Celtics Blocked In Overtime, Can't Beat L.A.

big problem

When you can’t rebound the game, you can’t win. When you have no inside offensive presence, you can’t win. When 90 percent of your shots are jump shots, you can’t win. When the opposition only has to guard 4 of your 5 players, you can’t win. Fun to see the Lakers and Celtics tonight, but neither of these teams will be there at the end. They are both slightly better than average. The Lakers’ bench is almost as embarrassing as the Celtics inability to rebound. Thanks, Danny, for the centers on this team.

Try again March 11.

Rocking the warmups could not even help the Celtics. Horrible ball movement, Kg could not hit side of barn, Pierce tried at the end but could not do it. Ray had a good game but got cold toward the end. 5 on 4 because RR can’t shoot really hurt us!

Not sweating the L. We do however need a solid big that can play some consistent D, has some speed and has the desire to grab every rebound. We dont even need a scoring big, just one that can box out and stop other bigs from scoring. On a side note, ray cant guard kobe…unfortunatley

And it is fitting that it ended on a pierce awkward, fall away shot.

Oh yes, we have no Center and a shitty rebounding team… and an idiot like Rondo who stands around with the ball, draining the shot clock, and overall sucking ass.

KG didn’t help the cause with constant missing at the end.

I have to blame this loss on Rondo, seriously. This kid seems to gamble way too damn much and his play always stagnates the offense. I was really hoping for more Moore or at least Bradley to disrupt Fisher.

BRING IN SOMEONE THAT IS A BEAST ON GRABBING REBOUNDS

But in the end its just a game in a season with many.

he was terrible in the late 4th quarter and overtime, nearly shot his team out of the game by taking horrible contested jumpers but Gasol or Bynum got a tip-in or offensive rebound at least 3 times. If that was Lebron….

People told me, “we can just win with our defense.” Helloooooooo, nooo, we cannot! Why has nothing changed since 2010? We can’t score the ball! We can’t close out games! Same old story! It’s extremely frustrating to watch the Lakers grab every single off. rebound. What good is to play great defense if you’re going to give up so many second chance opportunities!

for 15-20 seconds with no one guarding him?

I’d be happy with a shorter guy that actually attempts to box out.

we’re an awful rebounding team and they have two dominating seven footers

This wasn’t even that fun to watch. Both teams forcing terrible shots in the end. Bad offense all the way around. Lack of boxing out cost us the game.

16 homes games and 25 road games left — UGH!

With the game on the line, why can’t our captain, or ray drive into the lane and draw a foul? Out of our last fifteen possessions, I think we put up15 jumpshots? WTF??? NO WAY we should have lost this game to the fakers…..

..from winning in regulation period!

It was a great game, but it hurts. Revenge will be sweet on March 11!

He is very good at many things, but we need him to shoot the ball, is embarrasing that nobody in the league worries about his jump shot.

is 5 free throws in the game. none in the 4th quarter and overtime

Celtics need a DOMINANT Center….WHO? Couple of winners in Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin?Expiring contracts…

It wasn’t meant to be. Painful loss, but entertaining game.

But it’s pretty obvious we need more underneath the rim in all phases of the game, more going towards the basket, more free throws, especially against a team with size. The Lakers are not a good matchup for us.

It wasn’t a playoff game it was just a loss but I think this was a first real barometer of the type of things we might need to do.

Defense was fine. But OMG, the Cs’ rebounding and especially their offense was… incomprehensible. PnRs with nobody rolling. Rondo hero-passing sometimes into 2 or 3 defenders. Hey Rondo — how many times do you have to be told to KEEP IT SIMPLE, man? Doc must’ve said it 100 times by now. Take what the defense gives you and STOP trying for the glory plays. Really, he needs to STOP that crap, once and for all. But… it’s still happening. I am not confident it will ever change.

And the problem is contagious…
- there was KG trying a behind-the-back pass with THREE defenders around him
- and Wilcox doing a Rondoesque overhead hockey pass
- Pierce AND KG both passing into traffic
- and on and on…. all turnovers.

Puhlease, Cs! Damn… I’m sorry, but if this doesn’t change, there’s no way this team wins a championship or even gets close.

Absolutely pathetic offense tonight. Pathetic.

And the Lakers suck. Three good players, nothing else.

Let me tell you something. Lin and the Knicks are gonna beat the Lakers tomorrow. And it won’t be close. All you need is SIMPLE BASKETBALL, run the PnR, hit the open man, get a few rebounds. Something we couldn’t even begin to do tonight.

Our 2010 loss in the Finals still hurts so bad! Sometimes I really feel like crying. Sigh.

As I feared, their height inside was just too much.
Did we shoot any foul shots in the 2nd half?
I was using this game to convince me that we are playing at the level we need to. I got my answer.

Every single loss to LA can be blamed on rondo. I know that’s a big generalization to make but it’s true.
Obviously not being able to box out and get the defensive board hurts, but that’s not that different for other teams facing the lakers. The Bynum-Gasol duo are going to get their share of tip-ins.
The problem is that the Cs are soooooooooooooooooooo easy to guard with rondo in the game, especially when an elite defender like Kobe just roams providing help in the paint. Every half-court offense is 5 on 4. That is an extremely hard situation to score in. I begged Doc to take out Rondo and play a 5 of Ray/Truth/Pietrus/KG/JOneal with Pierce playing the point. There’s no way the Lakers defend us to no field goals for 5 mins with that line-up.
Rondo should just take those open jumpshots. A set-up play with 5 guys defending 4 will lead to a much harder shot than Rondo’s jumper.
I’m sick and tired of Rondo killing our offense against the Lakers. Credit to the lakers as one should keep on using a scheme that works. It’s just perplexing that after 5 years and about twenty games against the lakers, the Cs still don’t understand that Rondo is killing us in every single LA game.

Won’t miss you when you get traded in March… Lakers don’t even respect you enough to put their hands up to challenge your shots. Dude can’t hit anything outside the restricted paint. If we want defense with no offense, might as well play Bradley and lets get something good for Rondo.

This was bad basketball.

we get toronto again tomorrow:)

no height, no penetration, a shoulda coulda game, as parcells says- you are what your record says you are- a 7th seed. too many jumpers- the fakers are not that good.

Horrible offense. nothing but jumpshots clanging off the rim. too many turnovers. Rondo was either pounding the ball or making foolish, risky passes. Too many other dumb passes by everyone ele too.

Rebounding was even worse. unbelievably bad. This team needs to learn basic boxing out and that the whole team needs to rebound. Noticed that there was a lot less effort by the C’s to hit the offensive boards to.

This is the difference in the game!!! 5 foul shots for the Celtics. 20 for the Lakers!!! We lose by one!!! Drive the lane, get a foul, pierce and Allen are great free throw shooters, BUT if we don’t get to the line, that IS the difference between a win and a loss!!!

So much of this game we played offense 3 on 5, as Rondo and JO are virtually worthless in halfcourt. By the last quarter and OT the Big 3 could hardly run up and down the court, they had played so many minutes. Doc always harps on his guys that they have to trust each other, but he won’t trust guys like ET, JJ, and Steimer to play some minutes, guys who you can’t just leave wide open, and can make those shots. ET got some crumbs thrown his way with AB out, but just enough to give RR a couple minute blow.
This team will never win a playoff series, cause Doc will run the Big 3 completely down by the third or fourth game of the first series—-if we get that far.

This is just as a btw…. just more bad news.

It was that play early in Q2 where Barnes was driving to the hoop in an open lane with only Daniels able to block him. Instead of sliding into the lane, Quis barely moved and just pushed him for the foul. Camera showed Doc disgusted, shaking his head, talking to himself. A few seconds later Quis was out of the game, never to return.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s all she wrote for Marquis Daniels. I think Doc’s had it.

good point, vinnie. too many times, rondo speeds up the court and the rest are loping. the worst is jo.

the reason we lost and will lose is because he cant shoot. I doubt he ever works on his game. Id rather have ancient steve nash any day

is unbelievable here. I actually would like Rondo to get traded just to see who’s gonna run the offense after his departure. Dude is always lonely on those fast-breaks. Hope the next PG that you guys are ogling about learns Doc’s system awfully fast, or we’re gonna be moonwalking back to the mediocre years! The Big 3 are pretty much on their last tank, and I do understand that Rondo’s shooting will never help the future C’s, but he needs to stay since he is our most talented player (and YOUNGEST of the starting line-up). Y’all wanna know what killed us tonight? Ummmm, REBOUNDS, only FIVE trips down the FT line, the jump-shooting exhibition hosted by KG and Brandon Bass, leaving Gasol unattended, more poor shooting, and yeah what else??? REBOUNDS!!!!! Rondo kept the corpse of Fisher on check, so thank him for not allowing him to make his clutch 3’s. But hey, Rajon Rondo is responsible for EVERYTHING! Sorry he could never be a D. Rose for you guys, but I’d rather keep a PG that has hustled with one limping, dislocated arm in a playoffs anyday.

10-7 at home, 4-4 on the road

Even if we had a winning streak at 10, that still wouldn’t offset our loss to LA. We ere playing well lately and the Lakers were struggling. This was a winnable game.

The Bucks beat the Lakers w/o Bogut. We are a better team than the Bucks. I hate losing to teams that have been struggling. I feel that struggling teams get that confidence-boosting win against the Celtics. If you’re on a losing streak, play Boston to get that confidence building victory. If you want to get back on track, play the Celtics.

And Pietrus needs to STOP taking only 3’s!! Doc needs to start Wilcox man, really does! After the big 3 leave, please SOMEBODY explain to me who’s gonna be the face of the C’s? Because obviously everyone is so caught up in trading Rondo for….. Who again??
1- Westbrook will stay in OKC
2- D-Will’s NBA team wish list doesn’t include the Celtics
3- CP3 publicly stated he don’t wanna play here, as he is all about flashing lights and glamor (see LA, NY)
4- Bulls will NEVER trade away D.Rose!
5-John Wall is a better scorer but Rondo is a better playmaker and passer.
6-Steve Nash is Oh M Gee OLD!
7-Jameer Nelson….. (crickets chirp)
8-Mario Chalmers is playing with two superstars and is not distributing the ball as a PG should do
9-Derek Fisher is Teh’ OLD!!
10-Shumpert….. No comment
11-Ricky Rubio would like to dedicate a song to Boston fans called “Dream On!”, featuring Kyrie Irving as well!!

I know I’m missing more PG’s but I just named the most relevant ones. You guys just don’t see the harm that will get done once Rondo leaves Boston. It’ll hurt more than his trips down the FT line, mark my words. The only thing C’s need is a C-E-N-T-E-R! Gonna go see some Youtube vids of RONDO alley-ooping to Shaq from the 2010-2011 season(becuz yeah, Rondo couldn’t possibly be doing the same with a younger CENTER right??), just to remind myself of the MAIN weakness of this team. Wanna tag along?

the merits of rondo have been hashed and rehashed and i think most objective celtics fans will realize this; at the end in close games, like those you encounter in the playoffs and finals, rondo is not a difference maker. he cannot penetrate because the middle gets packed and if he does he’ll go 50-50 on fts. his jumper is unreliable. a team with rr as one of its 2 main guys will not win a title period. at this point rr is a chip; his value is reasonably high and probably won’t get any higher—it was higher after 2010 so it’s not at its peak. rr needs to be traded if we want to make the transition from this era to the next. to me an era in celtics speak is a period of time when championships are won. i.e., russell era, cowens/havlicek era, bird era, new big 3 mini-era. i think most everyone else can see that kevin love is dave cowens 2.0. if we could get him we would need pierce to be havlicek and then find a jo-jo and a paul silas—that is what this team can become. i like pietrus, bass, and jj as bench guys. danny get busy! aloha

Hard to believe how much a team with Rondo and 3 Hall of Famers struggles to score late in games. During a stretch of 11 possessions late in regulation and beginning OT the Celtics made only ONE basket.

Boston scored only one basket (Ray’s 3) over the last 3 minutes of regulation. They scored only 2 Paul Pierce baskets in the entire OT. The offense became stagnant and there were possessions where the C’s looked clueless on what play to run.

Scoring 3 baskets total in over 8 minutes of late game action is just not good enough.

KG really played with energy and it was nice to see him get a couple easy dunks. However he missed numerous wide open jumpers and struggled to keep Bynum and Gasol off the offensive boards. He also was terrible at finishing inside with defenders around as the quick leaping ability to go up strong just isn’t there anymore.

The way KG finished tonight was painful to watch. He had a wide open jumper to ice the game in regulation but missed, also failed to box out on the Laker’s tying basket and instead just watched Gasol tip it in. KG continued to miss open jumpers all night including two key shots in OT. He is just so timid inside at this point in his career. If he isn’t wide open for an uncontested shot he either goes under the basket or weakly throws up a shot that gets blocked or badly misses.

and that’s why teams with a lot of height have their way on the offensive glass against the Celtics. KG’s not boxing out wasn’t as detrimental when playing next to Perkins, because Perk put a body on someone almost every time a shot went up.

When KG plays with Bass, the other team should just throw the ball off the backboard and fetch it, because these two are horrible together rebounding the defensive glass. JO and KG are a big better, but JO is terribly inconsistent about boxing out.

KG cost the Celtics a title by refusing to play fundamentally and box out. He cost them another loss to the Lakers but doing the same thing again tonight.

With Rondo out of the lineup, during games or missing games altogether, I don’t think there is a drop off in play. The offense ran just fine with Pierce controlling things for five games and then Ray coming back and averaging 5 assists for three games. I actually think the defense is much better because while Bradley can be too aggressive on defense and Moore is just average, at least they freaking try to stay in front of their Rondo. This is going on four years that Rondo gives zero effort to block off dribble penetration or fight through screens and stop gambling every time. It’s ridiculous. If Fisher and Blake hadn’t missed so many wide open looks, the Lakers would have blown the Celtics out.

Another thing, the games that Rondo missed were just more exciting to watch. I hate, absolutely hate how often Rondo just dribbles or holds the ball at the top of the key and waits for someone to come off screens. They it every time and it is so stagnant. When Pierce and Allen run things, the ball moves from side to side, screens are set constantly, the ball flows. Sure the offense wasn’t great either but it was better than with Rondo in there. How does that figure? If Rondo is such a great conductor of the offense, why have they rated in the twenties for the last three years since they started putting the ball in Rondo’s hands ALL THE Time.

Pierce didn’t have a great night but he also took only two shots during the second and third quarters combined. He must have touched, just touched the ball maybe eight times during that stretch. It drives me nuts that a point guard, or Doc, can’t keep one of their best offensive players involved. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Another reason why I’m frustrated with Rondo is that the games he missed showed that the Celtics don’t have to run everything through Rondo. The perception before was that Ray and Pierce were too washed up to run things through, that Rondo and his skills were the only things enabling the Celtics to score. Never mind that the Celtics have been a horrible offense with this “great” point guard running things, the games he missed showed that, hey, Pierce or Ray can actually bring the ball up the floor once in a while, or a bunch of times. Rondo doesn’t need call for every single outlet or chase Ray down the court calling for the ball. Remember when the Celtics beat Indiana and Pierce got like three layups in a row going coast to coast? Rondo stifles that. Remember Ray getting 8 assists? Yeah stifles that. Maybe the ball doesn’t have to be in Rondo’s hands for 90 percent of the time when he’s out there. Things won’t fall apart.

I’m gonna keep saying that jump-shots are gonna be our undoing. There were times that KG just looked like an idiot shooting the ball, like bro if you not making them, PASS THE BALL!! Bass uses ZERO of that bulky body of his to drive through defenses in the paint for a dunk, Pietrus is all about 3’s for breakfast, 3’s for lunch, and 3’s for dinner. Oh and you know what he has for dessert? FREAKIN 3’s!!! Pierce was cooled down by World Peace, nobody remembered the flopping spaniard that is Gasoft, who tipped in missed shots and was left mostly alone since it was all about Bynum tonight. Rondo cared more about flashy passing than risky turnovers, landed his jumpshots fairly well tonight, but tainted his performance with his lack of agressiveness at the end of the 4th/OT. Ray Allen was Ray Allen, JO didn’t help with the rebounding (never does), Wilcox shoulda taken his spot long time ago. Our trips to the FT line was poor (just FIVE trips?? REALLY?!!). Dunno wth Marquis was doing out there anymore, TRADE THIS FREAKIN GUY!! We were lucky Kobe didn’t have one of those 40+ points of games he had been having, and Bynum reminded me where we lack in severily. I love my C’s but this team is done! Only way we’re making it to the finals is if by some madness LeBron and Wade get injured, D.Rose sits on bench cuz of his turf toe and Deng does as well. but even then we got those scary Pacers and Sixers to worry about. Here’s my thing: Let KG and Ray Ray retire, PLEASE get rid of Jermaine, Daniels, Dooling, and Pavlovic. That story of Boston not likeable by players is utter bull, cuz how is Indianapolis much cooler than Boston? Look at the Pacers and how good they are. It’s all about money, and plenty of that we’ll have come the end of this season. Let’s see if we can get Jeff Green for a year minimum to see why Danny traded Perkins for this guy! Let’s keep our All-Star PG because other than D-Will we’re not gonna get anyone better than him! Tomorrow we beat the Raptors for the sequel of Gino Time LOL!! sarcasm

Well, let me disabuse you of that notion. The Celtics SUCKED this time. And this a bad, BAD game, all around (though our D was ok). The only reason it was close at the end is that the Lakers SUCK TOO.

Now, I know I will get an argument about this from certain people. So let me just quote Doc Rivers for ya, from his postgame interview:

- “I thought this was an awful game…… If we had won, it woulda been an awful game that we had won.” (My exact thought when the Cs still had a shot to win.)
- “Our execution the whole game was terrible.”
- “Gotta give the defense credit…. but a lot of it was self-inflicted.”
- “Today was no fun to watch.”
- “What really burned me was that they got 6-7 2nd-chance points with the ball ON THE FLOOR.”
- “Two old teams… Jurrasic Park.”

It’s one thing to be sanguine about the team in general, and quite another to pretend they’ve done well when they SUCKED SO BADLY. Reality is an important thing to keep in mind… if for no other reason than they don’t give out championships in Never-Neverland.

I still hold to the notion that BAD GAMES DON’T COUNT… not in the bigger picture of our trying to determine just how good this team can be. In that endeavor — the one where we are trying to determine this team’s ceiling — only great games count. As I’ve said before, stinkers like this Lakers game can’t touch the ceiling, they can only lower the floor. Consider the floor lowered.

But we can still look forward to raising the ceiling. Hopefully, sometime soon. Bad games can do that sometimes.

When I compare Rondo to Rubio, I can’t help but think that Rondo’s shooting weakness doesn’t mean he has to play the ball-holding style he does. Besides free throw shooting, Rubio is as bad a shooter from outside as Rondo is but it’s a joy to watch him to direct an offense. I would have no qualms about running nearly everything through Rubio because you know what, he keeps the ball moving. He actually passes the ball ahead once in a while from the back court. Imagine that! He thinks it’s a good idea to give his teammates the ball when they have open space in front off them and the defense isn’t set. He passes to pick setters. He drives and kicks with abandon. He makes simple lateral passes to an open teammate who can shoot. Why in the freakity fuk can’t Rondo, a supposed passing savant, play like that?

Another thing, Rubio actually makes an effort to deny dribble penetration and does a very good job of it too. It’s possible but it requires giving a heck which is something Rondo doesn’t.

Almost every offensive possession ended with a missed junp shot from 10 ft out. The Celtics has no post-up player, 0 low-post threat. They desperately need some who can rebound, at least at the defensive end

They could secure the rebound at the end of the first half or at the end of regulation, they would have won, Period.

Where are the fire and fluidity in offense that they displayed no long ago against the Magic?