Author Topic: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked  (Read 3042 times)

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Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« on: March 20, 2023, 08:51:51 AM »

Online Roy H.

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I've been down on the Celtics chances, because I fundamentally don't believe in "flipping the switch", particularly if you don't have a core that has won a title together.  The regular season is important, and bad habits picked up in the regular season can carry over into the playoffs.

While I can't think of a non-championship nucleus that successfully "flipped the switch", there's an obvious example in the fairly-recent past for the Celtics of a core that did so:  the 2010 Celtics.

I've tried to block the 2010 Finals out of my head, because it legitimately still causes pain.  13 years later, it hurts.  There are lots of reasons why it hurts:  losing to the Lakers, Perk getting injured, and mostly the 4th quarter screw job by the officials.  But, for those looking for hope this season, let's not forget how the 2010 run happened.

We started the season 23-5.  We finished 52-30.  In other words, after the hot start, we went 29-25.  We limped into the playoffs losing 7 of 10 games.  We ended up the 4th seed.

Hope was pretty much lost.  Then, we beat the #5 Heat (Wade), the #1 Cavaliers (Lebron) and the #2 Magic (Howard), with no series going further than 6 games.  It was a run that absolutely nobody expected, and we took a 3-2 lead on the Kobe Lakers, the best team in the West.

So, that's the example we need to hope for this season.  Excellent teams -- championship-level teams -- can mess around during the regular season, and still have playoff success.  I wouldn't be on it, but there's precedent.


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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2023, 08:56:27 AM »

Online Donoghus

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Yeah, that's always the first team I think of when it comes to a "flip the switch" team.  I remember this board freaking out much in the same manner, if not worse, as now during the latter days of the regular season.


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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2023, 09:05:32 AM »

Offline gift

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It's been a while but the losses feel similar to those losses in 2010. That said, the playoffs that year were really fun up until the last few games.

Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2023, 09:16:57 AM »

Offline heyvik

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That team was full of veterans who had been in playoff situations before. They were older and more experienced so they knew how to turn it on and turn it off. IIRC, this team has Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett and Perk. Wallace, Big Baby, Nate Rob, and Tony Allen, and Eddie House.
Great team, great chemistry, just a really unlucky break for Perk and the most inopportune time.

Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2023, 09:29:06 AM »

Offline Moranis

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Lebron's Cavs teams always flipped the switch.  I mean we had 4 years of posts about how the Cavs weren't a real threat, they were done, etc. because they were mostly winning in the low 50's, yet when the playoffs rolled around, Lebron kicked it into gear and willed the Cavs to the Finals (and sometimes with very little effort - i.e. 2017 when they lost just 1 game in the East).  Obviously Boston doesn't have a guy like Lebron on this team and he, at least, had a championship pedigree. 
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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2023, 09:39:28 AM »

Online Roy H.

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Lebron's Cavs teams always flipped the switch.  I mean we had 4 years of posts about how the Cavs weren't a real threat, they were done, etc. because they were mostly winning in the low 50's, yet when the playoffs rolled around, Lebron kicked it into gear and willed the Cavs to the Finals (and sometimes with very little effort - i.e. 2017 when they lost just 1 game in the East).  Obviously Boston doesn't have a guy like Lebron on this team and he, at least, had a championship pedigree.

In his second go-round in Cleveland, I think that's true.  The East was very weak overall, and Lebron just wanted to get through the regular season healthy.

As an aside, I'll never understand David Blatt being fired.  He gets fired for starting the season 30-11, with the team ultimately finishing with 57 wins.  It's hard to argue with championship results, but ultimately it seemed to be a situation of a guy trying to coach, and Lebron and others (Kyrie?) pushing back on that.


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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2023, 09:51:33 AM »

Offline action781

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I don't believe we need to "flip the switch".  I think we just need to be healthy.  Our starting 5 has played a total of 81 minutes together all season.

I think we just need to be healthy.  Expecting our early season success we had w/o Rob to ever come back is unrealistic because that was driven by unsustainable 3-point shooting.  I think we need Rob healthy or I think we've got an unlikely path to a title.
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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2023, 10:03:33 AM »

Offline Kernewek

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That team was full of veterans who had been in playoff situations before. They were older and more experienced so they knew how to turn it on and turn it off. IIRC, this team has Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett and Perk. Wallace, Big Baby, Nate Rob, and Tony Allen, and Eddie House.
Great team, great chemistry, just a really unlucky break for Perk and the most inopportune time.

Agreed, but I also think this was a double edged sword though - Sheed was the worst offender but they definitely 'took it easy' and 'played themselves into shape' for 2010 - if we get one more quarter out of Sheed in Game 7 we almost certainly win it, even with the screwjob from the referees.
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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2023, 10:18:12 AM »

Online Donoghus

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That team was full of veterans who had been in playoff situations before. They were older and more experienced so they knew how to turn it on and turn it off. IIRC, this team has Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett and Perk. Wallace, Big Baby, Nate Rob, and Tony Allen, and Eddie House.
Great team, great chemistry, just a really unlucky break for Perk and the most inopportune time.

Agreed, but I also think this was a double edged sword though - Sheed was the worst offender but they definitely 'took it easy' and 'played themselves into shape' for 2010 - if we get one more quarter out of Sheed in Game 7 we almost certainly win it, even with the screwjob from the referees.

Sheed's conditioning that season still drives me nuts.  Ugh.


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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2023, 10:36:57 AM »

Offline Moranis

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Lebron's Cavs teams always flipped the switch.  I mean we had 4 years of posts about how the Cavs weren't a real threat, they were done, etc. because they were mostly winning in the low 50's, yet when the playoffs rolled around, Lebron kicked it into gear and willed the Cavs to the Finals (and sometimes with very little effort - i.e. 2017 when they lost just 1 game in the East).  Obviously Boston doesn't have a guy like Lebron on this team and he, at least, had a championship pedigree.

In his second go-round in Cleveland, I think that's true.  The East was very weak overall, and Lebron just wanted to get through the regular season healthy.

As an aside, I'll never understand David Blatt being fired.  He gets fired for starting the season 30-11, with the team ultimately finishing with 57 wins.  It's hard to argue with championship results, but ultimately it seemed to be a situation of a guy trying to coach, and Lebron and others (Kyrie?) pushing back on that.
No one liked Blatt.  He was hired for a rebuild and then the team was an instant contender and he was not the right coach for that.  He didn't have the NBA experience needed, didn't have the right personality, etc.  There is a reason he has never come close to another head coaching job in the NBA, he just wasn't cut out for coaching that level of team.  The record was good, but that was as much about a focused Lebron as anything else.
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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2023, 11:15:47 AM »

Offline gift

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That team was full of veterans who had been in playoff situations before. They were older and more experienced so they knew how to turn it on and turn it off. IIRC, this team has Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett and Perk. Wallace, Big Baby, Nate Rob, and Tony Allen, and Eddie House.
Great team, great chemistry, just a really unlucky break for Perk and the most inopportune time.

True. But as relatively young as the current team is, they are deceptively quite playoff experienced (including finals experience) compared with the team going into the 2010 playoffs. It's not the same of course, but I've stopped considering inexperience to be a worthwhile factor with this group.

Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2023, 01:16:24 PM »

Offline footey

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I think team management figures that the switch can get flipped by having everyone healthy come play off time.  Which is what happened last season. We started winning a lot because we became fully healthy.

In fairness, our troubles this season seemed to arise AFTER Rob Williams rejoined the team, and continued to get worse when he left.  I don't know what to make of that, other than he just wasn't as impactful as last season.

Only light at end of tunnel is that we are still capable of beating any team, including the Bucks.  But we are also capable of losing in the first round.

 

Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2023, 01:18:58 PM »

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The current Cs are a rare combination of young yet playoff experienced, but they haven’t won a title, and they haven't been around a long time, so even though they kinda “know what it takes,” they don’t entirely “know what it takes.” Thus, I don’t believe they’re in a position where they can just “flip a switch.” Rob can't stay healthy—I don’t believe he’ll be available for the entirety of Boston’s postseason—Tatum is in a serious 3pt-shooting funk, and the general team mentality right now seems to be nonchalant and uninspired. None of these things bodes well for playoff success. But hopefully they prove me wrong.
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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2023, 11:24:06 PM »

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How about last year when the Warriors finished 3rd in the West with a record of 53-29 and won the championship. I get that they’ve won before, but talented teams can certainly flip the switch. I’m not really worried about home court, More worried about the C’s being healthy, which they haven’t been all year. If healthy, I think they win banner 18.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2023, 12:58:29 AM by Goldstar88 »
Quoting Nick from the now locked Ime thread:
Quote
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Re: Flipping The Switch: The One Time It Worked
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2023, 12:50:31 AM »

Offline SparzWizard

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This year's team don't have vets like KG, Wallace, and Perkins barking at the young guys and can enforce the team. Lack of vets who know how to get it done in the postseason like Pierce. Horford is great but he's old with age and just the only one; we need more.

Hope the switch is flipped, everyone sans Gallinari is healthy to play each game, and go on that 2010 run but win it all this time.


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