The Blame Game

the shooting slump could be because of that sleeping-in-instead-of-shooting-around thing…

i don’t know how it can be Sheed’s fault when for three games The Celtics were down by 10 before he even came out.

sheed or scals? oh no probably shelden williams.

picked Father Time but the best option would be: the whole team.

This is a team-wide problem. The only ones bringing it every night are Perk, Williams and Marquis. Everyone else is inconsistent in their focus and their effort.

Perimeter defense is just too porous. That’s where the defensive problems begin. Fix that and it will take care of most of the rest of the defensive problems.

On offense, they need to get a clue. Too much standing around. Missed open shots will most likely fall at some point but better ball movement gets closer shots that are more makeable.

no blame. kg is hurting. this starting 5 has been together for a while. don’t you think the scouts etal. have figured out where they’e vulnerable. they’re pacing themselves as well after last year’s early push and collapse. we also need a backup pg because doc won’t play hudson. and come on back, big baby.

The whole teams rhythm is off because Doc keeps coddling THE OLD THREE. Doing this hurts the rest of the team and the big three. He took it easy on them in training camp with the one a day’s. Dumb idea! They can play but there is no real rhythm because of training camp. After camp there was only two sets of offense plays set’s installed.
 
The real problem is the coach not Rondo not Sheed or any other single player. Every championship team I have seen (since the late fifties) have one thing in common. In some form or fashion they all played their way to the championship. Being easy on two or three hurt’s the whole team. Light practice no practice that can’t help the young players.

I keep hearing people say the young guy can’t play. Stop being brain washed. You only saw them play from 1- 5 minutes, possibly 6 times a season. Consistent floor time for the youth to season there game.

This a is a rough team not a finesse team. They have to be coached that way or they look like garbage.

You win as a team, you lose as a team.

No team goes from best to worst in such a short time becuase of one reason alone. It´s a synergy effect, a chain of reasons.

The things is, if anyone can be held accountable for our poor showings on offense, it´s the coach.

This “every open shot is a good shot” crap is what I don´t like.
A 3-pointer from one of your big men is simply not an efficient offensive option in itself.
If all you care about are open shots, you´re satisfied if he launches a wide-open three and misses it, because he simply took an open shot, and he could´ve made it, so it was a good play.

But if your opponent is able to grab every rebound, because your big men are on the perimeter and not in position, then you´re doing something wrong.
The rebounds and the (usually) following fastbreak are at best a defintive posession for your opponent, or at worst an easy baskets against your team. No matter how efficient the percentages look on paper (40% from three = 60% from inside), they don´t account for the following easy rebound for your oppoenent.
Over the course of a game, these things add up and make an old team (with a hurt defensive leader) look even older. Our opponents are playing cat and mouse with us.

The rebounding numbers since the Hawks game are evidence for this. Not only can our opponents now sag off of Rondo, but they can also concentrate on the defensive boards. Generally, if you look at the last games, this seems to make it even more difficult for our slashers to drive to the hoop, since all your opponent has to do is focus on securing the paint.

Simply put, someone has to tell Sheed that the basket can be found in the painted area, and not on the perimeter, and that someone is Doc.

Rondo shouldnt even be an option

Where is Ray Allen on this List?

The answer is KG, not KGS knee…just flat out KG (when are gonna be able to wake up and get critiical of someone other then Rondo on the team)
Our starting lineup and team have not functioned better then it did 6 months ago with Big Baby Davis Starting, KG cant draw a double, score or defend in the post, rebound like he has most of his career, he has head hung lower then any player of all time sulking on the bench when things arent going right, his lateral quickness and jumping ability are shot, hes slow, he fatigues quickly..etc etc etc..

Rondo is the only player from the chamionship to get significantly better…sure he didnt play good against orlando and his critcs wanted him gone…but something very consistent in the celtics win is rondos energy, speed, pressure, and passing ability dominating the game….really its not even close Rondo and Pierce are the celtics best players right now

is not going to get the team over the hump….blame will not help them find ubuntu again.
Work hard, then relax, trust each other again and win. Timing comes with trust. Trust that if you are free and in the right spot, you will get the ball. Trust that someone will be in the right spot so that you can get them the ball. It is a game, that is what teamwork is. Don’t take the joy out of it. Sometimes we all forget that….both the players and the fans…

If this doesn’t work for you, blame BBD…his absence is being felt under the basket…

and it’s showing. we desperately need a young stud to come off the bench. Baby will help but if there’s a way to swing a trade for an energy player to come off the bench or maybe even start in place of Ray Allen then we should do it. Doc really needs to give giddens and hudson some pt to see if those guys can bring something to the team. GIddens in particular looks like a kid who could turn into something if he was just given the green light. Doc has done a POOR job of developing young players and giddens appears to be the latest failure. I think the kid has some talent and could really help and I feel that DOc needs to be willing to lose a few games now so that come springtime GIddens will be a solid rotation player. KG is not 100% and wallace and ray allen have declined significantly. Ray in particular is a complete liability defensively and if his shot isn’t falling he’s pretty worthless out there. I would love to see Pierce at the 2 more ( please not at the 1) and either play daniels more or give giddens some burn. we desperately need a scorer/sparkplug off the bench a la crawford in atlanta. He’s the reason they’re winning. unfortunately there aren’t oo many ‘Microwaves" out there but IMO that’s what we need. Tracey McGrady??

Since he arrived in `07…“As KG goes, so goes the Celtics”!
The Celtics are only as good as KG. Period.

When KG was healthy and feeling it…he was a “fire-eating dragon”, filled with energy, enthusiasm, and played every moment as if it would be his last!

It was contagious…the rest of the team caught that same fever, and joined him!

Today…that same energy and spark is gone from KG.
Not surprisingly, it`s gone from the team as well.

End of story…End of analysis.

Plus a lack of hustle. We’ve got all these tall guys, yet we are 29th in the league in rebounding. That says it all.

The trouble with KG is that he seems to be regressing as the season goes on; he has less mobility and lift now than he did at the beginning of the year At that point he looked about 70% of his 2007 form. He’s now down to about 55%. If he can turn this around and get most of his mobility back, it will go a long way towards solving our problems. We can manage with a diminished Ray Allen, but not with a diminished KG, certainly not with both going downhill. Baby’s absence has hurt more than I would’ve guessed, since I expected KG to be progressing more quickly. Meanwhile, play Shelden Williams more and give Lester Hudson some minutes, maybe even some at shooting guard. If they’re still plodding a month from now, bring up B. Walker and play him.

Cs fans will have to be patient this year. If we win 2/3 of our games (55 wins), get a top 3 seed, and get ready to fight. If the vets stay healthy and reestablish the team’s confident, defense-first identity, then we have a real shot.

A lot like the Pats this year. They won’t be a top favorite but we know they have a real shot.

I didn’t vote because I feel that it is just one of the lulls in a season that happens to every team in every year. Has the same feel to it as the home and home against Washington two years prior and last year with the WC road trip.

We’re 10-4 and just won on the road.

Blame is for losers. This is not a team of losers. I refused to vote in this poll unless you add a ‘none of the above’ or ‘team shooting slump’ category.

I disagree that there is any major problem with the defense. Even during this ‘slump’ they are keeping most teams well under their scoring averages. The problem is entirely on the offensive side and there are exactly two things wrong that I see.

First – There needs to be more movement away from the ball. The end of reg at the Knicks is a good example. Rondo took the shot because no one was moving and everyone was covered against his pass. He clearly wanted to dish, but everyone was standing around waiting for someone else to make a move. So he had to shoot, rimmed it and they went to OT. Now, that said, the offense is STILL creating a lot of open looks that are simply not being converted into points, which leads to …

Second – and this is the real ‘problem’ – but one I’m less worried about. Too many guys are in a real shooting slump. And it isn’t just the three pointers. Their FG% for all shots is just terrible the last half-dozen games. It was abnormally high the first few games and the pendulum swung back hard the other way. Everyone talks about ‘Sheeds missed cannon shots, but they are also missing wide-open layups and even alley-oops! This will even out. Statistics is a fickle mistress day to day, but in the long run she’s very faithful.

In the last two games, Scal has played 21 minutes, getting 1 rebound (from the center position!), while Shelden Williams has only played 17 minutes. Most of Scal’s minutes have been late, crunch time minutes, while Williams doesn’t play much outside the 1st half. Scal is a terrible, worthless player, who contributes absolutely nothing when he’s on the floor. A little more Williams, a lot less Scal, please.

 We started out the year 27-2 and we had the same starting lineup and a worse bench(?) than now. Looking at the minutes, we had Powe and Baby and House and TA coming in. The only one of those players playing now is House and he isn’t playing well. Last year he wasn’t on fire until later either. Certainly Powe and Baby played better than we are getting from Sheed and Williams, simply because Sheed is awful so far. But Marquis has been way better than TA. Id have to call it a wash so far, BUT only because Sheed has been crazy bad on offense. I do want to say he is being pummelled here and no one is mentioning his d has been close to great. If he’d have hit 6 more threes, getting him up to his career average I suspect no one would be compaining. And we would probably be 12-2.

The starters? Is Rondo worse than the start last year?? Not by much I don’t think. His d is better, he is staying in front of his man better but I think he is shooting worse and of course he’s way off on freebies.. PP has become part of The Big One, imho. Ray is shooting poorly and is a turnover machine. Perk is at least a lttle bit better. KG is much worse.

Summary: KG is a much worse player than the start of last year. Off our bench, taking up Baby’s and some amount of Powe’s time, Sheed is shooting horribly so far. Ray is a solid notch worse than last year. Rondo is marginally worse so far.

Its that simple. Imho, Sheed, Rondo and Ray will improve. I have no idea about KG.

More energy off the bench, wearing out the opponents bigs may help the rebounding numbers, clogging the lane more on d. Remember that he has wonderful hands for Rondo’s penetrating dishes. Resting KG more hopefully. he clearly still has to heal.
We will be fine. Id like to see us hang in close enough to the leagues best record and snatch it away with a post all start spurt but we’ll see. Lets play well the next few weeks and beat Orlando on Xmas day

I just think Ray, House and Sheed don’t look comfortable shooting from outside. I think it’s because they are thinking too much. This team is all about team and making the extra pass is part of this. Thus, when they have a shot they would automatically just let go, they are looking for something better first. If nothing is there they are then out of rhythm. Once they stop thinking those shots will go down. I’m also not sure that Doc is doing some experimenting now. But now is the time to do it. In summary it looks worse than it really is. They are taking good shots and they will start going in.

He still hits the open J but he doesn’t get open much the last few games. And his defense is a foot slow. I think by next year JJ Reddick will have more value than Ray. But, I hope I’m wrong

Because it doesn’t seem as appropriate making it right after a win, no matter how close it was.

If we were 13-1 instead of 10-4, people would say the win against the Knicks was one of those wins that we never deserved, and getting it was only something championship teams do. But because we didn’t beat the Magic, Hawks, or Suns, people see it differently. While that’s fair in it’s own right, I don’t think it means we need to start blaming people. Like mmmmm said, we’re not finishing easy layups, and as someone who went to the game Sunday, I saw a bit of that too. If we can do that, especially in the 1st quarter like Jeff suggests we do, we can end the game much faster.

still find it puzzling that the highest paid player on the team, who is shooting a career low from 3, is playing the most minutes, and cant defend a chair isnt an option…and Rondo, who besides his ft shooting is arguably off to his best start of a season is a popular option

how could anyone possibly be blaming rondo? fine, he can’t shoot free throws, and it is getting worse, but at least he is changing what doesn’t work, taking the step back to take two forward that most people resist to the end. he does everything for us, and he is our only guy right now that is a game changer athletically. (ah, well perk somewhat too I guess)

here are the problems as I see them (sorry about the sloppy grammar, no time for parallelism right now)
 
1. KG is gimpy
2. doc is limiting kg’s minutes (if #1 contradicts #2 just remember that some famous german physicist (or philosopher?) genius guy said that the ability to hold conflicting ideas in the mind at the same time is the most crucial sign of intelligence, besides they both come down to us missing KG and in that sense don’t conflict, as sorry as I am to dissapoint german philosopher genius guys)
3. ray allen shouldn’t dribble unless 2-3 times to get his shot or get himself to the rim, no “playmaking” for him, the only play he makes is a fast break for the other team
4. no more democratic offense, get the ball to pp (after making them stop rondo to the hoop) and get ready to shoot, slash, or rebound off his play
5. rasheed, kg, and house can’t shoot right now, largely from getting bad looks, see #4, that should help fix #5, although KG’s problems are more worrisome since he is getting that top of the key shot he likes and missing, maybe see #1 for that
6. tommy is right, starting the games through perk causes slow starts, start through pp even if just him creating for others, I guess this is really #4a, but #4 is the key to me and Doc was caught saying as much to PP during a wired segment on ESPN. he was doing his hoarse, hollow, yell thing, “I want the ball in your hands….” good idea doc. I know pp wants to be a little deferential, but he is far and away our best offensive player, and other than rondo, the best at creating. he has got to put on the superman cape for awhile, at least until kg’s knee is better, BBD gets back, etc.

I have been a celtics fan my entire life. I have seen so many losses and pathetic efforts over the course of my career it would make any bandwagon fan commit suicide. My father has had season tickets since I was born and I have been to many good and many many many bad games. WIth that being said people need to stop complaining. This team has at times shown a lack of effort and defensive intensity but it will come. KG’s knee needs time, just like Tom Brady’s knee needed 6-8 weeks to be at full strength. Come playoff time, if we are a 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 seed, no one is going to play us.

Was it not just 5 months ago Ray Ray dropped 51 on the bulls, he is a world class athlete who will have a career similar to Reggie Miller. Pierce is only 31 years old and has looked very strong this year. When KG’s knee is at full health this will all be a distant memory and his career will progress along the same path as Kareem Abdul Jabar.

Im sick of the negativity on this board. We are going to be champions this year. Just roll with it bro, this team is amazing and you all will see that in due time.

KG’s working his way back, Sheed is on a new team, guys are still figuring out how to play together…

That said, 10-4 is pretty good. Could they be better? Sure. But let’s see a half season of games before losing it.

Living in New York, I’ve seen more Knick games that I care to. I can tell you, there is no worse franchise. Few Pro teams of any sort have the kind of resources the Knicks do and they’ve STILL managed to mess up in new and different ways every single year. I almost feel bad for long suffering Knick fans. Almost.