I don't think the Celtics are set up to let one of these guys step up. As soon as one guy gets going, the offense becomes about getting one of the other guys going, ignoring the hot hand.
Oh c'mon .... there's been lots of times this season where the Celtics have rode the hot hand. They've done great jobs of riding Paul Pierce in some fourth quarters like down in Utah, against Seattle. Of riding Ray against the Blazers at home, and Pierce away to the Blazers.
The offense has done a great job of getting Paul Pierce quality scoring opportunities all season. Same for KG. No so for Ray, he was sacrificed for the good of his fellow teammates, which I never liked.
The players just aren't executing the offense anymore. It'd work just as well in the playoffs but the players aren't playing with enough composure or enough trust in each other or enough in their game plan. That's the problem = Not the offense, the execution of the offense.
Look if it was about the defense denying and stopping our offensive I'd agree with you but it's not. That didn't happen in Atlanta and it's not happening in Cleveland. The Cavs have done something the Hawks didn't do, and forced some changes to our offensive execution but it's only a little wrinkle and it's not stopping our offense or our ability to get the shots we want. It's simply not doing that. The Celtics are doing that all by themselves. It's all about the player's execution.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
How many times have we heard comming out of the locker room at half time the Celtics are going to try and get Ray/Paul/Kevin going instead of 'we are killing them with Ray/Paul/Kevin. We will continue to go there till they stop us.'?
