POST GAME BOBCATS

BOBCATS 83 Boston 81

I guess you have to look at it that the better team won. I knew that they were going to lose from the start of the game. How, you may ask? Simple KG's body language. His shoulders were drooping all night and he did not have that same old
madman fire in him tonight! There was not one thing you can point to that was positive. Please don't say the defensive held them to 83 points....the Bobcats are not a good shooting team! As Tommy summed it up appropriately ...WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

I promised that I would give up swearing for Lent..........but the Celtics are really pushing my buttons......and faith!!!!!

112288

right now were so not ready for playoffs, this trade hasn't helped the offense, Green has the tools, but we don't go to him enough. Krstic has lost his game, can't even hit point blank shots at rim, starters all off......anyone have any solutions?

Cow,

How about 1...count them 1 assist in the second period! Yes they get Green to be a big offense player and they never work plays to get him the ball!

112288

112288

He should be getting a bigger role in the offense, hes being used like a role player, hes got more game than that. I would hate to think we traded away Perk for what we've got so far from Green and NK. We have got to figure out a way to finish with more energy.....maybe we practiced too hard.

cow

Cow,

The person who has to fix this is not Danny...nor Doc....Paul Pierce is the captain of this team...it's his team.....and he has to fix it!

112288

They've simply lost their mojo... Hope they get it back soon.

And the switch remains off: Celtics fall to Bobcats

Jay King | March 25, 2011 at 10:59 pm | 0 Comments

I don’t know what to write about. I honestly don’t.

I’m looking at a blank screen and thinking about D.J. White dominating, and I don’t know what the hell to type. I’m thinking about the Celtics getting outscored 30-15 in the fourth quarter, and I’m thinking about when the camera panned to Doc Rivers and he looked like someone attending a funeral. I’m thinking about how Rajon Rondo didn’t have an assist in the entire first half, and about how he has seemed completely bored with basketball the past few weeks. I’m thinking about Dante Cunningham (Dante Cunningham!) hitting a game-winning jumper, and I’m thinking about Ray Allen missing a wide open three that would have won, and I’m thinking about Kevin Garnett’s futile last-second heave, and I’m thinking about how it never should have gotten to that point.

When the Celtics led by 13 points, I was already cursing their effort. That they lost, blowing that entire lead in the fourth quarter, was only appropriate. They deserved to lose. Even playing against a team that started Kwame Brown, Boris Diaw, Dominic McGuire, Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin, the Celtics deserved to lose. They didn’t care. They didn’t care to do the small things, like boxing out and sprinting in transition. They didn’t care to do the big things, like defending or playing offense. There’s something seriously missing in Boston right now, something that’s quickly knocking them out of contention for the East’s top seed, something that has even put them in danger of losing home-court advantage against the Miami Heat. What’s missing, exactly? I don’t know. But whatever it is, it has the Celtics playing like zombies.

I don’t want to overreact to one game, but it hasn’t just been one game. It’s a growing pattern which is manifesting itself just like it manifested itself last year, back when Kendrick Perkins admitted the Celtics were bored with the regular season. Maybe they’re bored now. Maybe they’re more hobbled by injuries than we know. Maybe they miss Perkins, or gave up trying for Lent, or have been watching too much NCAA basketball to concentrate on their own play, or really hated the movie “The Adjustment Bureau” and are trying to boycott it by showing they can lose on their own free will.

I don’t know. I have no idea what’s bothering the Celtics, and that’s what’s most troublesome. I can point to Rondo and blame him, but the problems go far beyond Rondo’s oddly disinterested play. I can point to the Kendrick Perkins trade, but that was actually supposed to improve the offense, not make everything a bloody mess. Plus, the trade shouldn’t make the Fab Four so much less productive. Maybe there’s something to the “loss of Ubuntu” theory; in other words, maybe the loss of Perkins hurt chemistry in ways John Hollinger’s formulas could never account for. But I thought—I think—the Big Three are too professional for that, too driven by winning. Aren’t they? Additionally, these losses remind of last year, when Perk was around and healthy. So maybe it’s something else. Or maybe not. As you can probably tell by my rambled thoughts in this paragraph, I’m confused.

The sky isn’t falling. The playoffs will come, and Boston’s energy will improve, and the Celtics will still (rightfully) be considered contenders for the NBA championship, and no team will want to play the Celtics in the postseason, no matter how many times they lose to sub-.500 teams during this slump. But these losses are frustrating, and they should piss us off as fans, and I can only hope they infuriate the Celtics as much as they infuriate me.

At one point, almost despite themselves, and I’ve already mentioned this but it bears repeating, the Celtics led by 13 points. The lead should have been about somewhere between 30 and 40 points at that point, but it wasn’t. They just didn’t seem to care enough to build a big lead, no matter how badly the Bobcats, a 28-42 team missing two of its best players, sucked. The game shouldn’t have come down to the final twelve minutes, and it shouldn’t have come down to the final two three-pointers.

But it did. Eleven games until the playoffs. The proverbial switch remains off.

112288

"Gave up trying for Lent" now that's a good one.

"Bored" is the better reason, a lot like last year but turning it on come playoff time is not automatic. It feels like a lot of weight is being put on Shaq to get back and make things right.

missed the game.

glad i did.

ugly ugly ugly

cowens/oldschool wrote:......anyone have any solutions?

Hi,
I do: wait until playoffs.
Well, I'm kind of following the Celtics' MO: are we in playoffs yet. Reminds me the last year very much.

AK

So, what exactly did you guys practice that day, Doc?

We looked really good, for the first 8 minutes or so. Nice motion offense, sticky defense. As a result, we were up 18-8 and the Bobcats were 2-12 shooting. That was the highlight of the game. The lowlight was the entire 4th quarter. We shot 5-19 with 3 turnovers and gave up 2 steals on top of that woeful shooting. We were outscored 30-15 in the 4th quarter. If I had to try to pick which is worse, giving up 30 points or only scoring 15, I'd have a problem since they are both bad.

112288 said "don't tell me we held them to 83 points, they're not a good shooting team". Good point. On the other hand, neither are we anymore. The Bobcats average 44.6% shooting, last night they shot 43.5%, so we held them just under their season average, but close. They give up 45% to their opponents, last night we shot 40.8%, while our offense averages 48%. That last stat is misleading, however, since we used to average over 50%. Our wretched offensive performances the past few weeks has dragged us down. Either their defense was mighty (some of it was good) or our offense is pathetic. I'm going with our offense. They average 93ppg, so we did hold them 10 points under their average regardless of whether they are a good shooting team or not. We're just not scoring.

1. Glen Davis succeeded in doing something that I didn't think was possible, he made Kwame Brown look good. Kee-rist!! This might be one of, if not the, worst game I've ever seen Baby play. 3-10 fgs, 3rebs and fouled out in 24 minutes? Horrible. He's not moving his feet much on defense. Yes, he did pick up a nice charge on a Bobcat, but for the most part he wasn't putting his body on his man, he wasn't moving his feet on switches.

2. Five turnovers for Rondo. He's not making good decisions and he's sloppy with his ballhandling. Another game where Doc leaves Rondo in for 40 minutes even though he's not having a good game, and only giving Carlos a cameo even though he's doing ok when he's in there. I know Doc's a player's coach and players like to play through their slumps, but we need Carlos to be comfortable running the offense in the playoffs anyway, so why not work him now, especially considering...

3. Another bad game for West. Normally, even when he's shooting poorly, like in this game, his decision making is pretty good. I don't see him making many dumb mistakes. Last night, though, he was hoisting 3ptrs just because he couldn't be bothered waiting for the rest of his teammates to run downcourt with him.

4. Jeff Green was the only bench player that really stood out (Carlos, with only 5 minutes, was good too, but 5 minutes isn't significant). 3-7 shooting and 5 boards, 4 of them offensive, in 26 minutes. Thank God there was somebody I could say something nice about.

5. We were 3-15 from 3. 3-15. Which part of "it's not dropping tonight, try something else" don't they get? Pierce/Allen were 3-12 combined.

6. Our picks are weak. Perk didn't score much but man, when he set a block (even the moving ones) opposing players' teeth rattled. Now, we're in a rush to give a little brush-off pick so we can release and get to our spot for the pass out. That's not the way it should be. The purpose of the pick is to free the ball and force the defense to react. Perk never expected the ball, so he stayed with his pick. Doc's right, everybody's thinking about their game, not the team's.

7. In that absymal 4th quarter, 7 of our fga were 3ptrs. That's 37% of the 4th quarter fga. That's way too many. Granted, two of them were the last second shots by KG and Ray, but that's still too many. We took 5 shots at the rim in the 4th, hitting 3. We have completely forgotten about our mid-range game. It's all 3s or layups. Who are we, Orlando?

We are now 2 games behind Chicago and one game behind LAL and both of them are playing very well. They are finding ways to win while we are finding ways to lose.

We've been playing with our 3rd string center for a long, long time. It was Erden, when the O'Neal boys were out, then Perk coming back from injury and now Krstic. We need at least one of the O'Neals back and we need them soon. We need a few games to work them into the rhythm of the team. Aw, who am I kidding, we have no team rhythm.

It's turning my stomach just reliving this game to write about it. If we're lucky, it's having the same effect on the Celtic roster too. The difference is that all I can do is write about it, they can actually change the outcomes.

bob

.

Bobheck

Lakers at least have a somewhat tough schedule. Bulls not so much. We aint guaranteed to hold the Heat off. Good times. I really think we can beat the Bulls and the Heat but not the Lakes unless the Oneal boys show up. That does not seem likely. Still with all that being said I dont expect the Celts to go quiet. Too much skill and pride. Too well coached. We will figure this puzzle out and I expect this will prolly be the low spot.

jeb wrote:
Bobheck

Lakers at least have a somewhat tough schedule. Bulls not so much. We aint guaranteed to hold the Heat off. Good times. I really think we can beat the Bulls and the Heat but not the Lakes unless the Oneal boys show up. That does not seem likely. Still with all that being said I dont expect the Celts to go quiet. Too much skill and pride. Too well coached. We will figure this puzzle out and I expect this will prolly be the low spot.

Jeb,

Didn't look like a lot of pride last night. Sooo disappointing.

Doc said, in his post-game press interview, "The worst thing I did was put the starters back in the game in the fourth quarter."

After telling them they were soft the game before, if this isn't a punch in the nose...

bob

.

Bob it must have been bad, your not one to rend tunics or whine.

jeb wrote:Bob it must have been bad, your not one to rend tunics or whine.

jeb,

It was bad. I mean, losing the 4th 30-15? We shoot 5-19 and they shoot 10-15? They shot 11fts in the 4th, hitting 9, and it wasn't because of biased referreeing either. They made almost all their possessions count. We took 5fta in the 4th (PP missed both of his). Once again, this wasn't the refs fault. We stayed on the perimeter almost exclusively. We didn't try to take it to them, so we didn't create contact, so we didn't get any calls, nor did we deserve them.

Look, we can still pull our heads out of our arses and win #18. Our playoff position was worse last year and we were only 4 minutes and an MCL away from pulling it off anyway, but this shit has to stop.

bob

.

West's ankle was swollen and so his shooting was affected.

112288