Tank Job Complete

Whatever, it’s over. This day was coming back when we were having our 18 game losing streak. It’s over finally and we can get back to our lives..

The “party” line was to play inexperienced players in crunch time to give them experience when it counts. Alan Ray may never again defer that big shot as he will be reminded that good “decision-making” is a prerequisite for an NBA career.

Great performances by Rondo and Gomes in the 4th quarter, waving those towels from the bench. West too, except for a cameo.

Nobody outtanks Doc Rivers. He’s the Hans Guderian of NBA coaches. Give him a panzer division and he’d conquer the world.

Doc Rommel Rivers sounds better Brick.

im glad this is over with .. can we just move on now..

Jeff can we get a countdown counter somewhere visible for the draft lottery ?

OVAH!, OVAH!, OVAH! Great God in Heaven, It’s OVAH!…Now, on to whatever…The truth is, outside of never wanting to experience anything like this season again…I now could care less till the 22nd and watching Tommy at the draft…It wouldn’t surprise me if we win out our last three games…But, Nah!…at least it’s ovah…

Doc did what he set out to do; Achieve the second worst record in the NBA. He is probably now loking to see who we face in the first round of the playoffs. Congratulations Doc, you are not as bad as some folks think you are.

Hey now. Obviously the premature benchings of Al and Paul are signs of tanking, but we wouldn’t have had to be nervous at all if Piece hadn’t hit ridiculous jumpers to send us into overtime and win and Al hadn’t single handedly brought us to wins over the likes of San Antonio. I mean look at Minnesota and their shutting down of KG, never has there been a more egregious tank (if you don’t count the Mark Madsen 3 fest at the end of last year.) I mean, let’s not get to guilty. Next to MN, Milwaukee, Memphis and many others we’ve done a bang up job of upholding the integrity of the league.

And besides, this is cause for celebration. If by the grace of god we get Durant or Oden, we can look back on all the sissy hand-wringing over this stretch while we watch some epic playoff battles and (hopefully) extend our championship lead over the Lakers.

that 57 team might be old now but not senile. what russell must have been thinking watching this team- ouch. or sharman, a winner on both coasts. i hope we get the pick we need not the one we deserve. i give powe a lot of credit- he has got a lot of grit and heart a loscotof kind of guy.

Incidentally, as an aside, Oden, Connelly and that other OSU Frosh are meeting in Indy at Mike’s father’s house this Sunday to come to a decision as to what to do now…The ole man says, "a decision should be reached by next week…He’s also spoken to his son telling him how he’s is rising fast in the lottery…One more thing, he will not take his son or the other kid as a client just yet, but he will take on Oden immediately if, hhhhhrrrrummmph, he decides to come out…

The cruelest part was making them watch at all

I am happy that we have tanked our way to #2. I dont care about this “where has celtics pride gone?” BS.

We do what needs to be done to win.. simple!

We had a devastating number of injuries this season and if tanking 10 games at the end of season to maybe get Oden or Durant is what you do when your serious. Easy thing is to just keep playing, loose to these other teams that are tanking and then be the laughing stock on the NBA. the Celtics would keep being a mediocre team.

This is good for the Celtics, get over it. Barring injuries next season will likely see us in the 2nd round!

i like that description of doc – a cancer. that’s the best way of labeling him. he absolutely is a cancer. and i am afraid it’s terminal…

Nice post Master PO. I am afraid the night mare continues as long as Doc is the coach. WYC send him packing now.

In this stretch of ‘tanked games,’ guys had the chance to step forward. But Bassy was again a big disappointment.

Right now, he’s a throw-in to a Wally/Theo trade, either for salary cap purposes or for a 2nd-rounder. And I’m fine w/ that. He has nowhere near the heart or fire of an Iverson, for example.

<a href=“http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html?year=2007&month=5&date=22&hrs=19&min=30&sec=0&tz=local&title=2007 NBA Lottery aka "The Greg Oden/Kevin Durant Sweepstakes”&lang=en&show=dhms&mode=r&cdir=down&bgcolor=#006600&fgcolor=#FFFFFF">http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html?year=2007&month=5&date=22&hrs=19&min=30&sec=0&tz=local&title=2007 NBA Lottery aka “The Greg Oden/Kevin Durant Sweepstakes”&lang=en&show=dhms&mode=r&cdir=down&bgcolor=#006600&fgcolor=#FFFFFF

From the mouth of babes: Veal in the “Boston Sentinel”. “I thought going into this season there was no way we wouldn’t be a playoff team. So, yes, I’m disappointed with how things turned out. There were injuries, of course, but we can’t use them as an excuse. On the other hand, we still have 3 games left to make a statement against playoff bound teams. On a personal basis, I intend to work harder than ever during the offseason and plan to be a major contributor next year, whether I start or come off the bench. Finally, I know there’s been some controversy about first my receiving the Walter McCarty Little Big Man trophy in perpetuity and then the club signing Walter to a 10-day contract, but I’m willing to swear on a stack of Bibles that there was no conection whatsoever.”

Good things come in threes: 1. we got the second best chance in the draft 2. looks like both Durant and Oden are coming out 3. we don’t extend Doc’s contract ( please ).

Which to applaud more, winning or losing?

  A no win SITUATION! Had the Celtics gone on a 10 game winning streak instead of a 10 game “tanking”, would Doc be any less the “scapegoat” for a miserable season?? While LOSING was actually WINNING, it nonetheless gave fodder to the “Bricks” who expect star performances from “bench” players and who typically seek to “abandon ship” at the first sign of FOUL weather!!!! Fair weather fans ONLY, PLEASE!!!

Still haven’t decided whether Doc is as bad a coach as he appears to be or if we’re all being misguided by the performances of other coaches who historically have had a veteran roster to work with. In Celtic’s lore, most rookies sat. In Celtic’s lore, because of “territorial rights” we often had star-calibre drafties.

Before OUTRIGHT condemnation, because circumstances as so different, working with high school talent has to be considered a UNIQUE experience. Our situation is even more complex to evaluate because of the NUMBER of kids on the roster.

It’s hard enough to project NBA talent from college kids yet we’ve gone one step futher and tried to project NBA calibre talent from high school kids. It’s not unusaul for All American high school players to fuzz-out at the next level (i.e., college). How much more difficult should it be for a GM to JUMP performance levels and project NBA performance?

My purpose? We’re in UNCHARTERED territory and until we discover the WISDOM of Danny’s decision to remake this team from “raw recruits” we should allow the PROCESS to play out and sit on our “hands of criticism” untill this journey completes its course. In the meantime, old “impatient” diehards will continue to throw nostalgic “darts” at both Doc and Danny who continue to search for ways to discover the path to success.

While they “cringe” at youthful MISTAKES being made on the court, both we and they rejoice at the glimses of stardom.

Larry Brown…oten regarded as a premiere coach, couldn’t blend youth with veteran talent on the Knicks. He had a raw but gifted center who only seemed to blossom under a less experienced coach.

Such are the pitfalls of developing team chemistry, team rotations and developing raw talent that even legendary coaches have “stubbed” their toes. When so much of a team’s success depends upon the performance of their youth, trials and tribulations are to be expected as the norm.

In these trying times, Larry Brown lost the respect of his players, Doc Rivers did not. Doc deserves more time to establish his true credentials! If our healthy squad wins 40 games next year, will Doc then be considered a “genius” because of our team’s resurgence or will we finally admit that injuries and youth were the primary reasons that this team UNDERPERFORMED this year?

This is what we wanted. The 2nd most chances in the lottery. Stop crying over the process of getting there. Next year we won’t be crying if we have Oden or Durant on the floor. I think it’s sad to call Doc a “cancer”. He may be a bad in game coach but he’s not a cancer. Anyone who’s had to deal with it or have family that’s had cancer know what a horrific word that is.

“i like that description of doc – a cancer. that’s the best way of labeling him. he absolutely is a cancer. and i am afraid it’s terminal…”

Can we make fun of someone without lebelling them a deadly disease?

I know how the term cancer is used in reference to sports…and I just dont like it. Dont tell me to lighten up

I’m with you, Master Po. Political correctness has given little minds too much air. But, Master Po, you still overate coaching in this league and therefore blame Doc for this bad product. This terrible product this year was only one part Doc, it was another part Danny, another part injuries and youth. I deplore losing this game in front of the 50 year ago champs and I deplore losing that Charlotte game a few weeks ago but all will be forgiven if we get #1 or #2. This was a great chance to see who’s got game. Leon Powe has shown much, Telfair has shown little. Allan Ray has more confidence than Telfair right now but not really a keeper. Gerald is intriguing/frustrating. We’ve got to keep him another year, but he has to show some IQ re defense. Perk’s flashes of brilliance were short lived. He’s been a back up center the last few games with turnovers and matador defense. I can’t wait to see Rondo next year.

Im not someone who is very into political correctness…but the cancer thing just annoys me.

“agree 100% Wildblue but Doc needs X and O help badly if he stays”

that among other things…MANY other things!

Master Po, my apologies to you sir. I wasn’t trying to stuff political correctness down the throat. I’m far from politically correct myself! I just saw the wording as a flip comment and it hit me wrong. I must of woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Yikes!! I don’t think Doc is that good of a coach but he seems to be a pretty decent human being and the farthest thing from a cancer. I do think your posts and rhymes are great and look foward to your insights! I will now go back to bed. Good night!