The Truth Is Not Enough

There are far too many nails in this coffin…"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps on it’s petty pace til the last syllable of recorded time…and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death…Out! Out!, brief candle, life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets its hour upon the stage and then is heard no more…it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sounds and fury…signifying……………………Nothing!!!

Another solid loss..

Paul is a warrior! How anyone could doubt whether he is needed on this team is crazy.

Delonte cost us this game with all his friggin turnovers. >:( I’m sick of him at point guard, I don’t care how many assists he gets. All he does is pound the ball into the ground, running out the shot clock and turning it over at a high rate. Rondo should be starting from now on.

Thanks for the perfect ending Ricky. I wonder if the play Doc drew up was to leave Davis all alone in the corner for a wide open shot? :D

This one’s all on Delonte! Wide open three and doesn’t shoot. Drives in and has wide open eight footer—doesn’t shoot and throws it away along with the game!
PP was great, just ask his teammates who stood around watching him the whole last quarter! The PP show is playing again! He is an incredible warrior, but I just don’t think we’ll ever be a TEAM as long as he wears the green!

Yep. West had two chances to be a hero and blew them both.

But the streak lives! You can’t set any records if you don’t squeak by in a few close ones.

I don’t think Shakespeare was much of a basketball fan BoundingRounder.

bounding, nice quote. Where’s it from?

Thanks Doc. As your the captain of this ship, plane, train, basketball team, chess team, quilt nitting team, bowling squad, whatever we want to call this group of players, they will lose. You will make sure of it, won’t you? No timeout with 28 seconds left. Doctors say Pierce should play 20 minutes but you play him 32. You leave Delonte to run point guard. Hell, that alone would make sure we lose. P.S. Since your tanking, you mise well tell the pilots of your charter plane to just crash it. This way, you can just forfeit the rest of the games and save the fans the agony of watching your crap coaching. Maybe the league will feel sorry for us and just give us the number one pick. DOC——YOU LOSER

Delonte proved yet again he’s not a clutch 4th quarter player, much less the one that should be running the point in crunch time. Rondo may not have made the shots that Delonte had available at the end but he certainly wouldn’t have turned it over as badly nor managed the clock as poorly. Horrible ending.

ugh, i really wanted this one.

and ricky with the dagger, how hard is that to swallow. but, i agree with rotoworld, if pierce is really back, the streak will end soon, for better or worse.

This was a great loss. Memphis slipped on Friday with a win but got their heads together for a solid loss last night. The pressure was on and once again excellent defensive play calling to let Ricky Davis get wide open. That strategy will win us the lottery positioning we need.

We scored 107, shot 53, Pierce had 29, and we still lost. Why? 19 TO and we let Minnie shoot 50. THIS is why Pierce, Wally, and even Oden aren’t the answer. When a team loses the same way for 3 years despite numerous player personnel changes, it’s a coaching problem.

Also, Blount, Davis and Foye looked pretty good. Why don’t WE get players like that?

vinnie said:
  Thanks for the perfect ending Ricky. I wonder if the play Doc drew up was to leave Davis all alone in the corner for a wide open shot?
—————————————————————————————
This again was a West screwup. Garnett picked West who, instead of having his head out his butt and paying attention to Garnett rushing at him, decided to linger on the pick thereby leaving Foye at least a 3 count to figure out what he wanted to do. PP had no choice but to play Foye when he drove and left Ricky wide open. Watched the play over and over again to see how things could have broken down so badly and it goes back to Delonte not avoiding the moving pick.

The easy and immediate answer is to blame this one on West — but how much has Doc’s jerking him back and forth between point guard and shooting guard hurt him when it comes to making crisp decisions?

Ricky Davis finally did something to help the Celtics!!!

MattD said:
  The easy and immediate answer is to blame this one on West — but how much has Doc’s jerking him back and forth between point guard and shooting guard hurt him when it comes to making crisp decisions?
=========
I don’t think that has anything to do with it. If he’s got the game intelligence that he’s supposed to have, he’d be aware of the shot clock and how wide open he is for a shot and take it. Taking an open jumper is a better option than having the clock expire or driving in for a turnover.

But Jack, how do you really feel? -please dont hold back.

Dino, Alla and Stojko… LOL.. nice comment. I gotta agree with you.

Matt D., I dvr’d the game and am about to watch it but for a player like West who is considered heady and having a good basketball IQ, those should not be issues. There’s a number of players in the League that switch positions throughout a game but still have an understanding of what he can and cannot do. They know their limitations.

And before you or anyone else jumps on me with rebutal after rebutal, I am a West fan. But he’s been atrocious this season. In the last few games, I started wondering if West is trying to do to much, in a passive aggressive sort of way, to prove his worth to the team, all while watching (and playing with) Rondo come in and do a lot of what Del does, except for the shooting.

I may be right in my assessment. I may be wrong, but either way, West needs to smarten up a little and not force things.

Wally Kandiman = 0 Minutes Played.

Ricky Blount = 48 Points.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH GREAT FREAKIN TRADE!!!! ;D

The quote above was from MacBeth, but a better one for us now is from Richard III (that “hump-backed toad): "I have set my life upon a cast/ and shall stand the hazard of the die!/”…Here’s to the balls that go ping, go pong!

cos, I’m just speculating because like you, I’m seeing him make bad decisions in a way he didn’t the past two seasons. Maybe that’s because he’s being asked to do more, maybe it’s because he’s trying to do too much. But I have also noticed that he seems to play better when he’s left at one position for a few games in a row. Anyway, whatever the reasons, I agree that he needs to play smarter.

Master Po Said:
“Rondo at PG? OK -that ought to fix things -let the win streak begin”

- Delonte West can’t hold Rondo’s jock strap when it comes to terms of Point Guard ability. Just face it.

This streak’s gotten into the player’s heads. You can see it in Delonte’s play. He passed up two open looks because he didn’t want to screw up. He did anyway.

This team is young and stupid from the bench on up to the ownership. Despite that a good star (PP) is almost enough to make up for it sometimes. Too bad he has no help right now.

Doc has to resign. He has to. There’s no excuse for this.

At least this game was fun to watch. Hopefully, they will get a win on Wednesday. Go PP!!!!!!!

ps. I’m sorry, but if I’m coaching this team, there’s no way Blount finishes this game without an elbow to the face or getting thrown into the stands. That’s what Olowakandi and Powe are for. Especially when you’ve lost 17 straight.

Man, what I wouldn’t give to have Blount and Ricky back on this team…. :’(

Po, Dwest has value but the coaches job is to know how to maximize it and that was not done tonight. However, I will let Doc have a pass on this one because, arguably, he still has to figure out the rotations now that PP is back… and DWest had a good first half, admittedly mostly at the 2. But if we are going into the last 5 minutes of a game, within 5 or 8 points, and Rondo is not running the point then , well…..then…then….dammit Doc.

Not only is Rondo a better ball handler but the offence is so much more dynamic with his penetration that we dont have to live or die with either a PP iso or a two man game…PP’s take over at the end while leading us to the precipice of a victory cannot be the strategy going forward.

The offence looked good in the first half…though I wonder about the trade-off of Scal’s suppposed D on Mr. triple-double KG versus getting, for ex. , Powe out there during the strecth when Craig Smith, in particular, was killing us on the boards…

RIcky Robey Reruns said:
“though I wonder about the trade-off of Scal’s suppposed D on Mr. triple-double KG versus getting,”

- Um… I live in Minnesota and was actually AT the game. I don’t know if you watched it or not, but Scal actually played GREAT ‘D’ on KG…. KG is just that good, you can’t stop him.

Delonte eats hard. Doc is throwing the games by taking out Rondo (WTF…. WHY!?!?!?!?!?!) at the end of the fourth to put Delonte in. I live in MN and was at the game…. terrible, awful, confounding decision. Greg Oden here we come!!!!! ;)

Rainman just made me laugh really hard. He said, “Scal actually played GREAT ‘D’ on HG”. I can’t stop laughing.

Rainman,
I didnt say that Scal played poor D on KG…but Perk also played good D and there was a stretch in the 2nd quarter, for the entirety of which KG was not even out there, and Craig Smith was eating us alive….Scal is a laibility on the boards…no debate there I hope.

Reggie, that fight is exactly what this team needs. I don’t care if they do it for one game, at least show some.

Another instance in that kind of fight that were not seeing is in the coaching seat. I don’t care how young this team is, or what kind of example your trying to set, this coach has yet to get himself thrown out of the game. You would think at some point he would just go off on the refs, not to show them up, and not to send a defeatist attitude to the players, but to show the players that you gotta fight. At the least, maybe that will light a fire in players.

I still wont say his name, but I was a bit happy that he got a tech in the nets game (i think that was the one) and was hoping he would keep going till he got the boot. But once again, he failed. Its really hard to push the buttons if you don’t know what they are.

Rick Robey Reruns:
“Rainman,
I didnt say that Scal played poor D on KG…but Perk also played good D and there was a stretch in the 2nd quarter, for the entirety of which KG was not even out there, and Craig Smith was eating us alive….Scal is a laibility on the boards…no debate there I hope.”

- Ah ok… gotcha. Scal a liability??? C’mon he had EIGHT boards tonight! Second best number all season!!! :D

Dangit, I meant to say in the above post that he had FIVE boards tonight. Still, his second best number all season.

P.S. Are they ever going to make it so that we can edit these postings?

Scal also was 0-1 from the floor tonight in 37 minutes — ;D

vinnie said:
  [I]"Scal also was 0-1 from the floor tonight in 37 minutes"[/I]

- And your point is? We don’t need him out there to score…….. In fact, generally the less shots he takes the better….

I guess my point is how can anyone in the NBA play 37 minutes and only take one shot? Look, I agree with you the fewer shots Scal takes the better. I also submit that the fewer games and fewer minutes that scal plays the better. If Brian Scalabrine is playing 37 minutes a night, Gerald Green 18 minutes a night and Leon Power zero minutes for the rest of the year, what is the point? There is no future in Brian Scalabrine. There may be a future in Gerald Green and Leon Powe.

Vinnie said:
“There may be a future in Gerald Green and Leon Powe.”

- For one thing, GG and Scal don’t play the same position, so it’s not Scal’s fault GG is not getting minutes. Like everything else that is wrong with this team, that one’s on Nurse Rivers. Powe, no idea why he’s not playing. Chalk it up to Nurse.

It’s not Scal’s fault Nurse plays him. I just don’t think he did terrible like everyone else that complains about him. It could be worse…. Kandiman could have been playing… or we could have signed Mark Madsen.

I absolutely hate and Mark Blount what a cock he was the whole game…if i would have been in the game and witnessing it, it would have been worth the fines/suspension to take him out…also as many have expressed already…the thoughts behind putting Scal on KG is absolutely obsurd…terrible coaching decision — I took notice that when Perk was on him he shut him down way better than Scal did…he owned Scal…got to hand it to him on the lose ball save in the 4th though i was thinking he probably pictured the ball as a donut rolling around on the floor, that maybe the fastest I have ever seen him react

We’re all getting punchy…Good Night…

Can someone please let me know why Big Al only took five shots?

Thanks.

Cheers

Aussie

Aussie said:
  Can someone please let me know why Big Al only took five shots?

Cheers

Aussie

- Foul trouble all game long.

If the Grizzlies thought we were going to roll over and play dead, and give them the #1 pick on the proverbial platter, they better think again. 37 minutes for Scal while Powe just sits and sits and sits.

This team is scrubbalicious! Scal for 37 mins must’ve been Pierce’s worst nightmare, But hey, Doc had to do SOMETHING to make sure we lost with Pierce back!

The sad thing is that I don’t think Doc is trying to tank at all. He’s simply a lousy couch. And again, chances are the lottery won’t save us (unless we get a Griz/Philly/Bobcat #1 too), since we could easily end up picking 3rd or 4th. And get another good, young player. But not a Durant or Oden. And suck for another 2-3 years (at least). Forget about a new GM or coach. We really need a new OWNER who will put people in place that can get the job done. Make trades that improve the team. Get more picks when it looks like the draft might be special. A coach that has heard the word “DEFENSE” before. But I’m dreaming, and real life is the nightmare.

PS. Where are all the West fanboys now? Face it, if he wasn’t playing for the Celtics, he’d be a backup at best, and probably out of the league. Rondo sucks too, by the way. Just what we need, another point guard that can’t hit the open jumper (see Telfair).

Jefferson on foul #4 slammed the ball hard enough into Blount’s face to make a point, I was surprised he didn’t get a flagrant as it was after the foul and the whistle, and did he ever give Blunt the stare after the foul. Big Al’s best moment of a pretty weak game.

I was a West fan up until this year. He’s lost any evidence of being a man out there. His game is some kind of defensive offense. Prevent the C’s from winning by getting open looks and not taking them and taking the defended shots. Use the 23 second clock to prevent shot-taking too if needed. :P

Not that I’m trying to put the entire blame on Doc for this loss, but why does he refuse to call a timeout with :28 and draw up a play? I just cannot figure that one out. With a team full of “kids”, and your superstar just 2 games back after a 2 month layoff, wouldn’t you think that drawing up a play would be, I don’t know, smart? At least he’s consistent, I guess, as he’s done this over and over and over and…….

Well, you can say that West’s bad play at the end cost the game. Actually it was two bad decisions on the same play. First, he should have taken the little pull-up jumper. But once he decided to take it to the rack, he needed to take it hard. He saw Garnett coming over from the weak side, but that’s too bad. If Garnett blocks the shot, so be it. Maybe he sends you to the line.

Be that as it may, there were plenty of problems before that final play. Jefferson didn’t get any touches. And they gave up 100 points. Have they even won a single game this year when they gave up that many?

Am ocnerned about Delonte not taking shots that need taking. Is his back still flaring? Or is it a qustion of nerve?

It’s inexperience, plus every guy on the team is pressing— trying to do too much.

Would not be surprised if the other NBA coaches voted Doc “Coach of the Year” based on his incompetency.

I went to the game. During the 24 second posession a guy sitting above me spoke up and said “Why doesn’t that idiot use his timeout?” The friggin guy was wearing a TWolves jersey. I told him because Doc is on his side.

I don’t know how much television showed after that possession but Paul was clearly very angry. After Delonte missed the last shot, Paul started shouting at Doc as he was leaving the court and threw his headband in Doc’s direction. He then turned to Wohl and Ray and started screaming at them. Paul was the last player to leave the court and was shouting at every coach he could find.

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Paul is not Tank Carter or Tracy McGrady…he doesn’t tank to get what he wants. I believe we’ll see a trade or a mutiny if we continue with this overt effort to lose games.

I don’t think Paul will ever get with the tanking for a better pick program. He was a great leader last night.

What a damned disgrace our management is turning out to be. They clearly re trying not to win.

This loss really proves to me that Doc cannot coach effectively at this level. It has to be that, or our players are just not very bright. How does West lose Foye on the last play of the game? I know it’s been mentioned that Garnett picked him, but that isn’t all that I saw. He was confused as to where he was supposed to be and then the ball was passed in. How does that happen? Doc subscribes to that switch on everything man to man defense; it’s just a terrible defensive plan when you have small athletes on your team anyway, let alone when it’s the last play of the game and you need to man up. The play calling in general was awful at the end of the game and doesnâ€â"¢t Pierce really needs to take the ball in crunch time for he is the best player on this team? Besides, if you look at the Cs versus other teams, it is very obvious that we are the least well schooled and we lack the knowledge to do the little things (like set solid screens, roll the correct way off of screen and rolls, box out for rebounds, talking on transition defense, etc.) that are taught at the collegiate level if not the high school level. All of this comes back to Doc, because we have million dollar athletes with a 10-cent knowledge of the game and it is his job to bring them up to speed and that just hasn’t happened. We should beg Larry Brown to come coach in Boston!

We play so lose for the first parts of games. It’s like you can see the noose tightening around certain guy’s necks as the second half goes on until we finally hang ourselves. Delonte was a perfect example in the 4th last night. Gomes has done it during this streak. He’ll shoot great for 3 quarters and then just start to gag on his own nerves.

I agree with most of the posters that say there is no way Doc can reasonably feel Scal needs over 30 minutes in a close game. He does do some solid veteran things out there (as Tommy points out constantly), but he’s cons far outweigh his pros the longer he’s out there. Look at GG’s productivity during the minutes he got. AND his defense wasn’t too bad. Where was he during key stretches????

Pierce is the only calm one out there, and it’s obvious. The fact that Doc didn’t call a TO before Delonte’s final TO is absurd. Period.

Rant over.

Is NOT calling a timeout to setup a play new “strategy” that Doc is using? If so, he needs a new one, because I have not seen it work yet. I was livid when no timeout was called. Livid. You’d think I’d be used to those shenaigans by now, but I’m not.

Rainman said:

Aussie said:

Can someone please let me know why Big Al only took five shots?

Cheers

Aussie

- Foul trouble all game long.

Thanks Rainman, much appreciated.

Cheers

Aussie