Droughts Killing Celtics

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2014/01/droughts_killing_boston_celtic.html


Droughts 'killing' Boston Celtics, says head coach Brad Stevens

Print Jay King, MassLive.com By Jay King, MassLive.com
on January 12, 2014 at 10:55 AM


PORTLAND, Ore. -- When the Boston Celtics led just 32-27 after one quarter Saturday despite shooting 70 percent from the field, the advantage felt unsustainable.

And even when the Celtics increased their advantage to 51-41 with 4:53 left before halftime, nothing about the margin felt secure. Jerryd Bayless had just hit a pullup jumper from the right wing to push Boston ahead by 10 when a former NBA player seated in the media section predicted the Celtics still seemed destined for a blowout loss.

“They might be down 15 by halftime,” the former NBA player said, not requiring a crystal ball to see a glimpse of the future.

The Celtics did not actually trail by 15 at the end of the second quarter, but they missed their next eight shots, went scoreless for more than two minutes, allowed Portland to tie the score at 54-all, and only led 60-58 at halftime.

“We were shooting almost 70 percent in the first half (actually 61.9) and we were only up by two points,” Gerald Wallace said. “That should tell you a lot right there.”

Portland’s scoring seemed like it could (and would) go on forever, unimpeded by defense or cold streaks or anything else. Boston’s scoring felt destined to end, forcefully, at least for a few minutes at a time. The only chance the Celtics seemed to have was slowing down the powerful Trail Blazers attack. Outscoring the Blazers never felt like a realistic option.

“They did what they do. Their offense is just outstanding,” Stevens said. “It really moves well and flows well. We talked about the continuity of their system and they know their reads inside and out. Especially when they have (Mo) Williams and (Damian) Lillard in, gosh, their ability to put the ball on the floor. Because you have to be cognizant of where your guys are because they score so well, it seems like there’s a lot of open lanes. We came up short, it sounds like a broken record.”

The coach added, “We’ve (had droughts). For whatever reason, we’ve done that in all these games. If you tell us before (a five-game Western Conference road trip) that you’re going to have a chance within two possessions of the Clippers, and then a possession of the Warriors, and then a couple of possessions here – you felt pretty good about a shot to win (against) three contenders for the West. But at the same time, those droughts are killing us. There’s no question about it.”

Stevens said he’s trying to figure out why the Celtics undergo long stretches of scorelessness (I’m inventing words now to describe their droughts), but a look at the roster should provide obvious answers. Their leading scorer, Jeff Green, can disappear for quarters at a time. Jordan Crawford has fallen off the magic carpet he rode for the first part of the season, Avery Bradley still takes too many midrange jumpers and can’t get many easy points at the rim, and the bench includes a host of non-shooters who teams can sag off.

Scoring doesn’t come easily to these Celtics, and it didn’t even when they were playing pretty well earlier in the season.

As Stevens said, “I do think shot-making made us look a little better in the first half than we really were.”

Yes, it did. And during winter, the weather doesn’t often stay warm.



bob
MY NOTE: "Droughts Killing Celtics"! In other news, "Water is Wet!!". I think some of our problems is general newness (we just got a brand new back up point guard, for example, to back up our brand new and only short-term starting point guard) and size. If Bradley was 6'5" like Lance Stephenson, I think he'd finish better around the rim. If Kelly wasn't 7'0" going on 6'3", he'd finish better. If Sully was 6'11" instead of 6'9", he'd be unstoppable. Our only 7'er is Kelly O'Toothpick. We can go down the list, we're a short team. That may not effect execution, but it does effect finishing.



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