Early in the year the Celtics couldn't stop anyone. Of course, by anyone I mean the offense minded Knicks and the high powered fast break attack of the Heat. Now the Celtics seem to be going through dry periods where they are having trouble trouble scoring.
Green Street " Celtics at a loss to explain slow starts
The TD Garden crowd serenaded the Celtics with boos while they left the court with their heads hung low. The possession exemplified Boston’s dreadful 25-point first-half output. The anemic offensive display tied a franchise record set in 1995 and repeated in 1999. "It sucks to be on the wrong side of history," Ray Allen said. "Especially with the firepower we have, you never think we could score so few points. We can always look back and remember this game."
Will this be a wake up game or will it be a trend? Remember that the offense sputtered in the first half of the New Jersey game before the defense created offensive opportunities and the team went on a run in the 2nd half.
I honestly didn't see the game on Friday and I was advised to erase the game from my DVR. But I have to think that part of the problem is that our vets can't consistently score like they could back in the day. Anyone with talent can score 20 or even 30 points in a particular game. It takes a real star to be able to contribute night in and night out and I'm afraid that might not be the case with our veterans. Even more concerning is that it still might not be the case with Rajon Rondo. Concerning to say the least.
On the other hand, if ever the team had a chance to work out the kinks and get on the right track it would be now. They have 4 days off - an eternity in this squashed together season. After this, there's no room for excuses for a while.
0 recs | 31 comments
Its a trend
this is my team, even if we dont make the playoffs. I dont like this team because I feel they have the best chance at winning a title…i like them because of their history, their team play and a handful of other things….BUT, this team night in and night out lacks killer instict. They take plays, quarters, even games off consistently. Thats not what championship calibur teams do. With that said, im along for the ride…no matter if thats a championship or if dont makr the playoffs.
Kgwillkillyou - January 8, 2012 via mobile
So if the Indiana game came after a rare day of practice, what should we expect with the Dallas game coming after an even more rare two days of practice?
And if the starting five think they still have the firepower they used to have, that could be half of their troubles right there.
clover - January 8, 2012
Both good points. Doc also needs to develop a better rotation especially against the better teams.
mdowell04 - January 8, 2012
It isn't just that the Old Three
“can’t consistently score like they could back in the day”: the problem is that they can’t do ANYTHING like they could back in the day. For instance, Ray Allen is averaging 2.6 rebounds; in his heyday, he averaged twice that. You could find statistics like that for each of the Old Three.
It is the accumulation of a bunch of little things. It is due to age and mileage, not to poor character or anything like that. It is inevitable. It is uncorrectable.
It is why the Cs are now a .500 team. It is why they will be first-round fodder for Miami or Chicago … or Atlanta or Orlando.
Eeyore III - January 8, 2012
Agreed, Eeyore.
clover - January 9, 2012
Why is rebounding such a problem with this team
I understand we have a defensive system which causes us to rush back on d once we take a shot, which in turn lowers our offensive rebound numbers, but our pf and c’s should all be getting AT LEAST 5 rebounds per game. Our guys dont box out, they just watch. This is a huge problem. I was taught to box out and rebound when I was 10, so why is it so difficult to instill it in the pros heads? I truely enjoy this team but there are a handful of things that make me just scratch my head….rebounding, good passing, hustle, leaving it all on the court every night…those are a handful of things that our team just doesnt do (while making millions to NOT do basic basketball fundamentals)
Kgwillkillyou - January 8, 2012 via mobile
I think part of the problem
is in what Jeff was referring to, in that the Big 3 aren’t the Big 3 anymore. We fans, however, keep thinking of them as what they were in their prime.
There are lots of aging stars in the league, and they’re still nice players, productive, and capable of dropping 25/30 on you once in awhile, but none of our 3 can take over a game anymore. To rescue you, when the team is sputtering, like a Kobe or LBJ.
I think we’re all hoping against hope, that somehow we will miraculously come together. The negativity some have posted about is that alot of us are hurting…a defense mechanism against adversity. We want the glory days of yesteryear, a couple of hours away from daily problems, only to be frustrated by OUR team!
DA was in a tough spot this year with a big decision, and not much time to move on it. Bad news on trade for CP3, more on DWest, and top it off with JG. Kind of like a trip to the in-laws. You don’t want to do it, but you just hope you can hang in there and get thru it.
OhioGreen - January 8, 2012
offense has been a problem since '08
to me, the biggest concern is KG. he’s hesitant to take his shot, and it hasn’t been falling. maybe he feels he can’t get the lift he used to, i dunno… but even when all three are scoring, it isn’t enough, it’s been a consistent theme for a few years now. we don’t have anyone who can carry the load off the bench. jeff green (and david west!) were supposed to provide some scoring punch — starter-quality offense off the bench. now that we don’t have that, it is our most glaring weakness (along with rebounding, which we’ve never been good at)
JunkyardDawg - January 8, 2012
well said
yngbamm - January 8, 2012
While I agree bench scoring has been a huge weakness in recent years
how many teams actually have ‘start quality offense off the bench’?
mmmmm - January 8, 2012
Well
Hope the Celtics learn the lesson and blowout the defending champs on Wednesday, no excuse!
SparzWizard - January 8, 2012
no way is a trend need focus on are strenght
i think we when out against the pacer thinking we had to show west why he made wrong decision instead of focusing in are def. we got good def. in bench and starters that who we are lets stop pretending like were i high off. team we can score don’t misunderstands but we score when we make stops!!!! are def. is key and i think that we doc. look at in this practice days practice never hurts. ( i think).
EXER123 - January 8, 2012
Jeff....
Whoever advised you to delete it from your DVR gave you great advice.
I think with an old team that’s clearly not in NBA shape yet you’re going to get stinkers like the Indy and New Orleans game occasionally. Although not being a back to back…Friday was an unpleasant surprise. There’ll be less of them as the season goes on and the vets get back into shape.
Finkelskyhook - January 8, 2012
No offense this year
Based on the eight games played, it is very fair to state that Ray has been the only consistent scorer on this team. He is the one veteran that can be counted on. He is a player I would like to have on my team – as a starter now, and off the bench in the near future.
Rondo is a great passing point guard. He is quick and can set the offense. However, he needs a player or two, for instance D. Howard, to compliment his style and capabilities. For example, with Howard on the team, Rondo can drive to the basket, draw a double team, pass it to Dwight and the rest is history. Or if he is open, he can lay it up for easy two points or possibly three. But in the absence of a dominant low-post player, Rondo’s abilities as a point guard diminish and that is because he is not a scoring guard. This is why as of right now, Rajon cannot help this team. We have no players that can score/ no big men.
Pierce might be able to contribute with scoring more than he has – given the fact that he has not played in any pre-season games or even practiced. The same goes for MP, but if that does not happen, then this team is in trouble.
KG; well I am not sure what is going on there. If he does not improve his play, he is better off retiring after this year.
The bench; by the exception of Bass, is flat. We do not have players that can come in THR game and score; or provide a spark when the first unit is down.
All together, I think this team’s legitimate chances at winning this year are very low. They still have my support, but I do not think re-tooling or even blowing up the team is a bad idea at all. We need some lottery picks, trading expiring contacts for some value, and enough pieces in place to attract players like Howard.
Danyck - January 8, 2012 via mobile
It's on Doc
Danny did a good job assembling talent this offseason, given his constraints. KG is going to be fine in a short while – GIVEN HIS CONSTRAINTS (age). The person who has to stop talking “bench play” and who has to start making “bench play” is Doc. The bench can’t develop on the bench. Doc has shown that he can motivate and manage stars. He has shown to be pretty good at the X&Os of inbounds plays etc. He has shown that he will empower an assistant to run the D. What is on him is to develop the bench. The payoff won’t be right away. I like what he’s doing with Bradley. I think the only reason Stiemsma got on the floor was because ONeal stinks and Wilcox got hurt, so I wouldn’t overly credit Doc there. But he needs to go deep to that bench. It won’t be there in April if he doesn’t commit to it now.
Wildblu1 - January 8, 2012
Agreed, and at this point the bench player who most deserves to play every half, other than Bass, is Stiemsma.
Yet Doc sat Stiemer completely through the first half of the last game.
clover - January 9, 2012
Small forward has been our most damaging enemy
Center play is not so bad. PF is ok to good with KG and Bass. SG is ok when Ray is on the floor. Pg is OK with Rondo, a black hole on offense with Bradley. Pg is not great with Dooley but better then with Bradley. Bradley is the biggest ‘Black Hole’ I’ve ever seen on the Celtics.
SF Sucks!
Daniels has yet to play even an acceptable game, they’ve all been bad. Pavlovic has not been as bad as Daniels because he has stayed invisible. That leaves PPierce , who shot 3 for 17 against Indiana. If he’d gone 9 and 8 ……. HOPEFULLY: Maurice Speights can do a decent job replacing Daniels and Pavlovic. If he can’t, it’s gonna be a long, long season.
Dipper - January 8, 2012
Dont forget we got pietrus coming soon
Not saying hes a flawless player, but hes a better option than sasha and daniels
Kgwillkillyou - January 8, 2012 via mobile
I thought JO and Steisma played fine on Friday except for those horrific call against them. Other than that I saw a lot of flaws on the defensive end.
C'sFanfrmNy - January 8, 2012
Pierce looked old
he was 3 of 17 because he wasn’t even trying to score. he was trying to get foul calls but didn’t get them.
APC - January 8, 2012
So because he had an off night he looked old. Star players aren’t allowed to have off nights? Celtics fans can be unbelievable at times. lol
C'sFanfrmNy - January 8, 2012
my post was referring to his latest game.
APC - January 8, 2012
The team has more options soon
Pietrus will be comming back.
There are a few players we can still sign, Arenas, Pryzibilla, etc.
ZM15 - January 8, 2012
Who?
Arenas, as in Glbert Arenas? I think the C’d better pass, unless for the bargain price of Vet mim.
getthat18now - January 8, 2012
Jeff, a lot of good points are made here about the team's age and it's effect on performance.
One thing to keep an eye on is that we have been led to believe that this coming summer is this team’s time of change with the cap space Ainge has been guarding religiously. But after the big three of Howard, Paul and Williams, the available free agents are not be as significant. Ainge may have another deadline target in mind to use his money on. This coming trade deadline he may decide to move a player for another that he wants to build around going forward. There well may be teams that want to trade a guy with several years of big money left on his deal that would want back an expiring contract plus the experience and talent, however diminished by age, that a KG or Allen represent. Would a Memphis, with Randolph out for a good portion of this season, be interested in KG? And would they consider moving a Rudy Gay for him? Is Gay somebody that Ainge would want to build around along with Rondo going forward? I’m sure there are other examples. It’s something Danny may well look into. He also could possibly move Rondo by the deadline. I think Ainge might move KG more so than Ray. I think Ray may be here a couple more years. Danny may find that his free agent cap space money is better used by this year’s trade deadline.
celty86 - January 8, 2012
Not sure if I by that argument of being older and not being able to score. I don’t think scoring is the issue, but more of defense, aggression and rebounding. What I’ve noticed during the eight games with the Celts is poor transition defense, over-playing on defense, allowing opposing guards to penetrate the lane, not boxing out, poor rebounding.
Also why does Doc insist on playing Bradley and Dooling together? Dooling is a good player, but dribbles too much and Bradley can’t dribble so their’s one a few problems. Wilcox isn’t in game shape because of his shoulder. Why does Doc give Steisma limited minutes when he can be used for defense.
Where’s Garnett’s aggression and intensity? I saw it during the Knicks game, but after that it disappeared.
C'sFanfrmNy - January 8, 2012
Our current roster stinks
We have the worst bench since we have the Big 3. Danny failed us and didn’t bring any significant addition to the team. Wilcox? Dooling? Are you serious.
And I think he overpaid Doc Rivers who can’t develop a rookie.
Time for him to go. And bring Doc with him.
KingCeltics - January 8, 2012 via mobile
Time to intermix the old with the new
Having 4 guys 30+ in the starting lineup could also be the problem. The Big 3 always had Rondo and Perk to help get some energy plays going with blocks and steals. It might be time to consider starting Steisma and bringing JO off the bench. Along with Bass, JO could help anchor the second unit while Steisma would thrive with Rondo feeding him for open jumpers and inside dunks and is a bigger presence at the defensive end than JO is at this point.
yakyakyak - January 8, 2012
That's the move I would do.
Stiemsma starts and always plays with the starters. About 20 minutes a game may be good for him for now, but it should be with the ‘A team’.
Off the bench there should always be JO, Bass and one of the starters in there. No more than two of the other new/young guys for now.
clover - January 9, 2012
I think we just need to get out of the 'pre-season' mode.
The team has been alternating between missing key players (Pierce in gms 1-3, Ray in gm 7) and getting good/bad performances from the ones that are playing.
Pierce missed much of the already short ‘training camp’, played 4 very good games, then stunk up the joint with a rare (for him) 3-17 shooting effort. That’s hopefully the last time we see that for a while. I’d be willing to bet he’s spending a ton of time taking his shots during this extended break.
Our ‘Big 3’ no longer are at the peak of their HoF careers. We know that. That’s okay. As long as two of them play their ‘normal’ game, and one of them has a stud game, we’ll usually win. But it’s been the case for 4 years now that when we don’t have all three of those guys on the court and playing at least an ‘average’ game, we suck. Other than the 2009 season when KG went down and we at least still went two rounds into the playoffs, in most games since then when we have been missing 1 or more of the Big 3, we have not done so well. I’ll contend that Paul Pierce shooting 3-17 is tantamount to him ‘not being there’.
I’m not particularly worried yet.
I think as everybody gets their rhythm back our offense will be fine. In particular I think our bench will provide more scoring than what we’ve been getting the last couple of years. Bass is looking like a real ‘goto’ scorer off the bench – something we simply have NOT had in ages.
That said, I would like to see our bench bigs (Bass, Wilcox, Stiemsma) continue to improve in their help rotations. That’s still a weakness.
mmmmm - January 8, 2012
Time for excuses is definitely running out
Good article Jeff – many of us have been harping on the offense for awhile. Nice to see the ‘offensive offense’ reference also. Quite often it’s in 4th quarter when the offense has become stagnant which played a huge part in the Celtics being at the top of the NBA in blowing double digit leads last season. Many times that has been explained away by using excuses such as fatigue. To see the offense struggling in the beginning of games is even more worrisome.
Watching Portland play the other night it was striking to watch Jamal Crawford. He is a terrible defensive player most nights but to have a guy who can come in and just light up the scoreboard on any given night is invaluable. At this point in their careers KG and Ray depend heavily on others to get set up for scoring chances. Pierce is still capable of creating scoring chances on his own but that could be starting to diminish. Rondo is such a liability with his ever sinking free throw percentage that he is not a viable option late in games most nights either.
Other than Bass the Celtics bench has no dynamic offensive weapons. Daniels can’t make a shot even at point blank range while Dooling, Bradley, Wilcox, Steimsma do not excel at creating their own shots. Pietrus may open up the offense with his spot up 3 point shooting but is not a ‘scorer’ either. Delonte was one bench player who could create his own shot at times but now he is gone.
Celtics definitely need an infusion of offensive firepower and the potential sources appear to be limited. When the offense breaks down as it often does especially late in games there needs to be some alternative to get key baskets in clutch situations.
Hopefully during this break Doc and the team will get things straightened out. There won’t be many more long breaks for practice during this shortened season so it’s imperative that the Celtics start playing well immediately…
warnerjohn - January 8, 2012
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