Let’s call it ATT – “After The Trade”
ATT – people thought the team’s defense wouldn’t be good enough.
ATT – people thought it was three stars and nothing else.
ATT – people thought Doc might not be up to the challenge
ATT – people thought Rondo wasn’t up to the task – yet.
After just one loss at home in the play-offs, Boston has to prove those thoughts wrong – again. Why? Because all of those thoughts will linger after losses where they were a factor.
To be sure, Boston will have to prove themselves and defend themselves after every loss. Again – why? They are the featured team of the year. Biggest turnaround ever. One of the best defenses ever -statistically. Best road record. Great home record. The three best player combo on the floor -by far (statistically).
Is it fair? People are watching Boston. If the Celtics goes all the way, how did they do it? Team play or three dominant players? If they fail, how did they fail?
They lost at home. They haven’t won on the road. They just gave up 103 points to a team that averages 92 in the play-offs. The only players who could score where the big three. Rondo has had his difficulties. Doc’s use of roster and line-ups could be questioned at points.
Isn’t this where we came in?
Tayshaun Prince on the lack of support for the big three…
Rondo played a great floor game, bu he missed some shots and luckily nobody else on their team made a big impact. Because if they did, we’d have come up short. The big three hit some big shots but we rotated well to the other guys like Eddie House, Posey.
There is an acceptable level of focusing the offense on the big three. You would be crazy not to run your offense through them. But there is an acceptable level of support they should be getting from the rest of the team. That support fell below the ‘acceptable’ line in Thursday night’s game.
Imagine if, somehow, the Celtics won that game? wow. That would mean you could put a D-league squad around them. That was the kind of support they received from the bench. At least that would be the assumptions.
But as good as Paul, Ray and Kevin were, it wasn’t enough. Defense is played with 5 guys. The Boston defense was off. They had a number of missed assignments where a shooter was left wide open in a corner. Maybe it was ‘figured out’.
Rip Hamilton….
….Everybody knows what they do defensively, how they load up on the strong side. But I thought the thing that we did (Thursday) that was different than Game 1, when we made our cuts and we made moves it was all in motion…. we just kept motion, coming off screens, making them react…..moving the ball.
ll.
Coach Saunders….
Our guys are starting to understand how they help out. They’re such a good defensive team on the strong side. We emphasized spacing and ball movement….
The theory is that you don’t change what got you there. But if Detroit shreds the D just enough for another 100 point game and do it the same way, then something has to change or you will be going home to watch the Finals on TV. The Celtics’ success wasn’t built on outscoring teams while they score above their average.
So the question is…was it simply missed assignments? Or has Detroit found a seam or flaw in the defense that will pop them open for a some open shots each quarter? Only the Celtics and defensive coach Thibodeau know for sure.
My own opinion is that there were at least some missed assignments on most of the loosely guarded (or open) shots. The Celtics’ defense doesn’t normally let a player stand alone at the baseline three point line and line up a shot, order a snack from the stand, wait for it come, eat it, wipe his fingers on a napkin and then fire away.
But familiarity can reveal some nuances that go unrecognized otherwise. So we will see. Clearly, Detroit figured out Boston’s defense better than Boston figured out Detroit’s.
Another point that suggests that. The Celtics final point output was somewhat deceptive. The three stars hit any number of shots what you would normally not expect to drop. Even if they were assisted shots, the shooter often hit baskets with a very high degree of difficulty.
Tayshaun Prince even noted that….
Sometimes we were coming with double teams on Paul or KG and they still hit some tough shots.
Prince on Ray Allen….
Ray Allen hit some tough shots. He made some open shots at times. The three that he hit, you know, Sheed contested it…. pretty well, he made him shoot it a little higher than he makes him shoot it, (a lot of arc) and it dropped right through with no rim.
Everybody’s been talking about how he has been missing a lot of shots in the play-offs. But you still have to understand that when he’s on the floor and he’s oh for thirty, and the game is on the line, you know he still has an opportunity…he’s going to make that shot.
So, will the Celtics be reduced to having hit to tough shot after tough shot? Or will they figure out something they can exploit like Detroit has in the Celtics’ defense?
Rondo can’t let Detroit tell him where he gets the Celtic offense and his own offense started from. He, Perkins and the bench have to do a better job overall. At least one guy, pick one, any one, should be an x-factor to help the team and cause Detroit extra problems, like Rodney Stuckey did for Detroit.
Glen Davis won’t find things so wide open as he did for his 20 points against them during the season. Leon Powe has to play better. Sam Cassell should get a shot. Eddie House has to do better.
PJ Brown has done everything you could want from him of late, but the Cs need more. Perkins must rebound and score a little more.
The Celtics must take at least one from Detroit in Detroit. To do that they must play with more energy than the Pistons and they must do everything a little bit better. More important, they must believe that they can win on the road. It has been so long since that’s happened.
The Celtics’ last road win April 16th against the New York Knicks. It’s a long, long time. Over a month – 39 days to the day – to be exact. Can they dig down, remember how, and find the will to do it again?
Their season and everything is riding on it now.
ATT -After the trade…. everything changed. Detroit is the team most thought would give the Celtics the trouble they are in fact, giving them. Detroit has been here 6 times before. They are calm and battled tested.
The Celtics don’t always play well in the 4th quarter in closely contested games. They didn’t on Thursday night. They face a tough team in a tough arena in a big game.
Tayshaun Prince about playing on the road …
When our backs are against the wall, we find a way to come out and play good basketball. We find a way to be there at the end. Against a good team, when you’re on the road, when you get a chance at the end, that’s what you ask for. Late in the game, against a hostile crowd, we give ourselves a chance.
Celtics take note. As Ray Allen said…”We have to come out swinging.”
True enough. You don’t want to start out in the hole in Detroit. But it’s about who delivers the finishing shots that will determine the winner. If they give themselves a chance at the end, that is all you can ask for. Then it’s up to them to make the most of it. Legacies – good and bad – are built on such moments. It is coming down to this.
Game time 8:30 tonight.
