Perspective on Team Depth After the Loss

by Jeff Clark on Oct 21, 2007 4:01 PM EDT in Boston Celtics Games

....I thought there might be a panic thread or two as soon as this team showed any sign of weakness...

A few things here:

1. Unlike the other teams Boston is contending with for the title, Boston's bench consists of players who are almost entirely new to the team or to the league...Posey and House are in their first year with the team, Powe is in his 2nd year in the league, Tony Allen isn't at 100 percent, and Scal isn't a difference maker type offensively

This group of players was assembled to COMPLEMENT GPA, not to play on their own for 48 minutes...factoring in their unfamiliarity with each other, it isn't surprising that they've struggled to put up points in the absence of 2 of their 3 major stars...the team isn't built to score a lot without them...

2. The Celtics starting unit last night went toe-to-toe with Philly for 3 quarters, even when the rotation was heavily reliant on 3rd unit players...Ray Allen didn't play the 4th quarter much while Glen Davis, Dahntay Jones, and Gabe Pruitt played the bulk of crunch time...it was a 2 possession game close to the 1 minute mark of the 3rd quarter and the starters for that game had mounted a furious assault on the Sixer's lead before running out of steam...

Additionally, the 2nd unit was built for defensive effectiveness and did their job well, despite the absence of two of its stars...The Celtics were able to win the battle of turnovers while only losing out on rebounds by one. The mixed bunch of Celtics held the Sixers to 46 percent shooting despite the lack of the team’s two best interior defenders.

What to Take Out of This

The poor team shooting, (38% FG, 17% 3-pt) doesn’t reflect the improvement in decision making by the bench unit. The Celtics role players got better shots than they had been able to create in the previous preseason games. House, Scalabrine, and Posey were all able to get good looks with set feet because the movement and reads were substantially better tonight.

Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen were especially effective tonight and that has to be the most important factor in this game. Rondo finally began to show some assertiveness and was the dominant player on the court for a decent stretch of time. Tony Allen had a number of solid drives showing a great change of direction and an excellent understanding of when to pass and when to take it himself. James Posey also started to show his assertiveness and stepped up his offensive game in order to compensate for the teams lack of firepower.

Despite an overwhelming discrepancy in free throw shooting and foul trouble, the team was able to sub players in and out of the game and maintain some semblance of a cohesive offense. They were predominantly perimeter oriented and probably should have looked to the inside a bit more to exploit the Powe/Evans match up, but overall they were much better as a unit in terms of working as a group.

Bottom line, the Celtics are still coming together and growing as a team. They are not built to survive without three starters and two super stars for any extended period of time. However, the back ups have moxy, the ability to defend, and can limit their mistakes. The 2nd unit has made progress week-to-week and should continue to find ways to function effectively when two of their stars are out of the game.

As familiarity grows, the level of execution during the situations when only one member of GPA is in should increase. The bench’s job is to keep the team in the game while the stars rest and they did that for three quarters last night despite their limitations. Operating under the assumption that this team has no chance sans Garnett and Pierce, the game was a success because of the positives that Rondo, T Allen, and Posey brought to the table…

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Comments

The Cs will start slow. The Lakers will start fast. I do think that by Feb., the Cs should know how to play and win together.

by The Real Large James on Oct 21, 2007 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

Good article Eric, I agree with what you said. Since we are in experimental time for a few games I would personally would like to see House, Pruitt, Tony Allen, Powe and Baby for a lineup. There is enough scoring and defense with this smaller lineup. I like a big lineup but we do not have enough bigs to do that lineup for a 2nd unit.

by CelticsWin on Oct 21, 2007 4:33 PM EDT reply actions

Um. I thought Rondo missed way too many layups, and the defense was nonexistent except for that comeback stint in the third quarter. But that’s just me.

by kozlodoev on Oct 21, 2007 4:35 PM EDT reply actions

Rondo played poorly, that was the only thing I didn’t like. But it was just a bad preseason game, no biggie. Nobody was into it.

by rickyfan3.0... on Oct 21, 2007 4:47 PM EDT reply actions

we only fell out of the game when it was our 3rd string vs their starters, first 3 quarters our 2nd string vs their starters we were neck and neck

As I said in the chat last night, if we can play that without 2 of our 3 superstars plus without either of our center options/bigs (anyone over 6’9) than we have a VERY good and VERY deep team, nothing but positives out of last nights game. If Pollard can be his sacramento self joining this unit and staying healthy than our bench is all set and put together well, Danny did a great job in limited time this summer, next summer we can REALLY load up for a serious title run but if things go right we could win it all this year, he did a great job.

by celtpride34pp20ra5kg on Oct 21, 2007 5:12 PM EDT reply actions

I think the C’s will easily win at least 55 games.

by celtpride34pp20ra5kg on Oct 21, 2007 5:13 PM EDT reply actions

We also proved that without three starters on the floor, we cannot compete with a 30 win team for extended periods. Very little offensive firepower on our second unit except as it relates to ‘looks’ gained from playing with one or better yet more than one of GPA. Philly didnt have a couple of their key guys playing either.

Point is, GPA and Perk/Rondo’s presence in some capacity for most of any game will be the difference in wins or losses this season, even against bad teams. 8)

by billysan on Oct 21, 2007 5:24 PM EDT reply actions

it was an ugly game. some of your points are well taken. i am not down on anyone that played. i disagree about tony allen’s play. not down on him either- he needs time to get his sea legs- but he looked slow and was bouncing dribbles off his feet. philly wanted and needed it more and we can beat them with out full team. they are the type of team that will sneak up on you if you let them. cheeks is improving as a coach.

by nazzbo on Oct 21, 2007 5:25 PM EDT reply actions

Tony Allen is still a problem when he faces up and tries to take his man off the dribble. He is a charge or turnover waiting to happen 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time just encourages him. It’s like when the “chucker” hits his first shot in pick-up ball. You know it’s going to be a long night!

This game was a non-issue. We had absolutely no attempts to go down low with the basketball all night. Ray Allen was not wanting it to turn into a ‘’watch me shoot’’ contest. He tried to stay in the flow and wasn’t having an overly impressive shooting night.

Rondo was just fine. He missed a few difficult layups, but those would have been dished off to KG or Perk had they been in the game. Teams rolled to help due to them not worrying about the other guys as much. He had 8 boards! With the other 3 starters in there that same effort and he looks great.

Big Baby has a LONG way to go before he is ready to contribute. He gets ay too many cheap fouls. He turns the ball over too much forcing plays. He will get there, but it will be 1-2 years before he is reliable. Powe is twice the player he is at this stage.

Scal looked solid. He usually shoots a better percentage when he is that wide open. He was making solid plays though.

The only problem last night was that they weren’t shooting the ball particularly well. Does anyone really think they are trying to win these games now? He saw exactly what he needed to with the stars and the 2-3 off the bench that will get serious time. This is just to not get hurt and see what some of the reserves can do. Why haven’t they cut Manuel yet?!

by EJPLAYA on Oct 21, 2007 6:32 PM EDT reply actions

Rather disappointing evening. I guess I expected more from the second unit. I realize that their shots weren’t falling but one must anticipate a poor shooting night on occasion and still find ways to stay competitive.

I’m beginning to believe that the second unit has a limited ability to create shots for themselves and will only shoot a high percentage if their shots are uncontested. The defensive effort was sporatic and inconsistent, especially disappointing was the missing help defense on many occasions. Since this unit is supposedly a “defensive” unit, they still have a way to go to earn their “nickname”.

by moskqq on Oct 21, 2007 7:22 PM EDT reply actions

Don’t think this game tells us much. The wet floor changed the way guys played. More importantly, I don’t see us playing with 2 separate units (maybe occasionally). The second unit needs to be integrated into the first when subs are made. Then they will all look better. I think at least two of the gpa need to be on the floor at all times. It’s possible Garnett can be there alone or possibly PP now that he would have better options to pass to such as Eddie House. House seems to help the team more as a two guard because then his main focus is shooting. When he plays point it affects his shooting because of team dynamics. He needs other people to set him up to make him a better shooter.

by TrueGreen on Oct 22, 2007 9:53 AM EDT reply actions