all by himself.

And Finley is useless, except for the fact that he pushed Veal off the active roster. TA should be playing not Finley.

Pathetic. I can’t stand watching this team anymore. I’ll be happy again when the playoffs are over, so I won’t have to worry about the outcome of our games anymore.

He took one shot today I believe and they set up nothing for him.
What has happened to Marquis Daniels? Has he now joined the Bored Bunch?
How do they offload Sheed in the offseason?

From the optimists point of view:
It’s only March; one game is not that important; they are built for the playoffs; and this team can turn it on whenever it wants. Does that cover them all?

Bottom line — same old same old from this team, and now 2-9 versus Cleveland, Orlando and Atlanta.

Nuff said.

You know. That new strategy where they are going to work really hard and get the key guys back into shape and sit them in some games. This is the surefire method to get this squad to the title. Not. Just one more smokescreen from Danny and Doc.

back-and-forth ball.. won’t win games vs. good teams.
letting the Cavs post-up on 3’s is like throwing away the game.
Rondo is not a shooter and shouldn’t act like one either.
Big 3 played well enough, bench did not and
WHERE IS NATE ????

at the start of the 4th when doc went with all bench players and they didn’t score at all

The cav’s lead doubled during that stretch. What is doc’s obsession with an all bench player second unit. They are bench players because they are NOT as good as the starters so where is the logic there?

USE YOUR TOOLS RIVERS !!!!!!!!

the champs were in sync with each other and everyone knew their rolls. Its not the case with these guys. The fixable problems are:

1. Tell sheed he is killing us and he’ll sit him now.(no way doc does this)
2. tell perk he is lacking effort on d(won’t happen)
3. pp looked engaged today. Ray always does.
4. tell baby to keep it up but pass out if he can’t go right back up.
5. tell the guys all to shut up until they prove they can beat someone(won’t happen)
6. this sleep doc foolishness has been killing us. the guys are all soft and act like it. tell them
7. tell rr he has to stay in front of his man. period
8. Daniels looks like a waste lately. I don’t even understand it. But finley is a capable player and he’ll try.
9. Make Nate play his game, give him his minutes.

PLAY KRYPTO- NATE
coulda used Eddie that game
if Nate saw time he coulda put up 14 points

come on Doc PLAY NATE

Second unit stunningly punchless. Finley, Marquis and Sheed unproductive. No plays for Nate. As for the starters, Perk uninvolved. KG good but no explosiveness (getting blocked frequently). Paul looks hurt or uninterested. Ray okay if given WIDE open shot. Baby and Rondo only bright spots in this one.

Have to blame Danny more than Doc. But we’ll always have 2007.

because he’s buddies with him.
knew the kid when he was born to a cheerleader when Doc was
in high school.
so Nate Robinson warms the bench.
NATE ROBINSON.

unreal. Doc is a problem. I believe that now.

and Doc can’t figure out how to use his tools.
the more i think about it the more i’m starting to see
Doc doesn’t know what he’s doing.
He really doesn’t know what he’s doing !
that’s all i have to say today.

I missed the first half, so I can’t comment on that but it was tied somewhere around the 4 minute mark in the 3rd. Then, the bench started rotating in and the lead went back to 8. Doc kept them out there and the lean ballooned to 17 and that was all she wrote.

Van Gundy was saying something like “Doc is showing his trust in the bench by not trying to close the gap with the starters while LeBron sits”. No, actually Doc is just showing his inability to adjust during the game.

- Paul at times looked almost INCAPACITATED out there. Like he needed a wheelchair. Like a good-3pt-shooting high school varsity player. Just pathetic, much of the time. At one point in Q4, he was sprawling on the floor more than he was playing. Dribbling off his leg. Letting LeBron break his ankles with a simple crossover (and he fell again, of course). Etc. With a bench as deep as Doc has, was there NO ONE he could sub in for Paul in Q4? Just amazing that Doc would continue to play the worst player on the floor, just because he’s one of the “Big 3” (apologies for the anachronism).

- Refs were terrible, worse than usual. Q3 10:30 – they called a travel on Paul for doing EXACTLY what LeBron did all game long… gather + 2 steps, specifically legal now. A million fouls for the Cavs. At one point, LeBron DRIBBLED THE BALL OUT OF BOUNDS, still no call. (Refs not an excuse, though.)

- Cavs got 5 points due to sheer blind luck: the falling-down 3 by Lebron in Q1, and the rebound tip by Varejao that (ridiculously) found its way to the net. It mattered, till Q4. Then it didn’t matter anymore.

- Some silly TOs, including 2 thrown-away passes in a row at about 4:00 in Q3 (both = failure to roll, first by Perk, then by Paul).

- Perk had a pretty good 1st half – NO dribbling on deep catches! After than, nada – except fouls and missed FTs.

- And of course, the 4th quarter collapse. Killer.

You cannot play that way against a team as good as the Cavs and hope to win. They should be happy, I suppose, that they weren’t blown out. We can thank some last minute long-distance shooting by Ray and Paul for that.

They got a LOT of wide open 3s. Luckily they missed as many as they did. But they hit enough of them to hurt. Could have been a whole lot worse… if they had been a little more accurate with their wide-open 3s, it would have been a total blowout.

Nets would laugh at that though..KG is really not athletic anymore, he is done…he can trashtalk all he wants but he ain’t goin back to KG of 08…sad,sad plight of this team, we are going down in the first round, specially if we face the surging, best record in the league since the trade deadline Milwaukee Bucks…and for the record, Im predicting it now that our record next yr would be between 35-40 wins tops if we don’t change our old aging core.

pretty close to evening it up aboutt he middle of the third quarter, but two bad passes (KG, Rondo) killed the momentum we had. After that the game was just extremely painful to watch. I’m an optimist but I’m not liking what I’m seeing from the C’s at all if I see them play.

Honestly i dont see them getting out of the second round the way things are.

the Cavaliers have existed for over 40 years and still have yet to win a game in the NBA Finals, not as if that’s any excuse for our uninspired play this afternoon.

Either way we know that we can beat them at home this season (see season opener) so I’m not too worried…it’s not like the Cavs are going to go on and win 17 titles from here on out but a loss is a loss. Hopefully our guys aren’t too down on themselves :p

At least in the Herald pre-game story, Doc said he though the Celtics were going to win today. Now there’s a silver lining for you all.

Sideshow Bob is better than all our bigs combined…he outhustles them, he toys with em, annoys them and gets the better of KG/Perk/Sheed.

we’re not talking about a basketball MIND here.
that’s for sure.

It would not solve any problems, but it would make me feel better. But, he is Mr. nice guy and he wants to make sure all of his friends get to play, and he and Danny want to make sure everyone sleeps late every day, because that is what the sleep doctor told them. Blah blah blah.

More nate, less sheed, sheed is so pathetic! Lebron still has won nothing.

He always says “it’s not their fault”. Always Refers to Last three years and ignores what is happening right in front of him. Come on Grande – step it up!

with the current standing.. if we will be the 3rd seed will face Hawks. if we are in 4th then will see these arrogant team again!

Kobe is annoying

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH4tMKxv0Bs

Decision are mind boggling. Please fire him. How many more do we need to lose? Kick him to the curb.

If not for the 5 points the Cavs got from blind luck (LBJ’s falling 3 and Sideshow’s ridiculous tip-in), it would have been a 1 point game. Their defense was pretty solid in the first half (not at the 3-line, but elsewhere), and their offense was reasonable, considering Paul and Ray weren’t shooting well then.

So – something positive there, anyway.

Wonder whether Ainge / the Owners would relieve Doc of his duties first or whether Doc would step down for “family reasons”? What’s the over / under? Can’t believe he’s loving this anymore than we are but he knows his hands are tied with some guys and their contracts.

unfortunately, I really think it did. 4th in the east, that’s us. I’m not sure if we’re physically capable of being any better any more. The Cavs and a lot of other young athletic teams are just flat out better than us. And, boy, is Orlando on a roll. Now that’s how you’re supposed to play going into the playoffs. So I’ll just enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts and be thankful we’re still a pretty good team who still has a chance, albeit a slim one. You’d think I could at least get into the Cavs a little, only living an hour from Cleveland, but for some strange reason I’ve always hated them and loved the C’s. Go figure!

…is that I think they tried today. They came out trying, anyway. After the drama of the Grizzlies game – I think they wanted to do well. You could see it in their work on defense, which was quite good in the first half. But they left with a pathetic performance.

So can that change in the playoffs? Key question. Yes, it CAN change… because when the going gets hard, as it did in the 2nd half, perhaps in the playoffs guys will step up better. But let’s look at the specific issues. Of the big problems today – Paul, Sheed, to some extent Perk, and always Doc – only Sheed can reasonably be expected to react MUCH BETTER in the playoffs than he did today.

- Paul’s problem seems physical. He looked OLD, clumsy, awkward, almost frail.
- Perk’s brain isn’t gonna grow any new neurons.
- Neither is Doc’s.

So – that’s why it’s worrisome.

I think it is interesting, that few if anyh of the blind optimists are posting after today’s loss. Usually they are all here trying to refute the reality of the game and painting a picture of why the Celtics still have a great chance to win it all,. And, one of the main guys, DRJ1, is even expressing doubts now. I think today’s comments after this game might say something about where the vast majority of fans now sit — could be wrong though.

and became despised as quickly as Rasheed has? I guess Julio Lugo comes to mind, or Eric Gagne.

including Doc’s lack of oversight
and bad roster implementation,
the good news is the Celtics were
roughly even with one of the top teams in the NBA tonight until the 4th.
this team is looking better.

fool you. those were garbage points. when we needed them to score and get us going they couldn’t either because they missed or because they didn’t get shot attempts. once again all of those missed layups get in our head and dictated how we played. I liked how we attacked them early but once again perk couldn’t get the job done. let’s face it: he’s a hard working guy who has made himself into a player but he is not quick and he is not that skilled. we need to pay more attention to getting pierce and ray allen going than perkins.

Why show all your cards now? Keep Nate under wraps is a good idea. Unleash him later I say.

Sometime this summer. And not for summer vacation. Wonder what his value will be?

Someone to bring back a body or two to cover up other inadequacies.

but i dont know how Magic will be at 4th seed! thats the big question. will face hawks (which im sure we can eliminate) the most important thing is Cavs face Magic in the 2nd round cuz they dont have Shaq! thus LBJ will act as a child again!

It is about finances and talent. a lot of fans think only of the players. The owners and gm’s have to think of business and money. fact of life.

No reason to be upset. The folks wearing the emerald green glasses will just rationalize this loss as they have all of the others. It’s all Sheed’s fault, or whichever player is the scapegoat du jour.

The fact is that this team is too old and tired to compete with the better teams. The window is closed. Deal with it.

Come on. Monta Ellis? Iguadala? Kevin Martin? Do you really think that a Monta Ellis and Rondo led team is going to win any titles? There is only a few guys that are really franchise worthy.

the metaphor for the team was sheed missing the first 4 shots of the fourth period. game over- the ship, she be sunk.

And Hickson throwing up 3 or 4 straight rim-breakers was the only thing keeping us in it at the time.

Can’t wait.

Again no mental effort from this team. They don’t seem to enjoy playing the game. They are totally incapable of making any type of consistent mental effort. Immediately after they tied theCavaliers in the third quarter they made two unforced turnovers. This has been the pattern all year. Doc’s “save the legs. no practice system” is a total failure. It just makes their bad habits worse.
I have had tickets to 16 home games this year. The team has lost eight of those games. Some of their wins have been almost as painful as losses. In the last Knicks game the starters came back in in the second quarter with a ten point lead and lost it all in barely over a minute. The fact that I enjoyed some of the 18 losses in a row in 2007 more than some of their wins this year tells you what my opinion of their true effort has been. Unfortunately I see only more of the same on the horizon for the forseeabe future and that is truly sad.

Rondo’s FTs are getting better and better.
…..Since the All-Star break: 42/58 = 72.5%
…..Past 9 games: 33/43 = 76.7%
…..Past 5 games: 19/24 = 79.2%
…..Past 2 games: 6/6 = 100%
This is a big deal, especially if Rondo will need to take over some games in the playoffs. It seems we may not have to worry about his FTs anymore… a huge improvement over the early part of the season.

Anyone who still believes that this team will win the chip this year ought to be committed to a psycho ward. I am a Celtic fan. KG’s nearing C Webb status, if you know what I mean. Once C Webb injured his knee, it was over. Hawks will beat this old team in the 1st round in 5 games.

I admire your faith even though it’s misplaced.

it’s nice to think they could play at a consistently high level game after game, but we’ve been shown a body of evidence that this is NOT the same team it was even last year and they can’t do that. Observations bare it out, stats bare it out.

None of us, so far as I know, can tell the future, so saying the team’s done is just as stupid as saying things will be okay in the playoffs. (Neither of which is as stupid as saying which trades Ainge should have made a month after the trade deadline.)

But I think some things are becoming clear: The Big 3—it feels quaint to call them that, doesn’t it?—have obviously declined, but they are playing pretty good basketball, on both ends. KG is looking spry and like he’s getting some attitude back; Ray’s shooting and facilitating well; PP played really nice defense and set up his teammates for good shots, though he needs to be more aggressive.

The problem, I think, is further down: Rondo and Perk just suck right now; they are both completely walking through the game, which is sad considering they are young and should be our energy guys. Sheed is one of the biggest wastes of space in basketball; I’m offended watching him play. Daniels is too inconsistent. Finley is washed up. The bright spots are Davis and Robinson. At this point, I wouldn’t mind if Davis took Perk’s minutes and Robinson took Rondo’s. Robinson is at least trying to play defense, which is more than you can say about Rondo most of the time, and if Rondo’s not going to be a real point guard anymore, then let’s have an offensive threat out there instead. Rondo and Perk are just voids.

Despite the championship in 2008 and the success over the past couple of years, the core of this team…. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have lost A LOT of games over the course of their careers. Boston and Minnesota suffered through many dreadful seasons.

My points is that I think losing is a bit too familiar to these guys. They’re used to it. Sometimes it looks like they just don’t believe they can win. Kind of what it felt like during all those lousy seasons. I thought the 2008 title put an end to all that, but we all remember how ugly that title run was in the early rounds.

My big fear is that losing just isn’t that big a deal with these guys. It’s in their DNA.