Celtics, need leadership to step up on defense. (Good win though)

[wdleehi]

One out of 8 quarters did they keep the Bulls off the 100 point a game pace. 



Now the defense is never going to be the level it would be with KG, but it can be better then it is.  To many guys standing around on transition defense.  Defensive effort uneven  (great one play, Phoenix Suns the next)


This now has to go through Pierce.  He has to go back to playing defense like he did last year.  He has to lead.  Perk, Rondo and Ray will follow his lead on defense. 



Good win tonight. 

[QuinielaBox]

I don't see how we can win a game in Chicago giving up 155 points a game it seems.

Ben Gorden torched us tonite, Derrick Rose has torched us both games.

Pierce is playing awful right now. What is going on with him?

[CoachBo]

Frankly, I disagree some about the defense tonight, especially in the fourth quarter. We were there on almost every shot. When a player like Gordon's out of his mind, you have to go shake his hand.

Now, defensively we were extremely sub-par Saturday afternoon with little or no effort. Tonight was different. I'll take the effort and the contested shots tonight for the rest of the playoffs, especially since we're criminally shorthanded on the bench.

[Kuberski33]

The problem is the interior defense.  The drop-off from KG to Baby is huge and Mikey Moore is proving to be a liability.  With a healthy Scal I could see this potentially improving, but even if they get him back I'm not sure what he can give them.

I really think the best bet is simply to try to outscore the opposition.  Pierce was off and they still put up 118 on these guys.  

[KungPoweChicken]

Moore contributes nothing to this team.

[Bankshot]

Tony Allen needs some minutes in this series.  He should have been in the game when the Celtics were up by 10+ to see if he can help spark another run on the defensive end... Tony tends to give such spark when he plays well and he had been playing well just before the playoffs.  This is the perfect series for Tony,  imo.  The C's need Tony's defense in this series.

[CoachBo]

Tony Allen needs some minutes in this series.  He should have been in the game when the Celtics were up by 10+ to see if he can help spark another run on the defensive end... Tony tends to give such spark when he plays well and he had been playing well just before the playoffs.  This is the perfect series for Tony,  imo.  The C's need Tony's defense in this series.

I can't stand Tony Allen's game - but I would have run him out there for a handful of possessions in the fourth a couple of times to give Gordon something else to worry about.

With, of course, the admonition that if he so much as appeared to be contemplating a perimeter shot I would trade him to the Clippers for a bag of basketballs in the off-season.

[Kuberski33]

Tony Allen scares me in a close game but I agree that he probably would provide a change of pace on Gordon.  You need to work him in during the 2Q though. 

Looking ahead you can't play Baby and probably Perk for 40 minutes a game for too long without seeing some drop off.  It's obvious Doc has no confidence in Mikey Moore and Powe looks like he may be gone for the series or maybe even the season.

SOMEONE needs to get some time at the 4 -- either a rusty Scal -- assuming he can even play-- Bill Walker or you live with Moore and all his shortcoming. 

These guys are between a rock & a hard place.  On the other hand it's 1-1.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I really can't put this one on our defense, we did a solid job overall, but I've said it for some time now that Gordon is one of those guys that I'm most afraid of getting into the 4th quarter. He's extremely clutch, uses screens extremely well, and when he's hot, EVERYTHING falls for him.

Interior defense will be a bit of a problem for us, but not because the bigs will dominate us, but because other than Perk we don't have shot blockers. Remedy for this is getting to positions quicker and take some charges. We did a better job of stopping the drive tonight though, but Gordon was just that hot tonight.