Celtics (48-18) at Rockets (35-34) 3/18

[tenn_smoothie]

the starting five - especially Rondo - have been struggling badly since The Trade. can it be any more obvious ?

Danny has damaged the chemistry and the psyche of his team because he made a move that he thought looked like an overall improvement on paper. but nba teams - especially this team - don't play their games on paper. just ask yourself - would Red have made that deal ?  No Way, because Red understood people and that was his greatest strength and it is something Ainge seems completely oblivious to.

So tell me: what was our problem last season? We didn't look any better last season than we do now, if not worse, and all we did was trade Eddie House for Nate Robinson. I think Bill Simmons even went so far as to predict we would lose in the 1st round to the Heat. Whether that was silly or not was immaterial; THAT'S how bad we were playing. We were the 4th seed, and looking old as ever, as everyone wanted to tell us.

This season so far? We're STILL tied with the Bulls for 1st seed in the East, and subsequently tied for the 2nd best record in the NBA to the Spurs, even with our alleged woes lately. THAT'S how well we've played THIS season so far.

last season was a different issue.

........ and we have played well THIS season - until the disastorous trade we made on Feb. 24.

[ejk3489]

Rondo throws in another stinker tonight. This team needs to start West if they want to get the one or two seed.

Shocking, calling out Rondo and no other starters that played horrible.

Well, he did say ANOTHER stinker. How many of the other starters are on a roll like he is?

Clearly none like Rondo, but KG, Paul, and Ray have all been off the last 5 games or so now.

[outcry]

I'm laughing at BBD's explanation about the push from Hill. I'm also laughing at Dickerson baiting him into saying something over the line to get a fine from Stern.

[barefacedmonk]

Forget the offense...Why were we bad at rebounding? KG has just 5 and Krstic has only 3. Patterson and Hayes were too hard to handle?

[butterbeanlove]

the starting five - especially Rondo - have been struggling badly since The Trade. can it be any more obvious ?

Danny has damaged the chemistry and the psyche of his team because he made a move that he thought looked like an overall improvement on paper. but nba teams - especially this team - don't play their games on paper. just ask yourself - would Red have made that deal ?  No Way, because Red understood people and that was his greatest strength and it is something Ainge seems completely oblivious to.

So tell me: what was our problem last season? We didn't look any better last season than we do now, if not worse, and all we did was trade Eddie House for Nate Robinson. I think Bill Simmons even went so far as to predict we would lose in the 1st round to the Heat. Whether that was silly or not was immaterial; THAT'S how bad we were playing. We were the 4th seed, and looking old as ever, as everyone wanted to tell us.

This season so far? We're STILL tied with the Bulls for 1st seed in the East, and subsequently tied for the 2nd best record in the NBA to the Spurs, even with our alleged woes lately. THAT'S how well we've played THIS season so far.

last season was a different issue.

........ and we have played well THIS season - until the disastorous trade we made on Feb. 24.

Agreed. As much as we were inconsistent last year, we were nowhere as disjointed on both sides of the ball as we are right now with less than a month until the playoffs. This team has no identity on offense or on defense right now and it gets worse every game. It has nothing to do with "flipping the switch" like last year.

I'd love to be proven wrong but we're going in the wrong direction. And what's worse, other teams can smell blood. Exhibit A: tonight.

[European NBA fan]

I'm so happy, that I chose to watch the Bulls getting beaten by the Pacers in stead of this game. It was much more encouraging to see that the Bulls can be beaten by a sub .500 team, even when they play hard.

[ejk3489]

the starting five - especially Rondo - have been struggling badly since The Trade. can it be any more obvious ?

Danny has damaged the chemistry and the psyche of his team because he made a move that he thought looked like an overall improvement on paper. but nba teams - especially this team - don't play their games on paper. just ask yourself - would Red have made that deal ?  No Way, because Red understood people and that was his greatest strength and it is something Ainge seems completely oblivious to.

So tell me: what was our problem last season? We didn't look any better last season than we do now, if not worse, and all we did was trade Eddie House for Nate Robinson. I think Bill Simmons even went so far as to predict we would lose in the 1st round to the Heat. Whether that was silly or not was immaterial; THAT'S how bad we were playing. We were the 4th seed, and looking old as ever, as everyone wanted to tell us.

This season so far? We're STILL tied with the Bulls for 1st seed in the East, and subsequently tied for the 2nd best record in the NBA to the Spurs, even with our alleged woes lately. THAT'S how well we've played THIS season so far.

last season was a different issue.

........ and we have played well THIS season - until the disastorous trade we made on Feb. 24.

Agreed. As much as we were inconsistent last year, we were nowhere as disjointed on both sides of the ball as we are right now with less than a month until the playoffs. This team has no identity on offense or on defense right now and it gets worse every game. It has nothing to do with "flipping the switch" like last year.

I'd love to be proven wrong but we're going in the wrong direction. And what's worse, other teams can smell blood. Exhibit A: tonight.

Anyone who thinks that must have blocked the memories of last season from their brain. I mean seriously we ended the season 3-7 and on a two game losing streak. They couldn't have played much worse to end the season.

[jdpapa3]

Kind of obvious to me that the starters are physically checking out right now in the dog days of the season. Can't blame them if they are only really worried about the Heat having HCA, but I wish they'd attempt to have a better record than LA.

What I don't understand is how such a mentally tough team can have a mostly soft fanbase? At least on the internet.

[Tai]

the starting five - especially Rondo - have been struggling badly since The Trade. can it be any more obvious ?

Danny has damaged the chemistry and the psyche of his team because he made a move that he thought looked like an overall improvement on paper. but nba teams - especially this team - don't play their games on paper. just ask yourself - would Red have made that deal ?  No Way, because Red understood people and that was his greatest strength and it is something Ainge seems completely oblivious to.

So tell me: what was our problem last season? We didn't look any better last season than we do now, if not worse, and all we did was trade Eddie House for Nate Robinson. I think Bill Simmons even went so far as to predict we would lose in the 1st round to the Heat. Whether that was silly or not was immaterial; THAT'S how bad we were playing. We were the 4th seed, and looking old as ever, as everyone wanted to tell us.

This season so far? We're STILL tied with the Bulls for 1st seed in the East, and subsequently tied for the 2nd best record in the NBA to the Spurs, even with our alleged woes lately. THAT'S how well we've played THIS season so far.

last season was a different issue.

........ and we have played well THIS season - until the disastorous trade we made on Feb. 24.

Agreed. As much as we were inconsistent last year, we were nowhere as disjointed on both sides of the ball as we are right now with less than a month until the playoffs. This team has no identity on offense or on defense right now and it gets worse every game. It has nothing to do with "flipping the switch" like last year.

I'd love to be proven wrong but we're going in the wrong direction. And what's worse, other teams can smell blood. Exhibit A: tonight.

 Do you really believe we were better last season when people said we would possibly be out in the 1st round? Seriously?  I almost feel like your post is contrived of you wanting to prove that the trade should never have happened. But between a 4th seed and how we finished out that season (3-7 in our last 10 games and 7-8 in our last 15, mind you), and the fact a lot of people thought the Celtics would be one and done, we definitely seemed disjointed then, too.

In the first 4 games since Krstic and Green came on, we scored 100. We even went on a five game winning streak with those guys on board.

In the last 7 games, we've limited our opponents to under 100 points in 6 games and under 90 in 5 of them.

One blowout loss doesn't mean we're suddenly more disjointed this season than we were last. One blowout loss is NOT the end of the world or this season.

[Roy H.]

In the first 4 games since Krstic and Green came on, we scored 100. We even went on a five game winning streak with those guys on board.

In the last 7 games, we've limited our opponents to under 100 points in 6 games and under 90 in 5 of them.

One blowout loss doesn't mean we're suddenly more disjointed this season than we were last. One blowout loss is NOT the end of the world or this season.

I understand your desire not to panic, and I agree it's good to have perspective.

However, I think your description of the last several games might be a bit rosy.  We're 2-4 in our last six, having played a bunch of mediocre-to-very-poor teams.  That's not encouraging, no matter how anybody spins it.

[KCattheStripe]

In the first 4 games since Krstic and Green came on, we scored 100. We even went on a five game winning streak with those guys on board.

In the last 7 games, we've limited our opponents to under 100 points in 6 games and under 90 in 5 of them.

One blowout loss doesn't mean we're suddenly more disjointed this season than we were last. One blowout loss is NOT the end of the world or this season.

I understand your desire not to panic, and I agree it's good to have perspective.

However, I think your description of the last several games might be a bit rosy.  We're 2-4 in our last six, having played a bunch of mediocre-to-very-poor teams.  That's not encouraging, no matter how anybody spins it.

OK , but given his point about the 5 game winning streak and then this subsequent poor play, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that this 2-4 mess has more to do with the team being banged up and tired than it does the Perkins trade.

[Roy H.]

In the first 4 games since Krstic and Green came on, we scored 100. We even went on a five game winning streak with those guys on board.

In the last 7 games, we've limited our opponents to under 100 points in 6 games and under 90 in 5 of them.

One blowout loss doesn't mean we're suddenly more disjointed this season than we were last. One blowout loss is NOT the end of the world or this season.

I understand your desire not to panic, and I agree it's good to have perspective.

However, I think your description of the last several games might be a bit rosy.  We're 2-4 in our last six, having played a bunch of mediocre-to-very-poor teams.  That's not encouraging, no matter how anybody spins it.

OK , but given his point about the 5 game winning streak and then this subsequent poor play, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that this 2-4 mess has more to do with the team being banged up and tired than it does the Perkins trade.

I always thought the 5 game win streak was a bit of fool's gold.  Is beating 5 non-playoff teams really anything to brag about?  I guess it is after the string of recent play, but usually I wouldn't be all that pumped about a bunch of close wins against inferior competition.

Obviously, this can't all be attributed to the Perk trade, although I think it is fair to say that there's been a correlation between the trade and a visible loss of enthusiasm and cohesion within the team.  It could be a coincidence, or it could be a factor to some degree.

[Bahku]

Rondo's adjusting to the new players, as everyone else is, and Rondo, despite his early-season injury, has played more minutes than anyone, and I thing he's just weary.

I loved the fact that Tommy lost his cool ... I have never heard him swear, (or if I did, I've forgotten it), and I've been watching for his entire career ... I was fuming at the crap that Martin was getting away with, and TH timed his overload perfectly, lol.

This team is just plain weary, (as they almost always are this time of year), and trying to integrate new players ... yes, this sucks right now, but I am honestly not worried ... the stars will align again soon.

[jaser]

What I don't understand is how such a mentally tough team can have a mostly soft fanbase? At least on the internet.

THIS.

[dasani]

What I don't understand is how such a mentally tough team can have a mostly soft fanbase? At least on the internet.

THIS.

+1