Looking ahead -- how do they get Ray going?

[vinnie]

Will the matchup be better for Ray?  Do they have to do something different to get Ray involved?  Does Ray have to get his head back in the game?  I simply do not believe they can beat the Pistons without Ray scoring points.

[EJPLAYA]

Will the matchup be better for Ray?  Do they have to do something different to get Ray involved?  Does Ray have to get his head back in the game?  I simply do not believe they can beat the Pistons without Ray scoring points.

I agree 100%. No way we win the whole thing without him. Ray is too big a weapon. I think we need to get the guy a couple wide open shots from about 15 feet in the paint to get a couple down. We tend to not run anything for him and he doesn't even get a chance to score. Then later in the game when we need it he is cold. Imagine that. Run the guy something at the first and if he isn't hot then move it around. Ray has every bit the talent offensively PP does and more so than any other Celtic. We need Ray.

From what I hear though, Ray takes a ridiculous amount of shots before games when he is struggling, so he may be able to take care of it himself...

[reggie35]

Will the matchup be better for Ray?  Do they have to do something different to get Ray involved?  Does Ray have to get his head back in the game?  I simply do not believe they can beat the Pistons without Ray scoring points.

they should try running some little curls for ray into the high post so he can turn and shoot without having to dribble.  if he can get a rhythm going that way, then let him feed kg in the post.

what he needs most right now it looks like is some rest. unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary right now.
another guy to watch is KG... he looked gassed today. on offense, he was coming up a little short at the end of the game.

[vinnie]

Reggie -- agree on the rest.  I guess the good news is the Pistons have as many old guys as we have.  However, they have had a week off.

[Jon]

I think part of the problem is that he's basically being asked to be a spot up three point shooter.  In all honesty, Eddie House could do what Doc asks Ray to do, and do it almost as well.  If they really want to get Ray going, they need to run him some plays.  Sure, 1-6 looks ugly, but he could have remedied the problem with some more shots. 

In a lot of ways, this reminds me of what happened to Gary Payton on the Lakers.  In the triangle, the PG is basically just a spot up shooter, which didn't fit Gary at all.  Thus he struggled.  Fortunately, Ray is an amazing shooter, so he can fit the role of spot-up-shooter.  However, he'd be better and the team would be more dangerous if Doc ran some more plays for him. 

[BigAlTheFuture]

I think we need to get him to hit more mid-range jumpers and work from there. We have to get him going first. I don't know why he is struggling so much in the playoffs, he has missed some really open three's.

[wdleehi]

Have him attack the basket.  Tell him not to avoid contact (short of offensive fouls)


He was nearly perfect from the FT line.  Use that (plus easier shots closer in) to get him going. 


Then hopefully, if the Celtics need it, he will be better prepared to hit that big outside shot in a close game. 

[oldmanspeaks]

The Cleveland defense continually trapped Ray and he had to get rid of the ball. I don't see that happening in Detroit. However in Detroit he will have to hit the open shot a lot because Prince will do a better job on Pierce. The Celtics need to spread the court to get KG some room to operate against their starting frontcourt. I expect KG to score a lot but only if the Celtics can hit the outside open shot.

[Hondo]

Hopefully he gets 7 more games to figure it out himself.  Unless he has some injury we aren't aware of you just have to figure the law of averages will work themselves out in the long run.
 

[Who]

Pass him the ball more often

Pass him the ball in more threatening positions, more touches below the three point line please.

I don't see them doing a whole lot different with Ray in the coming series. He has to make more of the opportunities he gets and his teammates need to do a better job of getting him the ball when he actually does get in a good scoring position in the floor. Against Atlanta they did a horrific job of that. Against Cleveland they did a bad job but the Cavs defense was more instrumental to stopping Ray.

Ray Allen is affected more by quality ball movement than the others. Simply because he doesn't get many plays directed his way, he needs the ball movement to be good to get more opportunities in the offense. Best thing they can do for Ray is start passing the ball more and better.

[Who]

The Cleveland defense continually trapped Ray and he had to get rid of the ball. I don't see that happening in Detroit. However in Detroit he will have to hit the open shot a lot because Prince will do a better job on Pierce. The Celtics need to spread the court to get KG some room to operate against their starting frontcourt. I expect KG to score a lot but only if the Celtics can hit the outside open shot.

Here's a quote from Doc, expect Detroit to do the exact same thing, they're the ones that first started defending Ray like this during the season.

“They’re trapping him on pick-and-rolls,” said Rivers. “Ray’s making the right plays, the right pass. When he does that, we’re still going to score.

“We don’t make a conscious effort to get him shots. We make a conscious effort to get him running off screens and then he has to make a play. They’re not going to give him the shot. They’re trapping every time he catches it. Detroit has done that every time we’ve played them.”
........
Rivers noted that the Pistons were one of the first teams to pressure Allen 30 feet from the rim and that the Cavaliers have done it throughout the season as well.

“I was laughing with Ray today that the good news and the bad news is that if we win (tomorrow) you’ve got Detroit and they are going to do the same thing with you. He started laughing and said: ‘They started it.’ Which they did. Nobody had done it until we played Detroit, then everyone basically did it. Some teams are more successful at it.”

Doc goes on to blame ball movement for Ray's limited scoring opportunities against Cleveland.

I don't expect Prince to do as good of a job against Pierce as LeBron did. Prince will do well enough because he's a quality player but I don't think he'll defend him as well as James did.

[wdleehi]

The Cleveland defense continually trapped Ray and he had to get rid of the ball. I don't see that happening in Detroit. However in Detroit he will have to hit the open shot a lot because Prince will do a better job on Pierce. The Celtics need to spread the court to get KG some room to operate against their starting frontcourt. I expect KG to score a lot but only if the Celtics can hit the outside open shot.

Here's a quote from Doc, expect Detroit to do the exact same thing, they're the ones that first started defending Ray like this during the season.

“They’re trapping him on pick-and-rolls,” said Rivers. “Ray’s making the right plays, the right pass. When he does that, we’re still going to score.

“We don’t make a conscious effort to get him shots. We make a conscious effort to get him running off screens and then he has to make a play. They’re not going to give him the shot. They’re trapping every time he catches it. Detroit has done that every time we’ve played them.”
........
Rivers noted that the Pistons were one of the first teams to pressure Allen 30 feet from the rim and that the Cavaliers have done it throughout the season as well.

“I was laughing with Ray today that the good news and the bad news is that if we win (tomorrow) you’ve got Detroit and they are going to do the same thing with you. He started laughing and said: ‘They started it.’ Which they did. Nobody had done it until we played Detroit, then everyone basically did it. Some teams are more successful at it.”

Doc goes on to blame ball movement for Ray's limited scoring opportunities against Cleveland.

I don't expect Prince to do as good of a job against Pierce as LeBron did. Prince will do well enough because he's a quality player but I don't think he'll defend him as well as James did.

Agreed.  Prince doesn't have the strength. 

[wahz]

If you look at the stats you'l see he shot well the first part of the atl series: 16 of 32 from 3 point land against atl, thru 5 games

Now a horrible 6 of 37 the last 9 games.

If he isn't hurt he is going to heat up. If he isn't hurt he is going to heat up just in time for Detroit.

We may not beat Detroit but its not crazy to say the match up is an odd improvement: Cleveland was much BIGGER than us, and Atl was much quicker.
We are bigger than Detroit and we are probably as quick.

WE will see what happens. It really starts now. If Doc has learned to play House and PJ, to trust them we may have a nice new rotation and the reality is that THIS team is now more battle tested.

[fairweatherfan06]

Ditto all above.  One thing that encourages me about Ray for this series (from a mental standpoint) is that he always gets up for the battle with Rip Hamilton.  He was Rips mentor at UCONN and their games are similar (Ray is a better penetrator than Rip, and a slightly better long range shooter) but I think in his head I don't think he wants to be outdone by essentially his protege' so hopefully that pride will help his psyche which I'm sure has taken a little hit with his lack of production this series and these playoffs.

[billysan]

Ray needs to attack the basket and be aggressive, the shots will fall if he does. At the same time, if he is not hitting the shots he will see less plays run for him.