The Little Things That Kill

Um, isn’t that what a veteran team is already supposed to understand? not to mention isn’t that the lesson they all learned last year?

nice to hear an ‘admission of guilt’ but they should already be aware of this and executing plays accordingly.

While on the topic of veteran team, something’s been bugging me since last year that I haven’t seen anyone mention yet. ==>when we were young 2 years ago and many people, including myself, were frustrated with the volume of turnovers and how they continually hurt us, the general commentary was that a veteran team would take care of the ball better. I have to say that a year and a half later under veteran players, the same carelessness with turnovers continues to occur and is still impacting the ability to win games. I’m not hopping on Ray’s play at the end in particular but this team still turns it over way to much for a bunch of veterans.

pp is dead on. too many little things are killing them and this is where they are missing posey. their ( san antone’s) redhead is a much better offensive player than our redhead, but our’s is a better defender. scal was missed. hope the redhead is coming back.

Someone over at NESN is a little dramatic…sometimes the ball doesnt bounce your way… Other teams are using us as a measuring stick and coming in with something to prove, we could’ve and probably should’ve won both LA and SA games, most people watching understand that..not a big deal and just a part of the game

My theory is I know why we’ve lost these two close games against the Lakers and Spurs. My fellow Celtics fans, let me explain:

1. The three-point line: Okay, we can score and defend the paint like no body else’s business! We rule in this area and the NBA’s best at doing so. I mean we outscored the Lakers and Spurs in the paint by significant margins. However, these two teams were hitting the 3-point shot at will. Matt Bonner (seriously read that name again) scored 23 points against us!!! That doesn’t not happen, period. But it happened yesterday. Also George Mason hitting another big shot! Kinda like the shot that killed the Lakers in a similar game. We’ve got to guard the 3-point line much better because players are having big games against us in this area. In the Lakers game: Kobe hit threes, Derek Fisher hit threes, Luke Walton hit a couple, Sasha Vujacic hit a couple. If we can cover this area, we can be a powerhouse! But teams are killing us from the outside in these close games.

2. Forget Stephon, we need a big man. Okay, we guard the paint better than anybody and Leon Powe and Big Baby provide great energy and strength, but let’s get real guys! If we want to win a championship, we need one. Let me explain. KG and Perk can handle the paint, but these guys get tired too. They need their rest. So our back up centers have been Big Baby and Powe. During the Lakers game, Pau Gasol didn’t have a field goal in the first quarter and didn’t score till about three minutes in the second. Gasol had 23 points and got most of his points by shooting right over Big Baby and Powe. I do like these guys but they’re not tall enough to guard Pau in crunch time. It’s too bad Patrick O’Bryant isn’t playing at a level like we want him too (Like PJ Brown), because if he was, he could handle Pau. They are the same height. The same goes for Tim Duncan. Garnett can handle him and Perk, judging by his block on him, can handle him too. But Baby and Powe, not tall enough. We need another tall big man. Period.

3. Scalabrine! Is it me? Or am I the only one that thinks that we really do NEED this guy. The man has resurrected himself from the dead and has become a major bench player. He can hit a couple of 3s but most importantly, he is one of our best defensive players. Maybe if we had him on Pau and Tim Duncan, they wouldn’t have had it so easy! I was actually one of Scal’s biggest skeptics, but after seeing his value to the team as a whole defensive unit. Somebody pointed out that we were 5-0 with Scal playing meaningful minutes and when he plays well, we win and win big! Note to Danny Ainge: If you need to trade: not this guy! We actually need him. And I wish him a healthy recovery!

4. Eddie House: If this guy comes in for Ray Allen instead of Rondo, he thrives! He’s been shooting the lights out and against the Spurs, he hit a quick three which proves to me that he needs to play more crunch time minutes! Personally, I could care less if he’s in the 3-point shootout at the All Star Weekend or not. I care if he’s with us in the playoffs en route to 18! We need this guy too.

5. Turnovers: Face it guys, this is our greatest failing. We can force turnovers very well, but they don’t make a difference when we turn it right over back to the other team. A lot of fast break points on us are from turnovers. Even last year, that was a huge problem. I’ve never seen a championship level team turn the ball over as much as these guys. Tony Allen has got to be the worst. And Big Baby and Powe have a hard time holding onto the ball as well. Rondo and Perk are getting better and KG is getting much better. They’ve got to take care of the ball.

In closing, I think I made my point. However the organization and Doc Rivers are going to do what they think is best, but the Pau Gasol-Big Baby matchup and the Tim Duncan or Tim Thomas-Big Baby matchup proves to me we need another strong big man. We need Scal. Seriously, we need Scal. We need more Eddie. And most important, we’ve got to stop turning the dang ball over!

Well that’s about all I have to say right now. Don’t worry guys, keep the faith! We can do this again! Drive for 18!

Ubuntu!

Scal can spread the floor … since the fact that he knows his limitation so he is not going to do anything stupid (unlike TA)…

Then would we have several paragraph’s worth of what’s wrong? All of the areas of critique would be true whether the C’s won or lost, but I have a feeling had they won both, not nearly as much would be analyzed. Tough losses, yes, but a bounce or two and they would have won both and been on a 15 game winning streak. Unlike the NCAA’s, they don’t have to worry about a bounce or two costing them in the playoffs, as a single game can be overcome in a series. Is there room for improvement? Sure, but because they lost to 2 very good teams in really close games, does not mean there are warts all over this team.

Celtics lose to to the top tier teams when their defense falters. Plain and simple. They shot 50% against SA, grabbed boards, shared the ball, kept turnovers down, but made defensive mistakes and let the Spurs shoot 48%. Something they don’t do very often.

As for turnovers in general, I’m guessing the Celtics have one of the highest assist totals per game. For better or worse, all that passing will equal some turnovers. 10-12 should be acceptable. 20 is not.