Do We Fans Affect Our Team's Performance? (...and players, like KG and Rondo)

In a comment/conversation about Rondo's recent poor performance, Tom Bellinger asked: "Can we as fans do much about it?"... and went on to say that "We hope, and as far as player's performance goes, we’ll celebrate their victories and dissect their failings. That’s what we do, right?" Which begs (well, it actually asks outright) the question: Do fans affect their team's performance, in any way? More specifically, does ANYTHING we say in these blogs make ANY difference to the outcome(s) for our Celtics?

I think yes, we make a difference. Sometimes in important ways. I've got 3 examples:

1) When KG was 'misbehaving' a while back, and some people started calling him 'dirty,' arguments raged on these pages about the issue, for a long time. Personally, I didn't see what there was to argue about: he was fouling and committing techs, and there is simply no reasonable way to argue that that's a good thing. (Though some did. Some said, "That's what he has to do to be KG," or words to that effect. Totally wrong, imo... that's just fans infantilizing the player... he's an adult, he knows when he does wrong, and knows how to correct it. But I stray....)

I believe that in part, the huge brouhaha that erupted amongst the Cs' own fans made a difference. With headlines like "KG's A Jerk, But He's Our Jerk" staring them in the face, Doc could no longer ignore it. More to the point: he had undeniable entrée to bring it up. So he talked to KG and the team about how to handle conflict and questionable plays shortly thereafter. I think KG would have fixed it anyway, but it must have helped to know that their fans were fully aware of what was going on, and many were pretty upset about it. In the end, the whole issue disappeared. And I think we helped it along.

2) Rondo's recent slump: When asked directly, Doc said after the Nets game that no, Rondo's not in a slump... he's just 'playing bad.' Anybody know the difference? Well, there is one, for Doc. The coach has a relationship with every player on the team. And he must get into every player's head and make sure that player has what he needs to do his best. The single most important player on the team regarding that process is Rondo. He's young. He's headstrong. And he's a critical team leader. Doc's job is to keep him in optimal condition, physically and mentally. So he can't just come up to him, or admit to the media, that "Hey Rondo, you're in a slump." He has to approach the issue correctly, advisedly... so as not to make things worse.

It must help Doc to have the team's fans wonder openly, publicly and loudly: 'What's going on with Rondo.' Because then the problem is being brought up by an outside, uncontrollable force. We effectively shove it in their faces. Which means they have to talk about it, figure it out. I.e., we fans make sure that Doc addresses issues like Rondo's obvious slump sooner rather than later. And I count that as a good thing.

So yeah, I think fans do affect reality on the team... if we make our voices heard. It all filters down.

I know I promised 3 examples. The third one is a new sort of statistic I've been tracking for a few months. Real life slowed down the gathering a bit, but I think there's enough data to post it now, and I will do that as soon as I get a chance to write it. The data indicate pretty clearly that we fans can and do affect what happens on the court too: when we're there, attending live games at the Garden. I'll try to post that stuff right here in (about) a couple of days.