Wizards (21-38) at Celtics (39-21) 3/7

[liam]

Rondo was playing very badly for most of the night, Throwing the ball away etc. I kept wanting NATE to come into the game we really needed offense. Just after I posted a couple of times to bring NATE in and start gripping, Rondo kicks it in and starts playing hard , quick and with mad energy. NATE got a few minutes in there were  , ever though he got no real shots he brought lots of energy. NATE Needs to play either on the floor with Rondo or as his back up. He brings the excitement that this team seems to be missing sometimes. And if Big Baby doesn't stop trying to take the ball one on four or just take a shot over a guy he can't shoot over, Doc just take him out and bring in Sheldon. Sheldon will show you how a role player is suppose to play. I think Baby was at his best when he knew Leon was just waiting to take his minutes everytime he did something dumb. That dunk offensive board was a thing of beauty. Just play within your game.

[Kiorrik]

-edit- what the hell @ me.

It's so late that I'm correcting ppl into mistakes. My gosh. I'm off to bed. 6:16 in the morning is horrible.

[Kuberski33]

I shut it off with about 8:00 to go in the 4Q.  I find myself just getting too upset when I see a team I know is capable of better playing so poorly.  I'm glad they came back to win but this team has some problems that I don't think are easily fixed.  Too often they're not not trying and frankly are ripping off their fans with their lack of effort.

On the other hand, I think they were completely the opposite the first 2 years of the KG era. They ALWAYS played hard, which frankly doesn't happen in the NBA.  That they've gone so far in the other direction to me is a problem - but I'm as stumped as everyone else as to why.

[liam]

I shut it off with about 8:00 to go in the 4Q.  I find myself just getting too upset when I see a team I know is capable of better playing so poorly.  I'm glad they came back to win but this team has some problems that I don't think are easily fixed.  Too often they're not not trying and frankly are ripping off their fans with their lack of effort.

On the other hand, I think they were completely the opposite the first 2 years of the KG era. They ALWAYS played hard, which frankly doesn't happen in the NBA.  That they've gone so far in the other direction to me is a problem - but I'm as stumped as everyone else as to why.

I think that it's now Rondo's team. That's how Rondo plays. He's great,and then uninterested. He throws great passes, then he throws some tricky passes that don't work. He doesn't do anything the easy way. This used to be KG's team and he played hard all the time. Maybe not always his best but his hardest. Now we need Rondo to play that hard all the time. I think in order to do that you need to run Rondo less minutes. NATE plays hard all the time. Let him come in when ever the team is flat and just pump it up. Bring him in in the 1st couple of minutes if you have to. Play them off against each other and see who can out work the other guy.

[Bahku]

I'm watching 2AM the re-broadcast on CCSNE right now, and the play that really turned this game around was when Nate threw the ball off from Foye as he was going out-of-bounds, saving the possession for the Celtics ... awesome heads-up play, and that's when the energy really started to change.

[Drucci]

Just saw the game... and I seriously considered punching my computer screen for 3 quarters and a half.

Fortunately we did make a big run in the 4th and it was exciting to see this comeback and the energy from the players. Ray is still our savior, his two dagger 3's were a beauty, and it made the crowd explode! I love how his shot is so smooth and his little celebration after each big shot.

I'm really glad we won because frankly I couldn't have sustained a loss to the freakin' Wizards and two big games by the most selfish players in the NBA - with the lowest basketball IQ too -, in Thornton and Blatche.

KG was awful offensively, he stepped up defensively at the end but he was physically OK. I thought Rondo was awful. Sure, he made key plays at the end but his turnovers and stupid passes struck me the most. He was only looking for the pass and made a lot of terrible decisions (like the halfcourt pass to Sheed on the fastbreak... yay), and played terrible defense on Foye for the most part, going for the steal (and it really hurt us when we needed stops).

Also, Doc was frustrating once again, sticking with the starters and "vets" even in the 3rd when KG was litterally killing us on both ends.

Not to mention Baby. Sure, he gets offensive boards but he loses the ball just after by going immediately for the shot to get it blocked or to turn it over... the low point tonight was when he went one against four (!!) after an offensive board.

The bench was bad tonight, although Nate did nothing offensively, he was OK defensively. Marquis' offensive game has really gone south for the past few games, let's hope it's just a slump.

Anyway, mixed feelings about this one. Excited and pumped up about the energy and the late comeback, but on the other end, we shouldn't feel relieved after a 3 point win at home against the freakin' Wizards...

Well, I just hope this game will increase the momentum the C's had after the previous 3 games and not break that dynamic.

[GreenFaith1819]

Wow - a LOT closer game than I thought...have not read entire thread, but I can imagine that more than a few folks here were upset.

We won, but still..

Evidently, we are still having issues playing Defense and with Intensity the entire game?

I'll take the 4 in a row, though...at least we're not LA, Kobe is Fuming right now, I'd bet.

[PLamb]

Also, Doc was frustrating once again, sticking with the starters and "vets" even in the 3rd when KG was litterally killing us on both ends.

......

The bench was bad tonight, although Nate did nothing offensively, he was OK defensively. Marquis' offensive game has really gone south for the past few games, let's hope it's just a slump.

As much I know that criticizing Doc's moves around here is like a recreational event, it can get kind of strange when someone is criticizing Doc's non moves in using the bench in one sentence and then later on admits the bench was bad in another sentence

Want to critique Doc?  Fine, just be fair about it

KG was killing us? Fine, who did you want in there replacing him?

The 1 for 7 Baby who had 4 shots blocked or the 1 for 6 Rasheed who couldn't hit anything and played as passively on the boards as one could for a seven footer

The bench was awful

Doc admitted as such in his press conference

The starters were no better for most of the game, apparently but Doc made the right decision in sticking with that group knowing they had the ability to flip a switch and pull this game out

I only watched the second half but there was very, very, very little Doc could have done to have coached better to have gotten the team going