Celtics can't right ship in loss to Rockets

This was a pathetic loss for the Celtics.

The Rockets were missing so many players and the Celtics couldn’t take advantage.

let me just say this..i feel really bad for the people who have to watch Lebron drop 90 on us. It seems inevitable that he and those refs are gna come into boston with the same mindset "lebron sets easter record with 60 12 and 13 triple double etc etc

Sounds like his jumping off the bandwagon.

Well, I can get mad, like I used to. Or just realize KG has lost one monster step defensively, Ray cannot deliver every game any more, Pierce’s Iso days are over. I have realized that. I’m not mad at the players.

BUT I’m mad as hell at Doc. Doesn’t he see that Perkins should not be in when it’s 4th qtr can’t-screw-up time and that Rasheed has shown some life lately. Doesn’t HE see that the Pierce iso is defendable now by the Chase Budinger’s of the NBA and that Rondo should have the ball in his hand. Didn’t he see Tony Allen play the kind of defense last night that we had to have on Kevin Durant the game before. Doesn’t he know that Nate Robinson will screw up but will spark you too.

Thibs comes up with the defense but Doc pulls the substitution levers. Doc is coaching down to what his worst critics have always claimed. He’s not very adaptive.

these games cannot be hidden. there are too many weaknesses on this team which makes them easy to exploit. this is not a good defensive team. our defensive leader, kg, can’t cover scola and a lot of others. rebounding often is a foreign word. there are lots of positives but too many negatives which can’t be covered up. with all the steals, etc. rondo doesn’t cover the pick and roll very well and does not stay in front of his man. perk is not rebounding. tony looked so good because the rest of the team was in slo-mo in the 4th quarter. doc is a good press and media man and the kiddies pal,but he is stubborn and relies on the same old thing which is that- a stale old thing. danny has major work to do in the offseason—top to bottom.

on what happens from now until the end of the year (which may not have long to play out). I’m hoping he includes Doc Rivers in that evaulation for reasons I have stated too many times already.

You have to look at Ainge’s decisions on player acquisition as well. Daniels has been a bust and Tony Allen should have been getting regular minutes long before this. Robinson was a trade that never should have been made. He’s not a point guard and hwat we are going to see the rest of the way is Rondo playing almost the entire game. Wallace has looked bored and slow all year. That’s the three guys that were supposed to be a big help off the bench. His best acquisition came by stroke of luck when the Spurs bought out Michael Finley.

Hopefully Rivers opens his eyes and sees that Daniels and Robinson should not be playing, and Davis has become a liability as well. He’s taken a major step backward offensively and all too often misses defensive assignments. Shelden Williams would probably be a decent rotation guy by now if he had played.

Youy look at the bench when Garnett is out of the game, even when the team is leading, and you do not see the same energy that this team had in ‘08 and even in ’09. Some people around here think the fans are pessimistic. Take a look at the body language of the players. They know this team is not getting it together. I’m willing to wager that a few of them have tentatively made earlier off-season plans than usual.

Rondo is giving up as many as he’s getting….Westbrook and Brooks are 100% the reasons we lost these last 2 games….we have a ton of problems,as teams do, but opposing point guards do as they please…but hey, 5 steals is nice for the stat sheet

we still have some games to play but this team is done and has been for a while. i say trade everyone and start over. If there’s any way we could use ray,paul or kg to get a shot at evan turner I would do it. it’s sad we fell apart as fast as we did but this is a completely disjointed team. None of the parts fit. danny’s acquisitions were all busts and the guys he let go are better than the ones he brought in. who wouldn’t want leon, eddie and bill back right now? this year has been one of the most disappointing I’ve ever experienced as a celtics fan and I have been following this team since the 60’s. the reason this season is so disappointing is because the expectations were so high. we started out great but early on there were chinks in the armor and as the season has progressed those chinks have become gaping holes. it should be clear to everyone that this team as constituted is not a good team and certainly not a title team. heck, if it weren’t for our early season success we would not even be a playoff team right now

Good post, Motown, Lemonade Sky. Well said.

The problems with this team are for more mental than physical. This has been the problem all year. For an experienced team they play incredibly stupid basketball particularly at times when it can do the most to hurt them. They are just too mentally lazy now to do what it takes to win games.
This year I have often said to people, and not totally as a joke, that as soon as the Celtics got a ten point lead that Doc should call a time out to remind the team that the game isn’t over.
However, as disappointed as I am with the Celtics play that does not excuse the officiating in these last two games. It was atrocious. I was at the game against OKC. It was called one way at one end of the court and a different way at the other end. Some of the fouls called against Ray Allen last night would not have been called Perk in his rookie season. David Stern and his minions will of course dismiss the dismal efforts of the officials in the last two games as simply the views of frustrated fans. When your team is fighting itself , the other team, and the officials it can not win. There is a connection between bone head calls by officials and bone head plays by players.

This team’s best rebounder is an average rebounder for his position league-wide. The 3rd and 4th big are among the worst. The PG is solid but the rest of the roster is slightly below average. No wonder they get destroyed in the boards. Rebounding is the best indicator of agility and athleticism and this team doesn’t have any.

This team doesn’t have a single player who can cover quick, mobile, perimeter oriented, face-up bigs – precisely the kind of players that populate good teams: Lewis and Anderson, Jamison and Hickson, Ilyasova, Beasley, Josh Smith and Horford, Diaw and Thomas – just to mention the playoff teams in the West. Like Scola, who pretty much did whatever he wanted yesterday. This team is just too slow – Garnett is slow for a PF, Davis is slow for a PF, Wallace is slow for a center let alone a PF. In today’s league, that’s absolute suicide.

For the 2nd consecutive season, this team wing backup can’t shoot to save his life. It’s truly amazing Ainge’s inability to understand that if he as a PG like Rondo he needs to populate the wing with shooters. Then he gets Finley who can barely move any more and allows D-Leaguer Mike Harris to score on him with ease. There are at least half a dozen guys in the D-League that are better players than Finley – better shooter, way better defenders. Ainge’s fascination with big names – Rasheed, Finley, even Robinson (who’s a terrible fit in this team) – that make him pass on better but less well-known players is scary.

So, what’s Doc supposed to do? There isn’t enough talent in this roster. I mean, there’s enough talent, but if I’ve ever seen a NBA roster badly constructed, lacking balance and diversity, this is it – on pair with the Isiah Thomas’ rosters in NY.

At least Doc and the players’ post game comments have provided Celtic fans with the biggest laughs since the days of the McCarty, Blount and Sundov machine.

Do they really think they can just turn it on, when the playoffs say 0-0? I guess That is why they brought Finley and Wallace in for their “playoff experience”. Do I really think that they are playing possum? No.

Blame it on the fans in the seats (paying hundreds of dollars)/. They are not doing their job as the 5th or 16th man:rolleyes:

the Celtics with 3 future Hall of Famers and another all-star lost to Scola and Brooks. Without Yao, Martin, Ariza and Battier, even though the Rockets were able to beat us (with everybody healthy!). Two years ago, even one year ago, we would have eaten them up for breakfast… far before halftime. I have been trying to stay positive throughout the season, but it is time to face up to the sad truth. We will lose in the first round if anything changes..
It is even more depressing for me that Tonny Allen comes off the bench now and he actually… looks very good. Among these great names that we have in the team. Shocking.
So… Does anyone know some remedy for our problems? Or maybe is it beyond all remedy? Especially when everybody can see that Celtics’ batteries have run down?

Seriously, the question is if there is something that can recharge them. And I think there is one thing. The last thing.

Celtics’ pride.

You can say whatever you want, but despite of team’s indifference and lack of motivation I have seen lately I really just can believe that these players love being slapped in their faces like that. Maybe this will help them increase intensity on the defensive end of the floor, because we desperately need multiple stops and defensive rebounding to push the pace in order to get easy points in transition. It is not beyond their capabilities, it is all about willingness to try harder, to bring out more energy and sacrifice. I saw it in the former playoffs, even we were beaten I could keep my head up, so I want to see it now. Otherwise, it is time for major changes.