Unreal

I’m so angry… I said it earlier.. . It doesn’t matter if the win game 7 It should have never come to this…

Red is shedding a tear in Heaven now….

It’s a disgrace

Just an embarrasing display of coaching, pure and simple. Doc is painful to watch coach. THIS IS THE HAWKS!!

Does it matter… the whole season right now is gone down the tubes… yippie.. you have the best record in the regular season….

Hell, the playoffs are a different breed and we are playing scared…..

NO EXCUSE.. none what’s so ever…..

I don’t know what to say.. does it matter

I can only think of one play in probably the last 2 minutes where they showed fire……when ray allen actually followed a jumper and perk got fouled. Other than that was this the same team we have been watching…..where is that fire?

Noone can complain about the free throw differential……. the celtics need to take the ball to the rack and put the game in the refs hands…..this jumpshot crapp needs to stop

Does anyone else remember stretches where it seems that the celts are just TOOO UNSELFISH….forcing passes that are not even there and instead of shooting…..ughh just frustrated i really think the Cavs are loving the rest right now…

Still bored, Jeff?

I want to be on record that I officially lost my faith in this team.

I DON`T BELIEVE YOU ANYMORE!

Do you hear me? I don`t believe you anymore.
Before tonight, I was convinced we would win this series. When I looked into the face of KG or Pierce, I felt there was no way these guys would let me down. NO WAY! Somehow, they would come back and show Atlanta where the 66 wins are coming from. They seemed to ooze passion and determination.

No matter if they win or lose game 7, I won`t believe them. I want to, but I can´t. I lost it. No matter how KG´s eyes gloom, it doesn`t change my mind.

(I still love you, but I can´t believe you)

Can we leave Ray in Atlanta?

I dunno, but it seems to me like all that’s happening is Boston is a bit worse than we thought, and Atlanta is a bit better, and as long as they squeak by in Game 7, who really cares?

Everyone is right that 66 wins means nothing once they playoffs start… but it’s 0-0 at the beginning of the second round, too. The Cs need one more win and then they can wake up from this nightmare and get back to business.

There is a lot of blame to go around but how can Doc start the 4th quarter with one starter and four bench players and let this thing get out of hand?

I can’t believe that nobody has boxed Childress out in the entire series!! How many offensive boards can you take. Ray Allen was awful in the 4th Quarter and should have attacked the basket instead of launching that 3 with 10 seconds to go. No need for that shot.

I think they will win Sunday but really shakey looking playoff team here.

look Jeff, I am sure there are others here who feel like I do: we couldn’t EMOTIONALLY express what we were seeing which was that Kg does terrible in the low post; the three balls have been unreliabl;, Rondo though improving would be in a whole new world come May; and OH MY GOD DOES DOC SUCK?!

We lose tonight because Joe johnson goes off on Ray but get nothing on Posey. But more than anything we get KG with 7 boards, we allow 103 points and we shoot what 22 less free throws and we go 1-13 from three point land

Lets review: we shot 22 less free throws, we allowed 103 points, KG got 7 boards, and we were 1-13 from 3 from Ray, Rondo, and Cassell. Lots of problems there and no chance to win with those stats.

Now someone tell me how its all ok, and we are really good when I know better.

They overreacted to one superman stretch by JJ in game 4. Ridiculous.

Doc panics and it trickles down. KG and Ray can’t hit a frickin’ thing.

Just for old times sake.. nothing screams “panic” like PJ Brown all the sudden getting burn to guard Al Horford. He quickly gets torched for 5 points including an and1.

Cs will win Sunday.. like 90%. But they’re toast versus the Cavs.

It’s really sickening- I sensed the entire game this would happen. Anytime the lead was 6 or 7 (maybe 9 once) in the second half, they couldn’t get it to 12 or 15. Getting into the penalty at the 7 or 8 minute mark of the quarter just killed them.

We’ll probably win by 30 Sunday but it’s just absurd it’s come to this.

and what I mean is we would get shouted down here for being negative. Do you al get how we are humiliated know? My wife is asking me to say something because I am bright red and want to kick the tv in. If Posey plays JJ this was over in game 5. If Kg actually stretches his girly arms out he gets more than 7 boards.

The list of guys who aren’t choking is down to one. JAMES POSEY. didn’t you all know that is what it would be. He is the real hero. I pray we see more of him next week

Oh btw….childress has an ugly grill

Jeff said:

The foul call on Pierce was horrible, but even worse was him losing his cool to give them another technical free throw.[/quote]

Well, I hate to say I told ya so, but onece again Paul Pierce chokes under pressure. He showed us again how to further demoralize your team at the worst possible time.

Blaming Doc again Jeff? The Celtics don’t have a coaching problem as much as having players with heart. None of the Big thre have provn that they can hang undre intense pressure. I’ve said in a previous post that we don’t have players with the Kobe mentality of pure unadulterated killer mentality. I was watching the Celtics pre-game show before game 1 of this series. The SMALL Three, er… I meant The Big Three were being interviewed and the last question went somethin like this… “who do you want to take the last shot with the game on the line”? Both PP and KG said Ray Allen at the same time, but Ray Allen said “the open man”.

I thought to myself why didn’t Paul and KG want the ball with the game on the line? And you saw that tonight in the fourth quarter when KG was passing up opportunities to take over the game. What would Kobe have done under the same circumstnces? Take a guess!

Game at 95 – 100, Hawks by 5, with 1:07 to go. Boston calls time out, thw camera zooms in to the huddle. What do you see? KG was as quite as a sleeping infant. Where’s the heart? Where’s the leadership on the floor when it mattered?

PS: I find nothing wrong with Ray taking that 3 point shot. He’s made that shot numerous times in tought situations. This one just didn’t fall.

If they get by this series they will be fine vs. the Cav’s. I just don’t think Atlanta is ready to win a big game on the road yet. The athleticism of this team is causing us no end of issues. Wally, Delonte, Ilgauskus (sp) just don’t have the same level of athleticism, and we will actually have a speed advantage at a few positions and may be able to push the ball on occasion which would take some pressure off our half court offense.

I dunno, but it seems to me like all that’s happening is Boston is a bit worse than we thought,

See.. this was the case last year with Dallas. They ran a bit hot to get to 67 wins.. they were more like a 61 win team. And Golden State was a lot better once J-Rich got healthy.

See.. this was the case last year with Dallas. They ran a bit hot to get to 67 wins.. they were more like a 61 win team. And Golden State was a lot better once J-Rich got healthy.But that’s not the case here. The Cs had a historically great season. You don’t put up double digit point differentials without being a truly elite team. ATL probably is a little better, especially with this crowd, but the Cs are still much, much better. But they’re choking so hard. And to me it starts with Doc, and to a lesser extent the big 3. They let a bunch of young guys get in their heads.

Hondo ya know i’ve actually felt the same as you- good observation about the athleticism and Cleveland NOT having any…

The point about the overreaction with the double team on Johnson tonight is right on the money. After the Hawks beat it the first few times you would figure Doc would adjust. But no, he has to run it three or four more times to make sure the Hawks got three or for more easy baskets.

To me this loss shows that we are an extremely emotion-driven team. We have beaten this team by an average of 22points at home this series. 22! It makes no sense that everything we do right at home all of a sudden disappears on the road. Doc didn’t get smart on the plane to Boston, and then dumb again on the plane back to ATL. The only thing that has changed is the crowd. And that is disappointing, because a truly great team ought to be able to motivate itself.

That being said, it’s a good thing we’ve got home court advantage throughout the playoffs!

ATL probably is a little better, especially with this crowd, but the Cs are still much, much better. But they’re choking so hard.

No real argument from me on this. I’m just saying that if they win this next game, the slate is wiped clean and they enter Round 2 still the “much, much better” team. Whether or not they choke is a different question, but I think their fans should at least give them the benefit of the doubt!

After the Hawks beat it the first few times you would figure Doc would adjust. But no, he has to run it three or four more times to make sure the Hawks got three or for more easy baskets.

If Doc switched to single coverage and JJ scored, the same people would be saying, “What an idiot Doc is. How could you let Joe Johnson beat you again!?! Doesn’t he know JJ’s their only player? Why didn’t we take the ball out of his hands and make the other guys beat us?”

migit said:

Doc didn’t get smart on the plane to Boston, and then dumb again on the plane back to ATL. The only thing that has changed is the crowd. And that is disappointing, because a truly great team ought to be able to motivate itself.

You nailed it migit! There is a psychological battle taking place on the floor. The coach can’t really do much about that. The players have to get themselves motivated. Especially KG and PP. Ray is just fine, his confodence level seems to be in balance whether his shots are dropping or he’s being abused by the other team, he just keeps playing. PP on the other hand chokes and resorts to destructive antics. KG is the energy guy on this team, the rest of the team feeds off of his intense emotions. Unfortunately, folks who can hit such emotional highs are also prone to emotional lows. And we’ve seen that with KG. I just saw the post game interview and KG practically admitted that in his 13 years in the league, he’s never seen the kind of energy in Atlanta. Apparently, it’s getting to him. Those who are questioning Ray’s 3 point shot bette runderstand that even if KG had got the pass, he’d probably had passed up the shot anyway. Ray stepped up, it just didn’t fall.

The good news is the Celtics are the better team and they are going to win this series and go far in the playoffs. The team is going to get better specifically because they have Doc whose stong suite happens to be the ability to motivate and get his players to believe.

PS: please forgive my spelling mistakes… Don’t have time to spell check.

migit — they did not double Johnson Wednesday night the way they did tonight and they won by 25 points. Some of the double teams tonight were ridiculous. Why are they double teaming Johnson near the midcourt stripe? And, at least twice when they double-teamed him, Perkins was completely out of position and they cot an uncontested dunk. Bad coaching leads to bad execution. Wonder if Doc will give the guys the day off tomorrow so they can rest up for Sunday — heh. Wonder if any of his kids have any games they are playing in that he will have to attend? >:(

rarely agree or even listen to Screamin A. Smith but this is indeed “disgraceful”. The big 3 game up small in this one. PP loses his cool AGAIN, KG passes up point-blank shots, and Ray becomes too 3 happy.

the criticism of KG when they got him was on display in the 4th Q. passing it when he is in the paint, instead of shooting it! unbelievable!!!! 1st thing Tommy mentioned on the post game show. you can’t do that.
if i hear 1 more time they have to take it to the hoop, i’ll kill myself.are you going to assume the official calls a foul on the hawks as often as they do on the celts when the hawks take it to the hoop?they are done, sunday or in the next round.garnett and allen are disapointing in the playoffs.
curse of bias lives!

vinnie said:

they did not double Johnson Wednesday night the way they did tonight and they won by 25 points. Some of the double teams tonight were ridiculous. Why are they double teaming Johnson near the midcourt stripe?[/quote]

You’re not telling the whole story. First of all, they are playing in an unfriendly enviroment where psychology plays a larger role, like the crowd noise and all. Secondly, the double teaming of JJ was very successful. Even the Hawk’s hometown paper acknowledged that. Check the the game story on the AJC website:

http://www.ajc.com
[quote] Johnson, quiet for much of the night because of a constantly trapping Celtics’ defensive scheme, made the four free throws in the final 10.6 seconds for the Hawks… Johnson didn’t come close to match the production of his fourth quarter heroics from Game 4, he scored 20 of his career playoff-high 35 points in the fourth quarter of that win… Johnson, who finished with 15 points, five assists and four rebounds, had a chance to ice the game for the Hawks with 25.9 seconds to play but missed a one-handed floated in the lane.

Clearly Johnson didn’t have a great game because of Doc’s defensive scheme. So give credit where credit is due.

So they held Johnson to 15 points, but still lost the game. I guess we all should be happy then — ;D

Ok, three things:

1. This isn’t on Doc. Sure, double-teaming Joe Johnson every possession may seem like a drastic change, but weren’t you all the same people screaming for extra help when Johnson went off in Game 4? I know there’s a happy medium, but let’s not forget that this “solution” has worked on Johnson thus far.

2. The shot by Ray with 20 seconds to go isn’t on Doc either. Ray is a Hall of Fame SG and the NBA’s All-Time leader in field goal percentage. If he thinks he’s got a window of opportunity, I’m with him 100%. That being said, of course we would have all liked him to take time off the clock. Sure, the remaining time allowed us another opportunity, but I would have rather lost at the buzzer than leave things to chance — like if Mike Bibby doesn’t miss that free throw with 8 seconds left.

3. The last possession won’t, but should[/i] stand out more than the possession by Ray. Blame for this falls directly onto the players. I find it extremely hard to believe that Rondo shooting a three at the buzzer was anyone’s best option for a last shot. No movement by Ray in the bottom corner, and not even a high pick set for Rondo. It seemed as though everyone was waiting for someone else to take the reigns, and that’s a scary thought. I understand this club is all about being selfless and playing as a team, but someone on the court (because I think Pierce would have) [i]must want that shot. The lack of a killer instinct away from home is going to continue to hurt the Celtics should they move further into the playoffs.

vinnie said:

So they held Johnson to 15 points, but still lost the game. I guess we all should be happy then

Ha ha very funny! ;)

It could have been worse had they not doubled on JJ. If he’d been able to score another 35 like game 4, we’d have lost by an extra 20 points. How would you have liked that outcome?

I understand folks are a bit down, but c’mon let’s stop acting like this was a coaching problem – and if Doc is an idiot, then so is Assistant Coach Thibedou and all the rest of the coaching staff. And I refuse to even entertain such a thought.

I still believe. I think that Atlanta gives the C’s a lot of trouble and when any team gets their home crowd behind them its very dangerous. I’m bothered by the fact that the C’s have yet to win on the road, but don’t forget they’ve been blowing the Hawks out at home. It may be a long Long long trip but as long as the C’s never lose at home they will win 17. Keep the faith! Drink the Kool-aid. And get ready for a a$$ kicking on Sunday cause that’s what we’re gonna see.
GO CELTICS

This team will not win a championship. They act like pocessions are no big deal. How many did they just piss away? Over the season I came to beleive that they were good enough to overcome doc’s shortcomings but I was wrong. They have shown that they are mentaly weak. I am sorry to say KG is looking more like Chris Webber in the clutch. I think they will win the series but they look very uncomfortable out there, and I have come to believe that kg is not able to delever when it really counts. In the last two games in ATL he has come up with an offensicve rebound in the last moments of the game right around the basket and rather than go up with it he passed the ball to someone else who was not possitioned nearly as well as him. Tonight he had the ball with the clockshot winding down and he turned it over. He does not want the last shot and that’s where we are at. I am bummed.

oh garnett where is thy intensity; pierce where is thy sting? u 2 guys better get your act together. garnett, all that eye bulging and yapping endlessly on your team mates ears would have amounted to nothing if u exit in game 7 of the first round. get that killer instinct activated get the team going. are u just another big choker who hides a lack of heart behind those antics? kg you have no more excuse , you’ve got the best supporting cast of your carreer. if u lose this series you better hang youre sneakers and hide in the mountain caves of afghanistan where nobody will ever locate you in the next 20 years!!!!

I just saw Walton’s interview of Bird at the time of his 50th birthday. He asked him why he played better on the road and Bird answered that playing in a hostile environment was more of a challenge. It was too easy playing at home with the crowd in his corner.

We’ve got 12 years to miss Big Al.

C’s missed so many open jumpers. They stopped being agressive down the stretch. Even so, the difference in FT was astounding. 24 to 47?! A bunch of cheap fouls and lack of agressiveness cost the Celts this game.

The C’s need to win convincingly on Sunday in order to have any kind of momentum going into the next round.

This just goes to show you that the regular season and the playoffs are two completely different animals. The C’s must play with a higher level of intensity and focus than they did in the regular season.

Hopefully the C’s realize that nothing will be given to them they must go out and take it…..being the number one seed doesn’t mean much in a 1 or 2 possession game.

Read Bob Ryan’s column today. He hammers the team and he is 100 percent on the money.

I don’t know why anyone is surpirsed that KG is not taking the last shot. Has anyone watched him over his career? That’s why this team was so great – the other stars made up for the deficiency of the others. Ray or Paul SHOULD be taking that last shot. That’s what they do. KG SHOULD be kicking it out. That’s whyat he does. When the shot goes in, we call it teamwork. When the shot doesn’t go in, we moan and complain.

Adriano, if Dennis Johnson is not a hall of famer, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are not close to being hall of famers. Not even using current fans’ criteria. Garnett, with his timid playoff performances, is doing his best to join them.

Doc Rivers has always, generously, been a sub-par coach. No matter how much talent they put around him, he still is a sub-par coach. Doc will get outcoached and outstrategized by any playoff coach.

So it’s up to his players, especially the three who make up the salary cap by themselves, to take over. Where Paul is concerned, it means acting like a grown up in crunch time and getting to the basket. In Kevin’s case, it means actually playing like you want to advance offensively. The Hawks don’t need to bother double teaming him in crunch time. He passes out before it ever happens. Hard to get mad at Ray. He’s overmatched against Johnson. He’s limited defensively anyway. He’s playing way too many minutes. And he’s hit crazier shots in crunch time than the one he took last night. Unlike Garnett, at least he’s not afraid to shoot in crunch time. If Garnett didn’t shy away, not everybody on the Hawks would know who’s taking the shot Allen took.

Garnett needs to grow some testicles sometime between now and Sunday and play inside a little on the offensive end. The 18 footers, no matter how many he makes, don’t cut it when the other team is getting your guys in foul trouble. Then a 37 win team won’t be shooting 20 more free throws than we are. He’s getting his arse kicked by a rookie and somebody named Zaza.

Guys, thru six games its been evident that KG simply needs to step up. Rondo is outplaying Bibby, our bench is clearly superior, Pierce and Joe Johnson so far is a wash. KG is being outplayed by Zaza and Horford for stretches of the game! Childress is running wild on offensive boards. Offensively, he’s constantly settling for fall-aways and seems to have alot of trouble finishing around the rim. He’s just simply not winning the individual matchups. If he’s having trouble with this crew, what can we possibly expect going forward ? Duncan (and maybe even Gasol) would eat him up alive, not to mention Rasheed.