Celts Making No Adjustments Thus Far

6 things I have noticed the last 2 weeks:

1) Celtics are playing with very little confidence. I would not have believed it, but the lack of finishing drives and jumpshot releases (yes you can see lack of confidence in shot releases) tell me this veteran team does not believe in itself at this time;

2) Celtic player and ball movement is some of the worst in the league. Settling for jumpshots and player isolation is not going to take this team very far in the playoffs. Why is the middle still clogged with all of our 3 point shooters to spread the floor? POOR PLAYER and BALL MOVEMENT.

3) Celtics seem more energized with Daniels on the floor.

4) Offensive rebounding and scoring in the paint would improve greatly if Wallace played low. His outside shooting is atrocious so far. Why is this so hard for the Celtics to understand.

5) The Celtics are not closing out on 3-point shooting; another year on those legs and pacing themselves will result in losses to teams they should overpower.

6) Rondo ha got to shoot those 15 ft jumpshots when open - He has to make his defender accountable.

A lot of these reared their ugly heads last season. Very few adjustments have been made. Surprisingly I feel the return of Big Baby may have more effect on this team than either the coaching or rest of the team. His play in last season's playoffs may have been even bigger than we thought.

Go Celtics!

sdceltfan wrote:6 things I have noticed the last 2 weeks:

1) Celtics are playing with very little confidence. I would not have believed it, but the lack of finishing drives and jumpshot releases (yes you can see lack of confidence in shot releases) tell me this veteran team does not believe in itself at this time;

2) Celtic player and ball movement is some of the worst in the league. Settling for jumpshots and player isolation is not going to take this team very far in the playoffs. Why is the middle still clogged with all of our 3 point shooters to spread the floor? POOR PLAYER and BALL MOVEMENT.

3) Celtics seem more energized with Daniels on the floor.

4) Offensive rebounding and scoring in the paint would improve greatly if Wallace played low. His outside shooting is atrocious so far. Why is this so hard for the Celtics to understand.

5) The Celtics are not closing out on 3-point shooting; another year on those legs and pacing themselves will result in losses to teams they should overpower.

6) Rondo ha got to shoot those 15 ft jumpshots when open - He has to make his defender accountable.

A lot of these reared their ugly heads last season. Very few adjustments have been made. Surprisingly I feel the return of Big Baby may have more effect on this team than either the coaching or rest of the team. His play in last season's playoffs may have been even bigger than we thought.

Go Celtics!

Bingo, some good points. Perhaps we signed Rondo too early!

112288

Rondo's swagger is MIA as is his shooting touch at any distance especially and even when unguarded which is often. (Teams swagger is also MIA.)

Little offensive cohesion when he is on the floor. He played smaller than his scant numbers (6-6-6 game & no FTs made or missed) refect which is why he was sitting on the bench for nearly all of the 4th qtr.

His "yips" seem to be contageous.

GC

Oh for the love of god just settle down. We competed tonight. If we hit 3 of those 3's we would have won.

Garnett looked really good on d. This team is going to be fine.

Were you guys watching the same game?

jeb65 wrote:Oh for the love of god just settle down. We competed tonight. If we hit 3 of those 3's we would have won.

Garnett looked really good on d. This team is going to be fine.

Were you guys watching the same game?

Jebster:

To hit 3 more 3's, we would have had to take 30 more heaves. Think that one thru, fella.

Doc said (and I agree) that even if the C's had won, he would not have been happy with what he saw last night.

Docs says that the team is playing "awful" and "disorganized."

I agree.

gc

GA

Not quite so fast. 30 more?

We had open looks and you know darn well he's refering to 3 of the misses we had, not the need to take 30 more.

There we times in that last quarter as PP Eddie and Sheed set their feet and let fly with wide open looks you could feel the crowd just hold it's collect breath with anticipation of a swish. Heck one of them really did appear to go well into the hoop only to pop out.

Momentum might have continued in our favor if any one of those key misses had fallen.

Just my 2 cents and I do agree I'll take a lot more 8-10 footers than threes any day of the week but I do not oppose a wide open look from three either as long as it's in the flow which unfortunately was not the case for many attempts last evening

beat

Actually the C's were hitting the treys at a clip approaching 10% last night. In the Hawks game , they were hitting at a clip closer to 6%.

I was more concerned that we were not finishing at the rim. To hell with the treys. Those tend to come in bunches anyway... like bananas

How many shots under 5 feet did the C's miss? A whole, whole bunch.

We have the yips.

GC

Hi,

There are 2 things that I see that are missing, I suspect that someone may have touched on them already:

• We are not moving the ball in a way to make the defense chase us. In the past two years, this team used to move the ball around the perimeter, until there was an opening, and the defense could be caught off guard.

• On defense, there seems to be a lack of communication, switching, and no double teaming. If we had doubled Carter at certain points last night, we may have been able to take him out of is rhythm.

• Why this is happening is beyond me.

Pete

I thought the Celtics played a strong defensive game although things started out very shaky. They held Orlando to 83 points.

The problem last night was on the offensive end and the substitution patterns were weird.

dboss

Once again it all comes down to Rajon. I think he has played worse since his contract....maybe they should have kept the kid hungry.

He should have been controlling that game and instead he just cruised along when in the game, and because of that, Doc went with Eddie House down the stretch (and he hit some big shots)

I think Sheed with the starters down the stretch is a good strategy...he did a very good job on Howard.

Overall, this is another case of falling behind too far too early, and having to expend a lot of energy to catch up....leaving them just at the top of the peak but not able to get over the top.

Couple of really bad calls down the stretch - couple of times that they made inexplicable plays (Sheed grabbed a great rebound right under them hoop late in the 4th and kicked it to KG instead of just laying it back up)

It was a super come back and a really good game in the end. If the Celtics come out with the same intensity as they ended with, they would have won. The Magic are good and it will take our best effort to beat them. Last night was not our best effort.

There is still NOTHING to worry about. This is a good team, they will right the ship. I am not concerned long term at all.

GC

Beat explained what I was trying to say. If ONE of those wide open looks would have gone in. We just shot terrible. OnCE in a damn lifetime terrible.

We played (other than the first quarter) tremendous defense and KG looked better than he has since his return on D. They played really hard on d. The offense was realy bad but dammit they had great looks and Sheed and Eddie WILL START MAKING THOSE.

I think a lot of people on this board have the yips. I got a small case myself. But the team is going to be fine.

The starts have been pretty bad I dont know what s up with that.

jeb65 wrote:GC

Beat explained what I was trying to say. If ONE of those wide open looks would have gone in. We just shot terrible. OnCE in a damn lifetime terrible.

We played (other than the first quarter) tremendous defense and KG looked better than he has since his return on D. They played really hard on d. The offense was realy bad but dammit they had great looks and Sheed and Eddie WILL START MAKING THOSE.

I think a lot of people on this board have the yips. I got a small case myself. But the team is going to be fine.

The starts have been pretty bad I dont know what s up with that.

Jebster:

I knew exactly what you were trying to say. I was just pullin' your chain a wee bit... and actin' stupid. That comes natural to me.

The defense was fine after the first 12 minutes. Execution at crunch time was terrible. Rondo was clueless and has not picked up his game after becoming a multimillionaire.

A few bright spots. KG looked intense on D. The Big Three had some good moments. How about SWilliams 15 foot jump shot last night! Nothin but net.

I didn't have the yips but came down with a case of the "quick step" after the final horn blew.

gc

So in the halfcourt when Rondos man leaves him to double or plays his drive giving him space and he can't make an open 12 ft jumper,what do we do?If Rondo could hit that shot we'd be 12-1.Is it too late already in season to hope he can hit that shot,if he can't overcome this fatal flaw its going to be a long season.

He can hit the shot, he is just hesitating. I really think it is all confidence for him at that range.

He seems to make every three that he shoots after the whistle is blown

Good observation, Swede. The one Rondo hit last night was from well outside the arc.

He seems to be a very complex young man indeed.

Sam

Complex young man.... agreed.

However, its a simple man's game.

They have to give you something.

They cannot take everything away.

Take advantage of what is given you.

GC

GC

Aw hell your pullin my chain. I am just going to let beat do my talking cause he is of the same mind and says it better.

swedeinestonia wrote:He can hit the shot, he is just hesitating. I really think it is all confidence for him at that range.

He seems to make every three that he shoots after the whistle is blown

whether hes hesitating or whatever,if we have to play 4 on 5 in the halfcourt,gonna make everybody work too hard.I love Rondo,we know he brings intangibles and is an athletic freak,hes got to overcome whatever his shooting difficulties have been,imagine how great we'd be if he was just a 70% FT shooter?

jeb65 wrote:GC

Aw hell your pullin my chain. I am just going to let beat do my talking cause he is of the same mind and says it better.

If you don't want to talk, hellfire, put Jeb64 on the line. I might like him just as good.

What mind are you talking about?

GC

Beat pretty well summed up how I am thinking about Magic loss in his post. I did not see a team that was doomed I saw a team that was trying hard and just flat cold on O. I thought the d was stellar.

Hellz I think we would have ripped them if we could hit any shots. I think we will dismiss them if we play them again in a 7 game series cause I thi nk they are soft. Deep young talented and soft.

Jeb64 got arrested.

When you are a starting PG and shooting FT's at a 25% clip, you sure as heck cannot lead a team. PERIOD!

Your aggressiveness disappears because your greatest fear is that you are going to be hacked and then exposed at the FT line.

Rondo is caught betwixt and between. So goes Rondo, so goes the team.

GC

Jeb

Don't forget we were short one Big Baby who personally (at least at the end) took out Orlando in one game of last year playoffs!

We hit a couple of those momentum shots and get a 2-3 point lead we might have won going away. If if and buts were candy and nuts...............

On to tomorrow

beat

KG played tremendous D that Orlando game. easily the best i've seen him this year so far.

and yeah, we needed a couple of 3's to drop to win that game. we had a lot of wide open looks too so it's not like it was the Magic D stifling our shooters. and if Carter had not hit that difficult fadeaway over Pierce, we would've had a great chance of winning that game too. so there you go. winnable game.

i agree tho that Rondo hasn't been playing up to his contract extension. that's just... sad.



- LilRip

GC,

In a strange sort of way, when a player is having difficulty in one area (like free throw shooting), it could be an ideal time to display leadership.

By not pouting. By not allowing it to affect the rest of his game. By making up for it in other ways. By doing everything he can to overcome the problem. By demonstrating to teammates that he'll never allow his personal challenges to become more important than going all-out on their behalf.

Because it's not when a player is struggling that others cease to follow him. It's when he quits on himself and/or on them. If they know he's working like a dog to persevere under adversity, they'll usually become his biggest fans and allies.

Pierce has gone through periods when his shot is off. And, at such times, you'll find him in double digits in rebounds or assists. He finds another way.

I vividly recall the Celtics' very first championship game in 1957. They were heavily reliant on their backcourt of Cousy and Sharman for scoring punch. But, in that game, Bob and Bill went a combined 5 for 40 (12.5%) from the field. Nonetheless, they maintained their leadership stature through playmaking (Cousy) and very stiff defense (Sharman), and others (mainly Heinsohn and Russ) took up the scoring slack.

There's one thing any player on this team ought to be able to fall back on. When things get tough, do your absolute best, and rely on the fact that it's all about the team.

Sam

Sam wrote:GC,

In a strange sort of way, when a player is having difficulty in one area (like free throw shooting), it could be an ideal time to display leadership.

By not pouting. By not allowing it to affect the rest of his game. By making up for it in other ways. By doing everything he can to overcome the problem. By demonstrating to teammates that he'll never allow his personal challenges to become more important than going all-out on their behalf.

Because it's not when a player is struggling that others cease to follow him. It's when he quits on himself and/or on them. If they know he's working like a dog to persevere under adversity, they'll usually become his biggest fans and allies.

Pierce has gone through periods when his shot is off. And, at such times, you'll find him in double digits in rebounds or assists. He finds another way.

I vividly recall the Celtics' very first championship game in 1957. They were heavily reliant on their backcourt of Cousy and Sharman for scoring punch. But, in that game, Bob and Bill went a combined 5 for 40 (12.5%) from the field. Nonetheless, they maintained their leadership stature through playmaking (Cousy) and very stiff defense (Sharman), and others (mainly Heinsohn and Russ) took up the scoring slack.

There's one thing any player on this team ought to be able to fall back on. When things get tough, do your absolute best, and rely on the fact that it's all about the team.

Sam

Sam:

This will certainly be a wonderful time for Rondo is show his maturity and commitment to team play despite (and maybe because of) his shooting woes.

My gut reaction is that he does not have it within him. Otherwise he would have addressed these issues before this crisis of confidence and would already have paid the price to improve his game. The pressure with the contract extension and the expectations for banner #18 have to be unGodly. His production seems to have fallen off since the extension (don't have the numbers at hand) but that is a clear initial clue that RR is unable to handle increased expectations commensurate with the increase in pay.

I would love for him to prove me wrong. Unfortunately the very best single predictor of future behavior is.... sadly... past behavior. So I am now officially... pessimistic.

A public statement from RR acknowledging his woes might be a signal that he is ready to take the bull by the horns I might find reassuring... particularly since his woes are the worst kept secret in the NBA right now. He needs to man up to this issue... and pronto.

Thing will only get far, far worse for him and for the team if he does not.

GC