Cold Water: Game 4 yet another bad performance

Yes, Baby's shot was great, and yes, Paul's pass was great. But it was a terrible game from the Cs.

First... imagine for a moment that Baby had not made that shot, either because he missed, or because a foul was called prior to it. Your opinion of the game would be the opposite of what it is now.

About the shot... before Baby hit it, he set 2 picks. One for Ray, then one for Paul. The pick for Paul was a CLEAR FOUL, as he moved through the whole thing. This in a game where the refs were calling every little touch. If the whistle had blown, the game would have been over.

The Magic... were absolutely TERRIBLE in this game. 40% FG%, 5/27 3-pointers. If they had hit just ONE more 3-pointer, they win. If they had hit even close to their usual percentage, they would have blown us out. This game should have been an easy win for the Cs, not a squeaker.

Lest you think it was our defense that caused them to miss so many of their shots... fuggetaboutit. The vast majority of their 3-point attempts were WIDE OPEN. We got lucky: they just missed a lot.

The refs were horrendous in this game. They called a number of ridiculous fouls (especially Bill Kennedy, whose performance borders on criminal). The bad calls probably even out, but several of them, including a non-existent goaltending call by Crawford near the end of the first half, accrued to the Cs' benefit. If Crawford were not as blind and stupid as he was then, Cs probably lose.

After Eddie lights up two games in a row, the Celtics basically ignored him for this whole game, even when he was wide open. In part, this is what happens when Paul runs the offense.

Also: Ray's still having problems. No way we get anywhere in these playoffs without Ray. Marbury had 2 great plays right away, then missed 3 shots and was pulled. Scal was ok on D, invisible on O. Mikki was just awful, clueless on D. We sure could use a ready-to-play Bill Walker or JR Giddens... unfortunately, Doc failed to bring them along during the regular season.

But... the biggest problem is still Paul. Yes, he had a great game. But the Cs had a total of 16 assists. Rondo had just 3. That is NOT how we are going to win games. That's how we can squeak by when the other team is playing horribly. But that's all. Normally, this game is a loss... and that's mostly because Paul Pierce was too often running the offense, instead of Rondo.

RONDO MUST RUN THE OFFENSE, as he did in game 2 when Paul (thankfully) sat. The problem with Paul has been TWOFOLD:
(1) till Sunday, he had had a bunch of bad games. But more importantly...
(2) he tends to try to run the offense. When he does that and he's playing badly, it means lots of turnovers, sticky ball, little team play, low assist numbers. When he does that and he's playing well - as he did in game 4 - IT'S STILL VERY BAD FOR THE CELTICS.

The only way this team dominates is when:
(a) Rondo is playing his game, and
(b) Rondo runs the offense, getting everybody involved with easy looks.
That allows Ray to get going early, and Eddie too when he's in -- and pretty soon, it's a rout.

But it doesn't look like Doc gets this. Maybe he does, but he sure didn't sound like it in the press conference. He seemed to think this was a good game. It was far from a good game. It was, in fact, a ticket to failure. I.e., if they play this exact same way again, they will probably lose. And probably in a blowout. And against the Cavs... just forget about it altogether. "Embarrassing" would be the headline. Four times in a row.

If you look at our lineup dispassionately, it's pretty ridiculous, especially compared to other teams in the playoffs. So we have our reasons. But that doesn't mean we can't win... we can, but only if this team plays to its maximum potential. That's not happening now. Worse, it doesn't look like they know it.