts like he did last year. We were winning on an average of 10 points per game vs about 4-5 points this year. The reason for that is we are scoring about 7-8 points less a game. Our defense is just as good, but our offense is struggling.

The main reason for our offensive struggles IMO are the play of our point gaurds. Rondo doesn't even look to score anymore and House is shooting 37% from the field and 25% from 3's.

[pERKiSaBEAST]

I'm not worried about the offense.

But Ray Allen is still not really finding his niche, too much dribbling by ray ray.

I like Ray driving when the floor is spread and he's 1 on 1 or if there's a clear path, but too much dribbling into traffic by ray.

Only people dribbling through the lane when there's traffic should be: Rondo, Pierce, TONY Allen, not Ray.

I'm not trying to say ray should only be a spot up shooter, but you know.

Article was very premature and not really telling imo, too early in the season, we have played some GREAT TEAMS, who trying their VERY HARDEST to beat the champs.


The Cavs are a great team, much better then the lakers, we handled them, the rockets with everyone healthy.

Pacers was an anomaly, Nuggets outplayed us, and we let Kenyon bully is into playing passive, when he should have been chumped by Big Baby, KG, Powe, or Perk.



Season is just starting, we will get better and start blowing teams out, trust me.

[pERKiSaBEAST]

Our lower shooting percentage is (atleast in part) a direct result of teams being more physical with us and continuing to be physical throughout the game because we are not returning the physicality.

Doc's theory is: "just play basketball, forget all the extra stuff"...but you can't keep ignoring overly physical play and not have some of your guys like Baby step up and return it, it tires you team out when teams think they can get away with scott free with no repercussion, they do it more and more and to a greater extent.


This definetly ties in to their poorer shooting percentage, we gotta be more physical with these teams, set a tone, even if a couple key guys foul out of a couple games or pickup flagrants.