Yet another late game offensive failure

[Celtics18]

The second and third quarters were putrid for the exact same reasons that we fell apart - again - in the late game halfcourt offense.

No ball movement. For a team supposedly with title asperations, the basketball stops a lot in the halfcourt with this group.

Guarantee you there won't be a title until that changes.

And spare me the alibis tonight. The ball could have been moved and should have been moved, all night long. With the game on the line, the offense went back to what stopped it midgame. Thirty-two points mean nothing when you pound one possession away and set a clear moving screen on another. Just move the ball and execute.

Lazy, unnmotivated, apathetic offensive basketball - just throw it to Garnett and get out of the way or fire up a bomb.


Doc should break something in the locker room. Really disappointing to see a veteran team play as lazily and stupidly in the halfcourt as we did tonight.

It was the defense, not the offense, that failed us down the stretch tonight.  Credit to the Sixers, they made some big, improbable plays.

[CoachBo]

Uh, no.

Improbable shots, yet the defense was the problem? Please. One or the other, but you can't have both of them.

Jump shots. No ball movement. No penetration. No one pressuring the rim.

Offensive execution was bad all night, terrible in the last 90 seconds. The ball movement either improves drastically, or Philly wins this series.

[Celtics18]

Uh, no.

Improbable shots, yet the defense was the problem? Please. One or the other, but you can't have both of them.

Jump shots. No ball movement. No penetration. No one pressuring the rim.

Offensive execution was bad all night, terrible in the last 90 seconds. The ball movement either improves drastically, or Philly wins this series.

Of course you can have both.  They made some tough shots, but we could have made them a little tougher.  Hats off to the Sixers, though.

Our offense was good in crunch time. 

[Kane3387]

Our play in the second and third quarters are the reason we lost. You let a team hang around and they can beat you.

[slamtheking]

The second and third quarters were putrid for the exact same reasons that we fell apart - again - in the late game halfcourt offense.

No ball movement. For a team supposedly with title asperations, the basketball stops a lot in the halfcourt with this group.

Guarantee you there won't be a title until that changes.

And spare me the alibis tonight. The ball could have been moved and should have been moved, all night long. With the game on the line, the offense went back to what stopped it midgame. Thirty-two points mean nothing when you pound one possession away and set a clear moving screen on another. Just move the ball and execute.

Lazy, unnmotivated, apathetic offensive basketball - just throw it to Garnett and get out of the way or fire up a bomb.


Doc should break something in the locker room. Really disappointing to see a veteran team play as lazily and stupidly in the halfcourt as we did tonight.

I don't often agree with you but you're dead on with this assessment.  The apathy this team has shown for the past 3 years and in the majority of these playoff games is infuriating. 

For a veteran team, they play less intelligent basketball than the rookie team at the all-star game.

[bostonman1]

The second and third quarters were putrid for the exact same reasons that we fell apart - again - in the late game halfcourt offense.

No ball movement. For a team supposedly with title asperations, the basketball stops a lot in the halfcourt with this group.

Guarantee you there won't be a title until that changes.

And spare me the alibis tonight. The ball could have been moved and should have been moved, all night long. With the game on the line, the offense went back to what stopped it midgame. Thirty-two points mean nothing when you pound one possession away and set a clear moving screen on another. Just move the ball and execute.

Lazy, unnmotivated, apathetic offensive basketball - just throw it to Garnett and get out of the way or fire up a bomb.


Doc should break something in the locker room. Really disappointing to see a veteran team play as lazily and stupidly in the halfcourt as we did tonight.

Great points which I have been bringing up consistently also.

It's hard to figure out sometimes what happens to this team in crunch time.  Rondo had gotten into the lane easily on 2 straight possessions right before which resulted in a layup then KG dunk.

The offense surged in the 4th quarter largely due to funneling through KG.  Yet on the 2 key possessions of the game he was not involved.  KG was getting great looks even when he missed as Philly doesn't have any players with enough length or quickness to contest his jumper in the lane.  Even if Philly sent a double team as they did earlier KG will normally always pass out to the right teammate.

It's one thing to lose on missed shots but the bigger issue is the terrible quality of shots the C's often get late in games.  Even if Rondo had made that contested jumper it doesn't make it the right play.  In fact it was one of the worst ways to run that offensive set, at the very least Rondo needs to attack and get inside to have a better shot.  Many fail to see that and say things like 'If Rondo made that shot everyone would be saying how great he is' --- of course we would all be happy with the win but the much more important issue is with the play itself.  Rondo taking fadeaway deep jumpers after standing around until the clock winds down is not going to be successful very often.

Then to have Ray running around screens on 2 straight possessions as seemingly the only option makes no sense.  It often looks as if the initial play doesn't work then Rondo and the team have NO CLUE as what to do next.  It's as if they can't figure out another option other than to stand around or go to the initial play no matter how slowly it develops.

Still think the issue with Rondo is he hesitates to drive inside due to the fear of getting fouled.  Why else would he just not at least try to move towards the basket and open something up for himself or a teammate?

Such repeated late game failures on offense are to be expected from teams such as the Hawks and 76ers.  Not from the well coached, veteran laden, experienced Celtics who have such a wealth of playing in late game situations to draw from.

Inexcusable...

[Galeto]

In fact it was one of the worst ways to run that offensive set, at the very least Rondo needs to attack and get inside to have a better shot.  Many fail to see that and say things like 'If Rondo made that shot everyone would be saying how great he is'

Even if Rondo had made the shot, I doubt many would have been saying that.  It was such a stupid possession.

Rondo doesn't have the late game shot making track record of say Chris Paul.  Paul can get away with dribbling the ball by himself at the top of the key for 20 seconds before hitting a jumper because he's hit them countless time.  Also because he's a good shooter and he has a good shot at making it.  With Rondo, the last thing you want to see is him dribbling out the clock in an important possession and using the worst part of his game.

I still can't get over it.  No defense is that good that on such an important possession, you can't get anything besides having your bad shooting point guard dribble for 20 seconds and then take a 18 footer that was also contested.  It wouldn't have been great if Pierce had done that but at least he's a good outside shooter when healthy.  For a bad shooter to take that, that's mindblowing.

[Galeto]

Another thing that frustrated me with that Rondo possession is that Rondo didn't come off the Ray Allen pin down the first time it didn't work.  He kept looking for it until it was too late and he had to take a bad shot.  This has been a staple for far too long.  When one option breaks down as does happen, you have to go to something else.  There isn't enough time to just wait and wait.  You can do that with the college shot clock but not in the NBA.  Rondo's being doing that forever.  I scream all the time for him to just move the ball instead of holding or dribbling the ball for an eternity.

[jimmehx]

This absolutely wasnt a late game flop. It was a whole game flop. From 12:00 in the third there was nothing happening on offense and defense was just as bad. You could see this coming.

Get them in game 2.