Lost in all the Rondo talk: Cs stunk

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I guess it was a good effort by the Cs to come back and make it interesting towards the end of the game, but that's only what I've heard--I was so mad with how they started the game that I didn't watch any of the second half.

5-of-19 shooting from Pierce, including 0 for 6 on threes. KG made 8 of his final 13 attempts, but that was after missing on his first 6 tries. The Cs reached 20 points in a quarter only once, and finished the game with 39% shooting. If the Cs had played even somewhat ok, they would've won this game, because despite the Hawks' hot start, Atlanta ended up shooting only 40.8%, with Joe Johnson shooting a woeful 3 for 15, including 0 for 9 on threes--and can we really expect him to keep shooting that badly?

This is one of Boston's primary problems: They nearly always make things more difficult for themselves than they need to be. When the Cs need only, say, 84 points to win, they can't get past the 70s, but when they score 100, they give up 100. When the opponent gives Boston chance after chance to win, the Cs either say "No, thanks" or else come alive just in the nick of time to scrape out the win. Now, a win's a win, sure, but if you take care of business earlier, you can give your starters more rest.

The opening sequence of this game had me thinking it was going to be a long night for Boston fans: Cs win the tip, but then Pierce misses a wide-open three-pointer, and a Hawks player grabs the rebound and throws it the length of the court for an easy layup, despite the fact that it wasn't a long rebound off Pierce's miss, so there was absolutely no reason for Boston to not be back on D.

Obviously, I hope they turn it around for Game 2, but Rondo's probably not going to be there, so that hurts. Atlanta's not a chump team, clearly, but I think Boston is easily the better team--yet the Cs just seem to hate stepping on people's throats when they have the chance, and if they go down 0-2 ... yikes.

[Lord of Mikawa]

This is why I worry whenever we get down early in a game because I know it will be a serious fight to win. If people aren't making shots hand the ball to someone else.  There was no reason for that terrible start yesterday.

[CelticG1]

Missing any sort of offense in the second unit. Pietrus needs to step up. If he can only jack 3's. We need to get some new blood in there, someone who can try and create in there

[wiley]

Celtics have got to do it with defense!!  That'll stoke their offense.

Let's go!
 
: o

let's try that again:   

[RyNye]

When the Cs need only, say, 84 points to win, they can't get past the 70s, but when they score 100, they give up 100.

In all fairness, a lot of this is a byproduct of a defense first system. You aren't going to see many blow-outs when your entire game plan is to grind the entire game to a halt.

While last night was particularly bad for us, even our good, resounding, wins are by relatively small margins, because that is just how our system works. We aren't the only team built this way, either this season or historically (it wasn't that long ago the Spurs were structured in a similar manner).

[twinbree]

Yeah they did. And I honestly wasn't surprised because with the exception of the championship we inexplicably start the playoffs on a bad note. Remember Games 1 against the Bulls, Heat and Knicks? We show up flat, get into a hole, wake up somewhere along the way start an uphill climb to try and win the game. I expected something similar last night but I was hoping that being on the road and Ray not being there to bail us out with a game winner would have made them show up a little sharper but old habits die hard I guess. There's really no excuse for the road team to show up with so little sense of urgency. I'm expecting a much better effort tomorrow.  

[Marcus13]

They were awful.  Terrible.  Horrible.  Like they have been many, many, many times this year.

And yet with a minute to go they were completely out of the game until the officials decided they couldn't let that happen.

[Mr October]

Yep, bad game by the C's. But they got good shots, and the Hawks made difficult shots. Sometimes that happens.

These games are not a thing of beauty. Its a meat grinder. Just gotta keep grinding and executing and so how far we can go. I expect the Celtics to take the series, and probably in 6 games.

[Celtics4ever]

As Bill Walton likes to say we were just horrible...

[2short]

funny you could argue rondo was the ONLY celtic who brought it

see someone else's topic that rondo should be traded this summer   

[albas89]

funny you could argue rondo was the ONLY celtic who brought it

see someone else's topic that rondo should be traded this summer   

This. Rondo was the only guy who was aware of playing a PLAYOFF game right from the start. I was pretty shocked to see PP being mentally unprepared for this game, this guy is a veteran, how can he come out and play the whole game like this? KG was terribly off in the 1st half but he showed up in the 2nd, Pierce was just frustrating to watch! I'm glad he recognized it on his comments after the game...