Ray Allen's Slump

by Jeff Clark on May 9, 2009 10:27 AM EDT in Boston Celtics Articles

So far in this series Ray Allen is 12 for 40 from the field (30%) and 3 for 19 from three point land (15.8%). I was pretty confident that Ray would light up JJ Redick and Courtney Lee in this series. So far, not so good.

Paul Pierce hasn't exactly been burning the twine either, but his averages look healthier (41% from the field and 45% from 3). After sitting out most of game 2, he had a poor first half and made up for it by getting to the line in the 2nd half.

I tend to think that Ray Allen's numbers will even out over the course of the series. If so, you can expect a huge game from him any day now. Then again, I kept waiting for his shot to come around last year and it took a few rounds to get there.

We're in a hole and we can't keep digging deeper. We are going to need some better shooting from Ray Allen to advance.

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Agreed, Jeff.

However, Allen’s not alone. Rondo has to come to play every night. Perkins has to recapture the first two games, Davis has to elevate all of his game, Pierce has to shoot better.

And this club has to play Game 4 with focus and intensity, especially on the defensive end.

Last night should be a wakeup call: The Celtics were beaten soundly in every phase of the game.

by CoachBo on May 9, 2009 10:59 AM EDT reply actions

Eddie House should start until Ray starts to rain them dawn again. Clock is ticking !!

by Franklin Hoo on May 10, 2009 5:21 AM EDT up reply actions

role players are doing their job

ray and paul have not

by celticinorlando on May 9, 2009 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

What what even more shocking in Ray's slump

at least in game 3, was that he missed layups. They were contest most of the time but still, Ray tried to get it going by attacking the paint and still didn’t make his shots.

I think the Celtics must give him better looks in the next game, he attempted many contested or rushed shots yesterday, though he also missed wide open 3’s. Not worried about Ray.

by Drucci on May 9, 2009 11:18 AM EDT reply actions

Sweet Jesus "51 point" Shuttlesworth slump ?

ahhh that sound I hear must be rushing wind hurrying to fill the void of those with short term memory loss.

It’s never a slump with SJS is it? – you certainly remember that Jesus (Shuttlesworth) Saves!!!

….eerrrr…..the party and will even bring the ice (with less than 3 seconds)

Is it Soup Yet?

by Master Po on May 9, 2009 12:27 PM EDT reply actions

I think the timing is perfect

Ray is having an off period now, just when we can sort of ‘afford’ it, and when he breaks out and gets hot for a while, it will be just what we need when we really need it. We’re not dead yet, and neither is his shooting tip…

by jyrecelts on May 9, 2009 12:29 PM EDT reply actions

Do these guys have to be in do-or-die situations to get their attention? Is that why teams don’t win back to back championships? Is this a biproduct of the vet “been there, done that, got the T shirt?” attitude? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, becuase they aren’t getting out of the second round if they don’t win tomorrow.

by johnnymost on May 9, 2009 1:05 PM EDT reply actions

true that

by CELTICZ4LIFE on May 9, 2009 1:20 PM EDT reply actions

The Captain and Ray are wearing down BECAUSE of:

1. Doc’s stubborness (a la KC Jones circa 1987 and after) of grinding his horses into the ground because of the lack of run he gave the younger players during the season, so he can’t play them now and 2. KG’s reluctance to play through the pain. I posted before that we need him to play now. If he can only play a few games (and that has to be the plan IF they get to the ECF, but there will be no ECF for us unless we win this series) let him play now so PP’s and Ray’s burdens are not so great. Take a look at the Captain, and tell me that he isn’t playing thru pain right now. C’mon KG, suck it up.

by csfansince60s on May 9, 2009 1:20 PM EDT reply actions

If Doc had a bench, he would have played it.

He’s never had a bench.

by CoachBo on May 9, 2009 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions

ray allen

ray allen is about to explode is game 4 i can feel it .he always has a bad game or two but then he starts getting good.but yea dont worry he’ll play good game 4 i gurentee it

by mikek301 on May 9, 2009 4:06 PM EDT reply actions

big baby

he is playing ok but he needs to stop missing those easy layups

by mikek301 on May 9, 2009 4:06 PM EDT reply actions

I Don't Think Ray's In A Slump

Ray hits his shots when the offense is running smoothly. When it doesn’t he doesn’t get the good looks. Most of the shots he took last game were well contested and often forced. As to PP I find it hard to believe that he’s not exhausted or hurt. He has no lift in his legs. He can create his own offense better than anyone on the team. That’s why they iso him when things aren’t going well. The team is just not playing well and this will affect every player. When the team is playing well Pierce doesn’t take that many shots and he doesn’t iso much because he doesn’t have to. Maybe one day we’ll find out what’s really going on.

"I don't come to play, I come to WIN"--Larry Bird
"Criminally Negligent Officiating"--Tommy Heinsohn

by TrueGreen on May 9, 2009 9:05 PM EDT reply actions

Too many shots?

Paul hasn’t been taking a lot of shots.
168 shots in 404 minutes.
16.8 shots a game, and that’s counting all of the overtime games.
To me, I think he’s not taking ENOUGH shots.

Rondo in the meantime has taken 167 shots in 430 minutes.
We don’t want Rondo shooting as much as Pierce.
Especially in these playoffs where Rondo’s adj fg% is .431 and Pierce’s is .467.

by Jaycelt on May 10, 2009 12:51 PM EDT reply actions

BTW

Ray has had some wide, wide open shots and he’s missed badly. This isn’t about ball movement.
Some of our best ball movement happened in the attempted comebacks in our two losses and Ray is a combined 5 of 25 in those games, including 1 of 12 from behind the arc.
If that’s not a slump then I don’t know what is.

by Jaycelt on May 10, 2009 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions

sorry

I keep replying to myself but one other thing about our ball movement.
A good barometer of ball movement is assists to made baskets.
For this series we have 81 assists to 105 made baskets. That’s very, very good.
Even in the last loss we had 24 assists on 34 made baskets. ( Six of those by PP btw, which shows the ball was not sticking with him)

The Magic have had 55 assists on their 105 baskets. They only had 16 assists on their 39 baskets in the last game. That shows me they are playing much more one on one and probably getting a good number of offensive put backs too.
Maybe the solution is to play off the perimeter players and make them shoot?
Pay less attention to the help defense and more to just playing the guy with the ball?
Switches could be good since they set a ton of picks, just stay with the ball handler?

by Jaycelt on May 10, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions