I was going to write (which for me is odium pouring out) a whole thing about how Doc's struggling to adjust to the realities of this new team and his various failures in managing them. But I realized I'd probably just be repeating most of what leftywamu already wrote in the post-Atlanta-debacle thread. My odium got a little less odious (but just a little) after reading it:

http://www.celticsblog.com/2013/1/25/3917280/celtics-collapse-lose-27-pt-lead-and-game-in-2-ot-123-111#140477791


If you're looking for who's responsible for the way this team functions these days, the bottom line imo is: Look to the leaders.

There are four leaders now: KG on defense, Rondo on offense, Pierce as captain, and Doc (obviously). Most of our problems can be viewed as resulting directly from the failures of 3 of these guys to do their jobs. That is: all but KG. (Yes, even KG is slowing down. But the effect on the rest of the team is trivial compared to what the other 3 are doing, game in game out.)

It's also true that a varying mix of other guys has contributed to the horror in different ways on different nights. Terry's been in a terrible shooting slump (but better in Atlanta!) and Bass.... well Bass has pretty much sucked all along. (Some guys do that after signing a lucrative long-term contract. Which is why I hate giving them out to role players.)

But I think we must look at the leaders if we wanna fix this mess. Hard and long.

- Most of all, Doc needs to look in the mirror. A lot. So far, he's refused.
- Rondo needs to stop playing to entertain, ever, start playing strictly to win.
- And PaulP... well... look at any Cs thread these days for an eyeful about him. Doc and Paul both need to take long hard looks at themselves and each other... and for the good of the team, understand where we are, what year this is, what PP can and cannot do anymore.... and adjust accordingly. Easier said than done, I'm sure.