Doc Sticks With Tony, Tony Responds

by Jeff Clark on Dec 6, 2007 5:15 AM EST in Boston Celtics News & Links

I'm really happy that Marc Spears wrote about this today. After hearing Doc's quotes about Tony Allen needing to "play better," and seeing him do just that last night, it was just really nice to see.

"I really wasn't looking at it as no challenge," Allen said. "I was looking at it as I have to play better to help our team. And Coach is going to coach regardless. That's what he does. He's one of the best coaches I've played for. I took it as a scolding."
Although Allen missed 1 of 4 shots and had two turnovers in the first half, Rivers stuck with him in the second half. In fact, Allen played twice as many minutes (eight) as starting shooting guard Ray Allen in the fourth quarter. The Celtics' bench also accounted for 46 points, including a combined 32 from James Posey and Eddie House.
"Posey was huge, Eddie House," Rivers said. "And the guy I was most proud of was Tony Allen because he had a tough first half with some of his passes. I told my staff that no matter what, I was going to put him in, I was going to stick with him."

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I liked KG backing Doc’s half time ass chewing. what a difference in a year! It will be a better C’s team when Tony is back to the force of last Jan instead of the head holding, jersey chewing unconfident player we see a lot now.
With him on his game, Eddie House, James Posey, Big Baby and situations for Pollard and Scal I don’t see a better bench in the league.

by Wildblu1 on Dec 6, 2007 9:00 AM EST reply actions

Remember all the talk about no bench after the KG trade? Shucks, we only had about 5-7 guys on the roster. And remember all the talk that DA can’t judge veteran talent? What a difference a couple of months make. This is a real complete TEAM now.

by TrueGreen on Dec 6, 2007 9:19 AM EST reply actions

Doc’s pulling a Tito Francona with TA (Pedroia). By Jan/Feb we’ll be seeing a different TA.

by TrueGreen on Dec 6, 2007 9:21 AM EST reply actions

saw only the second half last night but in the last coupla games it seems tony is showing more hop in his legs.

by nazzbo on Dec 6, 2007 9:31 AM EST reply actions

Can you imagine how good we will be if TA really does return to form and Davis is able to develope?
If TA gets to where he was, Doc can send him right in when the team gets off to another slow start or if someone is really having a bad night shooting. It’s nice enough to have Paul, Kevin and Ray, but to have another good player like Tony makes it much more unlikly that we are going to have nights where nobody gets off to a good start.

by Bidder225 on Dec 6, 2007 2:08 PM EST reply actions

Tony is a lot like James Posey. Their defensive versatility and intangibles, for lack of a better term, are indispensable. Not everything they do shows up on the stat sheet. I would happy to keep Allen on board for as long as he can play at the level he demonstrated last night. Again, watch the game people. The box score doesn’t show it all.

by TradeProposalDude on Dec 6, 2007 2:47 PM EST reply actions