Doc has Changed the Recipe - Go Back to Eddie & Tony

[Jammer]

The premise of this post is the use of the 5 guards on the Celtics.

I have been pretty consistent in a view, that worked for almost the entire season, that has now been modified by Doc Rivers.

Doc, pre-Sam Cassell, played a very straight starter/backup rotation of

Rajon Rondo/Eddie House at point guard and

Ray Allen/Tony Allen at shooting guard.

House had the best season of his career, playing like a team player and point guard, while providing 7.5 ppg off the bench in 19 mpg.

Tony Allen provided 6.6 ppg in 18 minutes.

House's numbers are inflated by probably 2 minutes per game due to injuries to Rondo and Ray Allen, and Tony's are probably inflated by 8 mpg.

My fear when Sam Cassell was brought in was that instead of being a 5th guard, subbing for House or Tony Allen at either PG or SG on days when one of Rondo, House, Ray Allen or Tony Allen WERE OFF,

was that Doc would elevate Sam over Eddie/Tony and disrupt the chemistry that had worked for an entire season.

That is exactly what has happened not only the last two games, but also late in the season.

The rotation of the guards has completely been altered, and what worked is gone.

House doesn't play like the old House, he tries to be a point guard.

When he was first in line, he was a point guard AND shooter. I still think that House should be the first PG off the bench, with Sam as the last resort, where at that point it won't matter if Sam's shot isn't falling, since their is no one else to turn.

I can't believe that Danny or Doc would have made any concessions to loud mouth Sam, whose incessant "I'm the backup point guard" talk the minute he arrived I thought was complete BS until he earned it. He never earned it, but was given it, and therein, I submit, lies the problem.

Ditto for SG, where Tony's solid Defense, rebounding, and ability to make things happen worked great on his good days. Again, if he's off, then use Sam.

The Celtics deprived themselves of this the past two games, and will never know if they could have pulled out the last game (I think definately) and the prior game (I think Possibly) had they stuck to the original formula, and used Sam as a 5th guard, and not the first guy off the bench, since in my book he never beat out Eddie or Tony.

Well, I've said my piece.

I know Sam has a lot of lovers on this board, but I felt this way before he arrived.

[canman1971]

Well, I feel Doc needs to choose a direction, and stick with it. Basketball is about rhythm and not playing House the whole series and putting him in during the 4th for an extended time is setting him up for failure. That is poor coaching IMO. That being said, I lean towards your thinking. In this series, Sam is a statue and it is being exposed greatly.

[BrokenLeftyJumper]

I tend to agree. I question if the Celtics screwed up by going against the old 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' rule.

Seems like everybody bugged out and overreacted the second Eddie House had trouble bringing the ball up in that one game against Detroit.

Sam has played well in spurts, but we need him to be more consistent.

Nevertheless, the Hawks still need to take one at the Garden, a place they lost by 20 in the last two games played there.

[Jammer]

It seems like playing Sam with his One on One, "Sam I Am" style goes against "Ubuntu".

As a matter of fact, it may have destroyed Ubuntu.

That Cassell lives in Kevin Garnett's home, and doesn't have his own place, is part of the problem, also, I submit.

Doc let the team get away from him, by letting Sam take over without earning it.

[Benjamerica]

We should be using Cassell the way we're using House, and not at the end of close games.

Eddie looked good IMO while running point. I loved his passes, shot, lift off the bench. Now we're lucky to see him.

I really hate our rotation now. Especially last couple games. Doc over reacts to things in terms of pulling our guys out. . . Seeing too much of Big Baby and Samiam during the beef of the game.

[The Rondo Show]

House is terrible in the playoffs. The D gets tighter and better in the playoffs and he becomes useless. He's a career 36.3% shooter in the playoffs (41-113) and when he got his chance for slightly over 6 minutes in the 4th last night to run our offense, we scored 4 points and blew a 10 point lead with him in there.

We either need to play Rondo for 48 minutes a game or someone (KG and Perk?) needs to give Sam Cassell the beating of his life until he realizes he's merely a role player. He could be a great backup if he didn't think he was a superstar and have the worst shot selection in the league (with the Celtics anyways).

Or considering Bibby can not put the type of ball pressure on us other point guards can, maybe we should move Ray Allen to PG and play Tony Allen more while Rondo's on the bench. At least Joe Johnson wouldn't score what; 20 points in the 4th (?) with Tony Allen covering him.

[Celtics_85]

The announcers said it best last night about Rondo backing off Bibby and not playing him tight the last two games. He needs to get back to pressureing Bibby all over the court. The last two games though, Johnson has handled the ball more for Atlanta.
I had to leave for work with 7 minutes left in the game and as expected when I saw the box score this morning I was still mad about one thing. Our best wing defender sits on our bench while Joe Johnson makes Ray, Pierce, and Posey look like D-League defenders. None of these guys can stay in front of Johnson and they let him in the lane at will. Hey Doc, where is Tony Allen here? I can't believe you let this guy beat us and never let Tony off the bench to pressure him on the perimeter. I have never talked bad about Doc's coaching, but this is just a total blunder on his behalf. Not ot mention the fact that Tony can take any player off the dribble and create fouls on the Atlanta defenders, as nobody else seems to want to take the ball to the basket letting Atlanta turn the offense into a jump shooting team where they have the athletic ability to contest our jumpers.
For the first time all year this team has hit a snag and have some controversy to work through. We will see just how the team will react to this pressure because it won't be the last they will see before the end of the playoffs. I agree that we need to get back to what got us here and not change just because it is the playoffs. If Garnett, Pierce, and Ray are the big three, then they need to start acting like it.