I’d clarify the bench issue, Jeff, and make it a single issue. The bench is badly constructed, with no size, little ballhandling, a shortage of outside shooting, very little versatility and not enough quality. It’s essentially Leon Powe and a collection of end of the bench – and NBDL – guys.

- no longer going to Leon in the post with a shooting option to kick out to;

- serious lack of movement on offense — both ball and player; settling for peirce isos at the top of the key WAY too often. (reminds of 2006-07 — yikes).

One word LAKERS

That really messed them up I guess they were on this high and then they made them come down. Some how we have to bounce back and when the rematch comes we will be focus again.

Leon took two shots last night. Count em: two. One was a put-back.

Agree with ssspence: they’re getting overly reliant on exploiting individual match-ups rather than running the normal offense.

When we’re moving the ball on offense, we’re very good: Rondo gets lanes to drive to the hoop, Ray gets open 3s, KG gets good looks at his 16-foot jumpers, Perk gets easy dunks. When the ball stops because we’re trying to exploit match-ups, that individual player might be successful but the offense overall stalls. Rondo’s man helps off of him, KG gets doubled, etc. I’ve noticed this the past few games: lots of Piece posting up PGs who have switched on to him, and he’s put up great numbers individually, but all the other aspects of the offense have suffered.

Similarly, the 2nd unit had a number of reliable plays last year (that didn’t rely on Posey, thank you), and they’ve gone away from them this year in favor of more one-on-one play. When was the last time House and Powe ran a pick and roll with Powe going toward the basket? That was a reliable play all last year, and even at the start of this year, but they simply haven’t run it at all in the past month. Instead it’s been lots of iso stuff with TA, Powe, etc.

other teams have scouted the c’s and figured out how to beat them and either our coach or our players do not have the flexibility to make the needed adjustments. we also have no one to tie the bench to the starters and are relying on the starters to pick up the bench.

…grateful for the 19 game winning streak. As I look at it right now, the Celtics are lucky to be right in the mix for the best record in the league, and it’s become apparent that they’re not going to be able to coast to HCA like last year. Without that winning streak, the Cavs and Lakers could’ve been pulling away by now. But slumps happen to every team. The Cavs haven’t had one yet, and neither have the Lakers. And we’re still right there in the mix.

But they need to figure things out pretty quickly, because while every team slumps, there’s no guarantee that the Cavs slump will be as bad as what the Celts are going through right now.

Yup. I agree with the dude above. The Lakers loss killed them psychologically.

http://lexnihilnovi.blogspot.com/2009/01/so-what-gives.html

It’s obvious, isn’t it? If we had James Posey we’d be 36-0.

Well, we lead the league in turnovers, teams know this and are told to capitilize on it….we are the champs and not playing like it, we’re a defensive team that gets rattled if we get a taste of our own medicine, and teams are coming out matching our defensive intensity that they expect from us and we’re rolling over…
KG, Rondo, Bench all a problem right now as well

Jeff, another one.

KG looks aweful. Not sure if he’s more injured than he’s letting on, or just tired. They spent so much emotional and physical energy proving to the world that they wouldn’t let up after winning last year, they’re exhausted. It shows particularly severely on the big guy. He needs rest.

To quote Jim Mora: I don’t care who you play. If you’re going to lose games in the middle of the year at the expense of the longevity of your stars, get some kids out on the floor for energy and experience and / or shuffle the bench rotation. Get Walker out there 10 minutes a night. Throw POB out there for 10 as well. What’s the worst that happens, we lose? Well it’s happening in spite of this to begin with.

Shake things up a little to loosen the knot that’s strangling the team at the moment.

Haven’t seen anyone call them out yet. It’s Doc’s job to get the guys motivated and keep them focused and they seem to be neither. Some questionable substitution patterns also. Last night the C’s finally made a run with Powe and Baby in the game and get a decent lead and as soon as KG came back in the Cat’s made another run to take the lead. maybe he’s hurt, but if so he needs to take off until he’s well. Also with Paul being the only Celtic with a hot hand, he plays the least minutes of the 3. If we are going to play like the 06-07 team at least turn Paul loose and see if he can win a couple of games by himself.

Thank you Jeff for doing my rant for me. Absolutely perfect! My money is on Cleveland out of the East this year. Love the Green but your analysis is spot on!

Quote from DJ Augustin, and hes 100% correct….and its being stated in every single locker room around the league…basically we’ll roll over if you dont

The only difference is that now the team is losing close games. During the winning streak they were winning them. Generally teams win 50% of those games. Things are just balancing out. Those who thought this team was nearly as good as the 26-2 record were being delusional.

Therefore, this post is entirely nonsensical.

The Celtics at 26-2 were not just eaking out the close games, and now the law of averages is what we are seeing. No way! They were a smooth running defense-focused first team that got energy from a better than expected 2nd team. They had shooters, drivers and low post scoring. They had attitude.
I assume the other teams have adjusted although aside from laying off Rondo I don’t see it with my fan’s eyes. To another poster’s comment , it did all change with the Lakers game. Probably an emotional level (starts w KG) that could not be sustained hit it ’s wall there. I think the defensive intensity is down and that starts with him.

However Cordobes is right in not over-worrying. Let a few losses piss them off and make them find the real Celtics game. Of long term worry though is Tony Allen. His game has gone south.

Mike Gorman’s brilliance spoils us. Having to listen to Steve Martin & Henry Williams on the Cats broadcast was one of the worst experiences of my life. This is just one tiny example, but a five point lead is never “about five,” it’s just five. Maybe it’s slightly off-topic, but they threw me off my game.

Its defense and turnovers….I cringe everytime we turn the ball over, because it almost instantly turns into a bucket for the other team…I know we had this problem last year as well, but I dont think we actually led the league in turnovers….

I think it’s pretty simple, really. We’re turning the ball over more than any other team in the league. Essentially, we’re spotting every team we play a handful of possessions, and now we’ve come back to earth a little bit and it’s killing us.

The bench is an issue, but a secondary one. I don’t like seeing Powe + Baby on the floor at the same time, and I really don’t like seeing Scal + Powe/Baby. I know you can’t always have one of KG and Perk on the floor, but I’d like to see Perk in there with the one of Powe/Baby a little more often, even if it means seeing a little less of KG and Perk on the floor together. Obviously a bigger bench option would be nice.

And I hate to say it, but Marbury might help this team a good deal.

Also, why does it seem like they arent even making a conserted effort to limit the turnovers? they just come out and start slinging the ball everywhere..
I think this is another reason to put this slump on losing to the lakers is nonsense, we’ve been leading the league in turnovers since before that game, they capitilized on it and other teams are also doing a better job at converting on on it

The Celtics were crushing teams mainly because Rondo was playing like an all star. Teams, starting with the Lakers have made the adjustment, while the Celtics have not. Rondo has mostly played below average lately and the Celtics have struggled as a result. I think this is the top reason. The rest are probably valid too, but the C’s have to adjust to the adjustments.

I don’t think you can point to any single factor. It’s complex. First, they’ve been playing some decent teams on the road. They’ve had some terrible officiating (last night it was terrible both ways). They’re tired…Garnett is playing hurt..Perkins has been ineffective (IMHO his shoulder is hurt again)…Rondo has his shooting woes…they have a target on thir backs… turnovers…ineffective guard play from the bench… underutilization of Leon Powe…bad rotations by Rivers…

And so it goes. For the 50th time, he needs to sit House down and play Gabe Pruitt. He needs to sit Perkins down and give more minutes to Powe.

By the way, last night just showed that size isn’t the issue. The Celtics were much bigger up front than Charlotte, yet Okafor and Diaw controlled the paint defensively against bigger players. And Gerald Wallace outplayed the sluggish Pierce, who with one exception (the shot that sent the game into OT) was a step slow and a dollar short.

Will they recover? Who knows? They’re probably a 55 win team on paper, but for the past 7 games they’ve looked like a 30 win team. They’ve wilted under pressure three or four times in the fourth quarter (starting in LA)— and it’s the first unit that has done the wilting.

BTW, it’s nice to see the young Timberwolves stringing together some wins, even without Corey Brewer and with Telfair playing the point.

the lakers..

they really got into our heads. and it seems that our boys can not shake them out. it is the regular season-they should realize that the loss to the fakers is not the be all and end all of everything.

we seemed to be so obsessed with that.

they have the wrong mental take on that going into christmas showdown with the fakers. they went in and bought all the media pomp over one game.

and they thought that when they lost, a chink on their armour was exposed. That they somewhat realize they are not what they seemed to believe they are after the loss.

KG is too hard on them.

wake up guys. its the regular season! too much pressure on yourselves. so what if we do not have the homecourt advantage come playoffs.

take one game at a time. we are burned out early on the season. let go.

just enjoy each game..if kevin has that crazy mentality to make him effective the other guys should just play like themselves. If themselves meant loose then so be it.

enjoy the game.

forget about the lakers. If they are better or not we wil see in the playoffs. not in the regular season.

forget the lakers.

and they still got off to the best start in league history. That took a lot out of them, though.

They had to work their butts off for two months, and they just got burned out. Doc needs to give each of the Top 3 a week off, one at a time, and get them rejuvenated.

loss got under the C’s skin. Jackson showed the rest of the NBA how to beat the Cs. Our bench is missing two out of its three best players from last year. Baby has not stepped up. In fact he’s stepped back a bit. Garnett and Allen are a year older and have a lot of miles on their tires. Despite the Laker loss last night, there’s no way anyone can make the argument that the Lakers are not the best team in the NBA and they are certainly better and deeper than the Cs. Ainge and CO let Posey go and it’s killing us now.

played 22+ minutes for NOH last night scoring 7 point, 7 boards and played nasty defense. AGAINST THE LAKERS!

I don’t understand this Lakers thing.

First of all, it’s not like the Lakers handled us; the Celtics lost a poorly officiated game by a handful of shots, some of which were flukes. The game could have gone either way. It was like Game 5 of the Finals last year.

Do people really think that the Celtics lost to the Knicks because the Lakers barely beat them a week ago?

we were to focused on the lakers at the start of the season.

and considering the kind of focus that we have it is hard to let go.

the laker offensive and defensive strategy this year was to beat the Cs. Although we deny that on paper—we were trying to measure ourselves against them. And who can blame the guys—the hype, the tradition, the rivalry and everything that goes with it- points to the fakers as our antithesis.

It is like Batman to his Joker..(the dark knight).

But the mental take should have been—we are the Champions and we try to play our best every night. taking notes and learning.

Not beating ourselves to death because we want to be better than the lakers and have the best record.

Like Batman too—we beat ourselves more than anybody.

Just let go and enjoy our play and learn from this journey.

-When the Baby cried
-Garnett crawled on all four
-Rondo and Allen publicly arguing during a game
-trying to have a play without the coach’s consent

just some of the most recent ..

it has become a tailspin after that Christmas game—yeah, some nights there we try to comeback and beat the hell out of some teams—but, teams now are lining up to take their chance on the Cs.

Well, just one opinion. We can always deny this.

Just saying that if we own up to what happen and change the mindset it could turn us around.

Our guys do not even know what got into them.

Themselves.

the only difference between our hot start and the current tailspin is that the fakers beat us on christmas day.

the fans can beat themselves about the why’s—but we have the same manpower, same coaching staff, —it is purely mental that has change.

No matter how long a list we make—we are still that same 27-2 team. How did we become a 2-5 after—? Well, it started at the start of the season when we put our sights on the fakers.

And when the fakers beat us on that one regular season game on Christmas, we began beating ourselves up!

Not true? well, just saying. 27-2 to start, 2-5 later.

What else made the difference. I know it is hard for guys to admit that. The Cs are the last one to admit that.

But it takes real men to do that. Until then, it is a tailspin. A monkey on our mental back.

Every game I’ve watched since Xmas, the C’s have lost. When I don’t watch they win. So put it all on me. :-) I’ll stop watching for a few games and see what happens.

So we are forcing enough turnovers to go from 30th in turnovers, dead last, to tenth in differential.

The celts are an elite team yet 19 other teams have an edge over their opponents when it comes to foul calls. I don’t think it was like that at the end of Nov.

The idea is we are blowing probably 3 points a game throwing the ball away and we have no edge at the foul line.

we throw the ball away at home even more than on the road.

Gabe looked lost at times last night and zero assists. Now the entire team looked off but Gabe didn’t do anything to make the coached more comfortable. I’m a Gabe fan as well or a fan of him trying to prove himself and last night was not the best start!

Coming off the bench right now. Everyone else, send them as part of a deal. Bring us Joe Smith or Marcus Camby. I think the Clips are cheap enough, they’d take a package of Scal, Tony, and Powe for him.

Too many minutes for the 3 stars. Less minutes at their NBA age will give you more energy to play D. The bench plays Celtic D or make a change of players. More faith in bench players that do not play that much. Lets Go Celtics!

Also, didnt KG reach his 1,000 game mark earlier this season? Ray reached his 900th game tonight…woop dee freakin doo

I think when the Celtic’s lost to the Lakers It made the Celtics lose there confidence about the team. Once we get back on track we will be back on top