Any Which Way But Lose

by Jeff Clark on Dec 9, 2008 8:32 AM EST in Articles Comment 4 comments

One comforting trend I've noticed is the many different styles in which the Celtics have been able to win basketball games. Or put another way, no matter what type of style the opponent tries to play, the Celtics can adapt and overcome.

The up-tempo, run and gun style of Golden State got the Celtics defense on their heels a little bit, but the offense made up for it by outscoring the Warriors. On the flipside, the Blazers like to play more of a half court set to take advantage of their bigs (Oden, Aldridge, and the underrated Przybilla). So the Celtics dug in and stopped them cold like a goal-line stand time and time again.

Opponents will often try to take away someone they think is a key player on our offense. Sometimes that means limiting Ray's open looks, which leaves more room for Paul Pierce to drive to the basket. Recently Paul has been struggling in part due to the attention teams are giving him, which leaves Ray Allen free to find open looks.

In fact, this is even more crucial in crunch time. With the game on the line and just seconds left, who do you cover? Look at what Indy Cornrows (Pacer blog) had to say about this:

But for a team like the Boston Celtics to have two late-game dagger throwers is actually cruel. What I witnessed last night from Ray Allen and Paul Pierce was as beautiful as anything I've seen in basketball, yet I still feel violated by the way they shot that game into overtime and then casually left the Fieldhouse with a W.

I'm sure teams have noticed that the Celtics really kick it into a higher gear when Rondo is playing well. So I expect them to pay a lot of attention to knocking him off his game. But teams have been trying to sag off Rajon for years, daring him to shoot. First of all, he's so quick that he still manages to find his way to the rim. Secondly, as Scott Souza mentioned on CSL this weekend, Doc has Rondo pushing the ball up the court before the defense gets set, which makes it very difficult to sag.

Getting a more consistent effort out of the bench would be nice, but so far the team has won with or without big games from the 2nd unit.

Of course, one thing that makes all of this possible is the consistently outstanding defense. Even when the team is having an off night on that side of the floor, they always seem to be able to find their groove for a stretch of the game that shuts the opponent down long enough for the offense to take or extend a lead.

That consistent defensive dominance as well as the impressive adaptability make this team so unbeatable.

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the first team is good enough that you don’t need a whole lot from the second team to win games. the problem is the first team has some oldies on it that need a rest and they end up playing too many minutes. my question is— are there many oldies on our competitors that are playing lottsa minutes— i.e. on cleveland, orlando, or out west? we want the fogies rested for the playoffs. and i’m not talking about sam.

by nazzbo on Dec 9, 2008 9:06 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Our Old "Fogies"

Ray Allen is the equivalent of a 25 year old player because of the way he takes care of himself. Pierce lost weight this summer and improved his diet and might be the equivalent of someone 26 or 27. The only “fogie” whose time needs to be monitored well is KG and I believe he’s been that way for most of his career. Doc does a great job of knowing when a player is fatigued and managing their minutes accordingly. In addition he doesn’t over-practice his team so alot of the minutes played depend on the schedule.

by TrueGreen on Dec 9, 2008 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Consistant Offensive and Defensive Schemes

I think one thing that makes the C’s successful is that they don’t change their offense or defense to adjust to the team they’re playing that night. Whenever they aren’t playing well Doc says that at halftime they don’t change what they are doing. They only do what they should be doing better in the second half. He keeps his rotations fairly constant now that he knows what to expect of his players. The Pacers, in contrast, set up a defense to stop Pierce and they tried to use their rotations to get their starters to play against our 2nd unit. It seemed to work for them because they played very well that nite and the C’s didn’t play their best game. But in crunch time it was the C’s who executed. House out hustled Granger to get the rebound of Ray’s miss near the end of regulation and got it to Pierce who took his time and got off a good shot. They don’t spend time, when they do practice, in making special preparations for the next team and then the next. They just perfect what they do and keep getting better at it.

by TrueGreen on Dec 9, 2008 10:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs