Pierce's Words......

[TonyMontana]

Im not talking about the last few minutes of the game, Im taking about the entire game.
Whenever Ray was guarding Salmons he was getting torched.
Also why not go to Zone Defense the last couple of minutes? Why man to man, by running a smaller lineup man to man you know your at a disadvantage, anyone knows that, so when Powe and Moore cant contribute and they are on the bench, why stay man to man? Even if Perkins was burned out, running zone wouldve allowed him to ragain his energy, instead of having to run around trying to guard Miller on his pick and rolls he was running on you guys.

[MyInsatiableOne]

Moore and Perk were basically in foul trouble the entire game, for some pretty GD questionable calls, honestly...but that's the way it goes!

[billfromBoston]

I think people are just getting down on this team because of the record post AS break, but its really a reflection of how this team is built - with so many injuries to rotation players, the team was going to have to slog through the rough times...which is why a hot start was such a focus...

As long as KG, Davis, and Powe are back by friday, this team will have a deep front court rotation and all of its starters back - Perk and Powe have been playing lights out and KG and Davis are sure to deliver the floor spacing look the team needs for its slashers - Moore has been shooting great as well.

With Walker making things happen, this team isn't as desperate for TA and Scal to come back and help out with the wing minutes, so getting them back with 2-3 regular season games left should be enough considering their limited roles and knowledge of the defense.

The only major thing this team needs is to keep working Stephon Marbury as much as possible and get him up to speed - they still have 14 games to do so, which I believe will be enough time. Marbury already looks much, much more comfortable running the team and his own offense will come once he can do more off the dribble, which is about legs.

Barring any further injury the team should have about 7-10 regular season games with which to re-establish chemistry and put it together for the stretch run - the first round of the playoffs will not be steep enough of a challenge to prevent victory as long as the starting 5 are in tact. That will give the team another 5-6 games to gel.

By the time the real challenge comes along, Orl most likely, this team will have played together for about a month - which is ample time to be prepared and at full strength....

...all we have to pray against is further nagging injury problems, but that is beyond our control...as far as looking at the regular season and trying to extrapolate that into how a playoff series will go - forget it.

The games that the Cavs, Lakers, and Celts have played against each other have all come with sub-plots that factor into their outcomes, but each game has been a game up for grabs into the 4th quarter --- I think all 3 are capable of beating any of the others regardless of home court - it'll be health and continuity that decides those series, not some notion of regular season superiority.

If the HCA team won the title all the time i'd be far more inclined to care about who the "best" regular season team was....this is about matchups and adjustments - playoff basketball...of which, the Celtics, when healthy, are quite capable...

[Rocky5000]

Im not talking about the last few minutes of the game, Im taking about the entire game.
Whenever Ray was guarding Salmons he was getting torched.
Also why not go to Zone Defense the last couple of minutes? Why man to man, by running a smaller lineup man to man you know your at a disadvantage, anyone knows that, so when Powe and Moore cant contribute and they are on the bench, why stay man to man? Even if Perkins was burned out, running zone wouldve allowed him to ragain his energy, instead of having to run around trying to guard Miller on his pick and rolls he was running on you guys.

Powe was injured something like 4 minutes into the game. We did end up building a 15 point lead going with a smaller lineup so it wasn't all bad. It was really just Brad Miller who killed us down the stretch. Moore was trying to guard him and quickly fouled out. Which left us with just Perkins trying to protect the hoop. In that situation we either end up giving up layups, because Perk is boxing out Miller, or he zones and leaves Miller, which ends up with Miller grabbing the rebound because he's 6" taller than everyone else on the floor.

[BRUNiNHO91]

Im not talking about the last few minutes of the game, Im taking about the entire game.
Whenever Ray was guarding Salmons he was getting torched.
Also why not go to Zone Defense the last couple of minutes? Why man to man, by running a smaller lineup man to man you know your at a disadvantage, anyone knows that, so when Powe and Moore cant contribute and they are on the bench, why stay man to man? Even if Perkins was burned out, running zone wouldve allowed him to ragain his energy, instead of having to run around trying to guard Miller on his pick and rolls he was running on you guys.

Powe was injured something like 4 minutes into the game. We did end up building a 15 point lead going with a smaller lineup so it wasn't all bad. It was really just Brad Miller who killed us down the stretch. Moore was trying to guard him and quickly fouled out. Which left us with just Perkins trying to protect the hoop. In that situation we either end up giving up layups, because Perk is boxing out Miller, or he zones and leaves Miller, which ends up with Miller grabbing the rebound because he's 6" taller than everyone else on the floor.

Exactly. And down the stretch when PP guarded Miller, he had 5 fouls, and did not want to foul out being that he was the only offense for us in the game. Then Perk got Miller for a while and also had 5 fouls and did not want to foul out, being he was the only big for us in the game. There was no way we could have won this game..Who ever PP was on, the Bulls played through to get him fouled out. They got easy buckets with Rose, Miller and Salmons because PP did not want to foul. You can't play defense if 2 of your players have 5 fouls, and you have NOBODY on the bench to replace em. We really were screwed from the moment Mikki fouled out...

And for the people who stay saying Boston keeps using injuries as an excuse, WE DON'T. Cleveland got injured too..yes..but not all at once like the Celtics! That's what we are trying to say. Rondo played slow motion last night after he busted his ankle again. Ray messed up his elbow, which really affected his shooting towards the end. Powe was out, Tony, Garnett, Davis, Scal...today we might have to play with Marbury, House, Pierce, Moore and Perk....with NO BIG on the bench and only Pruitt, Giddens and Walker on the bench...ridiculous....we will lose again today, but as Pierce said, when we get healthy the league is in trouble...and please don't say we can't beat Cleveland because they are better and we are worse then last year...that is ridiculous...people just don't learn..We went 7 against the Hawks, and people panicked saying we would lose to The Cavs..then we go 7 against the Cavs and beat em in teh final minutes..then plp said we would lose to the Pistons, and we lose game 2 and all hell breaks loose..but we go and pick up game 3 and just run over them in 6..and again going into the finals people would say, 'Ohh Boston will get swept by the LA because LA is killing teams and Boston is just barely beating them'.. we went 6 against them and just whupped them...so yeah keep talkin people..keep comparing games, and teams and all that ish..come playoff time we will see how it all goes..damn I wrote alot...wow...

[TonyMontana]

Im not talking about the last few minutes of the game, Im taking about the entire game.
Whenever Ray was guarding Salmons he was getting torched.
Also why not go to Zone Defense the last couple of minutes? Why man to man, by running a smaller lineup man to man you know your at a disadvantage, anyone knows that, so when Powe and Moore cant contribute and they are on the bench, why stay man to man? Even if Perkins was burned out, running zone wouldve allowed him to ragain his energy, instead of having to run around trying to guard Miller on his pick and rolls he was running on you guys.

Powe was injured something like 4 minutes into the game. We did end up building a 15 point lead going with a smaller lineup so it wasn't all bad. It was really just Brad Miller who killed us down the stretch. Moore was trying to guard him and quickly fouled out. Which left us with just Perkins trying to protect the hoop. In that situation we either end up giving up layups, because Perk is boxing out Miller, or he zones and leaves Miller, which ends up with Miller grabbing the rebound because he's 6" taller than everyone else on the floor.

Were talking about when there was I think a minute or so left when Doc pulled out Perkins and the Pierce shot his freethrows.
After that Perkins shouldve been in the game even with 5 fouls and you guys were down by three, but he wasnt and Miller got the rebound.

[infinite11285]

The most injuries the Cavs have suffered at one time was when Pavs, West, Z, Gibson, Wally and Kinsey were out. Right now Wallace is out and Wally got injured again last night and will miss 2-3 weeks.

However, I think the Celtics have suffered the most injuries to the most significant players to their rotation. Anyway, I hope you guys are at 100% in the playoffs. Good luck guys, I'm out.

[MVE85]

Im not talking about the last few minutes of the game, Im taking about the entire game.
Whenever Ray was guarding Salmons he was getting torched.
Also why not go to Zone Defense the last couple of minutes? Why man to man, by running a smaller lineup man to man you know your at a disadvantage, anyone knows that, so when Powe and Moore cant contribute and they are on the bench, why stay man to man? Even if Perkins was burned out, running zone wouldve allowed him to ragain his energy, instead of having to run around trying to guard Miller on his pick and rolls he was running on you guys.

Powe was injured something like 4 minutes into the game. We did end up building a 15 point lead going with a smaller lineup so it wasn't all bad. It was really just Brad Miller who killed us down the stretch. Moore was trying to guard him and quickly fouled out. Which left us with just Perkins trying to protect the hoop. In that situation we either end up giving up layups, because Perk is boxing out Miller, or he zones and leaves Miller, which ends up with Miller grabbing the rebound because he's 6" taller than everyone else on the floor.

Were talking about when there was I think a minute or so left when Doc pulled out Perkins and the Pierce shot his freethrows.
After that Perkins shouldve been in the game even with 5 fouls and you guys were down by three, but he wasnt and Miller got the rebound.

Totally agree, I was very confused when Perk wasn't in there at the end, it ended up killing us as Brad Miller got a crucial rebound over of all people, Rondo trying to box him out. That being said, we had Bill friggin Walker playing the 4 for virtually the entire 4th quarter with Moore out. I also think people are overlooking that Moore was cut by the Kings....yes the Kings....and now with Davis, Powe, and Scal all out....hes thrown into the fire and he cant control his fouls (just like every other big on this team outside of KG)

infinite11285, to adress the comment about the C's playing lazy....you said it yourself you haven't watched these games...how can you make these assumptions? Also claiming other teams are dealing with injuries...We are not only missing the Defensive player of the year and team leader, but also 4 of our main rotation guys.

Ive said it before and il say it again, I might break down and cry of happiness on Friday if Garnett, Davis, and Powe all come back

[Rocky5000]

Im not talking about the last few minutes of the game, Im taking about the entire game.
Whenever Ray was guarding Salmons he was getting torched.
Also why not go to Zone Defense the last couple of minutes? Why man to man, by running a smaller lineup man to man you know your at a disadvantage, anyone knows that, so when Powe and Moore cant contribute and they are on the bench, why stay man to man? Even if Perkins was burned out, running zone wouldve allowed him to ragain his energy, instead of having to run around trying to guard Miller on his pick and rolls he was running on you guys.

Powe was injured something like 4 minutes into the game. We did end up building a 15 point lead going with a smaller lineup so it wasn't all bad. It was really just Brad Miller who killed us down the stretch. Moore was trying to guard him and quickly fouled out. Which left us with just Perkins trying to protect the hoop. In that situation we either end up giving up layups, because Perk is boxing out Miller, or he zones and leaves Miller, which ends up with Miller grabbing the rebound because he's 6" taller than everyone else on the floor.

Were talking about when there was I think a minute or so left when Doc pulled out Perkins and the Pierce shot his freethrows.
After that Perkins shouldve been in the game even with 5 fouls and you guys were down by three, but he wasnt and Miller got the rebound.

Alright, so you are talking about the last minutes? I agree with that Doc should have played Perk then, but according to Doc. Perk had no energy left and he was planning on not burning a time out that possession, so he wanted a bunch of offensive players out there. Keeping Perk in would have been a good move, but because Rose forced a switch on the pick, Rondo would have still been trying to box out Miller, and Perk may have not done as good of a job on Rose. We were pretty much screwed regardless of what Doc did.

Rose actually made the wrong play by taking that shot at the end, because Miller had pretty deep post position and should have been able to just layup the ball with Rondo on him. Perhaps he feels it's his responsibility to take all of the end of game shots.

[sully00]

The reason Perk wasn't in there was we were down three, I think Doc was hoping for a stop and get the tie in transition, if Perk was in there defensively they would take it right into him. We were just out manned.

Anyone who does not think that the Boston Celtics are at worst even odds to win this thing are set for rude awakening. These guys have done this before, KG is still the most dominant force in the game on both ends people need to hit a Tivo or something, dude is a about to get out the cage with a full tank of gas.

The Celts are so much better than last year. Perkins, Baby, Powe are all much better players than they were a year ago and more than make up for anything they lost in PJ Brown. Posey is a loss but Marbury looks to be finding his legs and he is going to be such a weapon in the playoffs. We lost two game to CLE just because we could not initiate offense and score the ball, Rondo is on a whole 'nother level scoring the ball and add Marbs to that and Mo Williams and Co will be on roller skates.

The Cavs were better but I think without Wallace they are toast if they get him back healthy it is another thing but I don't think they even make the conference finals without him and shocker Wally is hurt.

The win loss is overrated it doesn't tell the story of what this team is going through right now. Perkins is developing into offensive option and Baby and Powe are giving this team starter quality play. Even Bill Walker is getting a chance to get a taste and may be able to give this team the explosive play that Tony Allen has on the offensive end and he actually isn't all that bad defensively.

Yeah go ahead and sleep on the C's just have you Kleenex handy.

[Kefa461]

We just needed a win any way we could get it with bodies going down left and right to get our spirits back up,” Pierce said. “We know that we are injured, we know that we are losing guys every other day, but just to get back into a winning mindset is big for us, especially when we’re going to San Antonio a couple of days later.

“Hopefully on this road trip (a two-gamer through San Antonio and Memphis) we get a few bodies back. If not, we continue to grind these games out until the guys get better.”

But even with these hardships, the C’s have been remarkably buoyant, according to the Celtics captain.

“That’s the one great thing about this team,” Pierce said. “We’ve never been down, we’ve never looked at one another and pointed a finger at one another. . . . We just have to put our hard hats on and our work boots on and continue to work regardless of who’s there.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/bask ... position=1

[MyInsatiableOne]

That's what separates the winners from losers...that attitude. I'm very proud of this team fighting through all the adversity! And as guys come back it's going to get better and better...

[Athanacropolis]

Spoken like a true captain and leader.

[floyd]

To the guy that said "injuries can't be an excuse." When u have to throw out a 5 man lineup of 3 pgs and two small forwards because you only have 2 bigs and one of them has fouled out, then injuries aren't an excuse - they're the reason u lost.

They're gonna work out the kinks these last 14 games, get Pierce and Ray some much needed rest, get Marbs integrated, then destroy the first round opponent.

If this were all happening a month from now I'd be worried. Time's on our side.

[MyInsatiableOne]

To the guy that said "injuries can't be an excuse." When u have to throw out a 5 man lineup of 3 pgs and two small forwards because you only have 2 bigs and one of them has fouled out, then injuries aren't an excuse - they're the reason u lost.

They're gonna work out the kinks these last 14 games, get Pierce and Ray some much needed rest, get Marbs integrated, then destroy the first round opponent.

If this were all happening a month from now I'd be worried. Time's on our side.

Don't you remember, injuries are only an excuse for the C's...for the Lakers, Cavs, Magic, Spurs, etc *then* it's the reason. Never forget the double-standard!