ESPN Celtics Preview

JA Adande cracks me up. Strong Finals finish overshadowed the fact the Celtics were almost shown the door in the first round? Please… in fact, the struggles AT Atlanta, not the first round, were part of the work in progress that ultimately resulted in the C’s winning it all, not some aberration that was completely unrelated. Besides, they were 1 game from “being shown the door” only in Game 7, which was anything but close. It is nothing but history revisionism to suggest that the C’s were almost eliminated, rather than understanding their 1st round road woes (check the scores from Games 1,2,5 and 7 in the Atlanta series) as the first step in an extremely inexperienced playoff team finding its legs.

As much as I love Pierce, he is not “money” in end of game situations. Design the play for him….NO. Have him 2nd option…YES. Ray and Eddie will certainly take the shot but I’d get the ball to KG. He’s best at passing out of the double team and if he’s not doubled he is the match up nightmare you suggest.

Put Perk/BBD/Powe at the foul line. KG on left block. Ray Allen
on the KG side wing. Pierce on the weakside wing. House at the
top of the key for a straight on 3. Let the hapless opponent
pick their poison. A variation of that is Pierce at the top of
the key and Rondo on the weakside wing.

Saying that Atlanta almost eliminated the Celtics is like saying Hawks were better then Detroit or the Lakers who the Celtics beat in 6 games.

I just don’t want to see Rondo dribble the length of the court at full speed, sliding by three guys and taking a twisting, contested layup where he ignores the backboard, clanking it off the rim, missing the shot.

When he’s slightly older, he’ll calm down more, and make the layup, comfortably off the glass.

Throw it in the KG at the ow post if there’s nothing there pass it out to Posey on perimeter and let him shoot.

Both times that a similar situation occurred in this year’s playoffs they went through Allen and KG.

In game 6 against the Hawks they posted KG on the block on the same side of the court where Allen was receiving the pass off of a screen. Allen had the choice to enter it to KG or shoot the 3. He shot the 3 and missed, but it was a good set.

The other time it happened was game 1 against the Cavs, and in that one Allen passed it to KG then cleared out and KG drove and hit the game winning shot.

I think any variation of a 2-man game with KG and either Allen or Pierce, with the other Eddie House spotted up as potential pass recipients should yield a high percentage look.