Tank Game 1 v. Miami

[celtics2]

LOL pick your poison. Miami in 6 and our 2 wins will be excruciatingly painful. Miami's more physical on Offense than we are on Defense. We are soft.

[celtics2]

not only is it a terrible strategy for winning the series, but Stern would punish us for eternity for killing the tv ratings by benching our starters in the ECFs.

I don't think the ratings will be that good with these 2 teams. Basketball will die on the vine like tennis if the League continues to promote basketball this way. With this shortened sesson the Champion should be listed with an asterisk. Cut the Banner in half.

I for one won't watch The King and Wade destroy a team held together with Trainer's tape.

[snowball]

it just won't happen. Doc Rivers will play the
starters into the ground. He'll crack the whip
until they fall on the court.

[pearljammer10]

terrible idea.

I read the OP three times and still don't understand what he's trying to say or prove. Umm no you don't tank playoff games.

point is you need to win 1 out of 2 games to gain homecourt back.  They're not winning game 1 after only getting 1 day of rest, so why not concede and give yourself a legitimate shot at game 2.  Otherwise you're going into game 2 with again 1 days rest and diminished odds. I know it's an out there theory, but it could actually work

even after explanation i have trouble making any sense of it.

[wahz]

Its one thing to think these kinds of things, its another to verbalize them, and yet another even worse idea to write them down!

[SHAQATTACK]

don't count chickens before they hatch ...  there is time for stuff like this after tonight if we win.

[cdif911]

Its one thing to think these kinds of things, its another to verbalize them, and yet another even worse idea to write them down!

imagine if people with outside the box ideas never thought them, verbalized them or wrote them down...(or put them into action).  We'd still be using holes in the ground for the bathroom, wouldn't be able to travel more than 20 miles from home in our life and would still live by candlelight.  In a game like baseball, everyone thought the moneyball approach was crazy, then the Red Sox used it to win 2 titles... I'm not saying I'm right, but I do think I have the right to present an idea that may not conform to your preconcieved notions of proper strategy in sports...

[csfansince60s]

So, the better strategy might be to play the starters as usual with a safe, conservative, low-energy game plan while they see how Miami starts out.  If the Heat start slow, the Celtics can crank it up and pounce in Game 1.  Instead of punting immediately, give the Heat a chance to beat themselves first.

This makes a lot of sense, but I would do one more thing. Whenever Paul Pierce or Ray Allen are not on the floor, I would have the other 2's and 3's running from side to side (ala Ray Allen) and have Wade and Lebron chase them through screens. This way, if the Heat's superstars chase them all game long they'll be worn down and exhausted, which is great for the game and the series. If they don't do it, we get open shots. In short, frequently rotate between Pietrus, Dooling, Moore, Pavlovic, and Marquis (5 minutes at a time each) and just keep them running without the ball.

Here's your 1st TP and welcome to celticsblog.

Good idea, bot too unconventional for Doc. He will run Ray into the ground instead.

[Bankshot]

I'd rather the C's go down swinging than just lying down and giving up.

That's not the Celtics way.

[D.o.s.]

The only problem I have with this idea--aside from, you know, the fact that the idea of intentionally losing makes my inner sports fan embrace Martin Luther levels of self-flagellation--is that most teams, Heat included, thrive on momentum. We saw it in the playoffs last year, when LeBron & company completely and utterly evicerated the two best teams in the East last year--the Bulls and Us.

They carried that into the Finals, but sputtered hard, ultimately unable to fight through the mental and physical fatigue.*

(*And their terrible bench. Don't forget their terrible bench.)

Tanking game one means the Heat win with little effort. Which means that they've expended the least amount of effort possible and moved one W closer to the Finals. I don't like that at all.

Whichever team ends up advancing to face them in the ECF has an obligation to play all four, five, six, or seven games as hard as possible. Because I'm much cooler with Timmy Dunks riding off into the San Antonio Sunset with another banner or Westbrook & Durant bringing a title back to Seattle OKC than watching the Heat win.



Sorry for the novel.

[billysan]

Whichever team ends up advancing to face them in the ECF has an obligation to play all four, five, six, or seven games as hard as possible. Because I'm much cooler with Timmy Dunks riding off into the San Antonio Sunset with another banner or Westbrook & Durant bringing a title back to Seattle OKC than watching the Heat win.

Agreed.

I think I differ from the OP in that I start and play with all guns blazing but maybe give Ray Allen some really reduced minutes using Pavlovic or Daniels to eat up his minutes if we are getting blown out in game one.

I would even be satisfied with Ray going back to the bench as our sixth man and starting Moore or Dooling. We need to match up better with Wade/Chalmers to start the game.

Obviously if we are getting blown out by 30 at the mid point of the third quarter, we take out the starters and rest them. Keeping them in proves nothing.

[ACF]

How about (if/when we advance) we win the first game? I can imagine Stern at his desk going all crazy. "That son of a gun Garnett! That's not how it's supposed to go down..."

[Celtics4ever]

I don't think we should ever tank in playoffs.   You might tank for a draft pick but not playoffs.   Playoffs!