Why won't Doc try going big?

[kozlodoev]

I would assume it's because Doc believes that the best chance of winning the game comes from putting our best players on the floor.

How unreasonable of him!

[D.o.s.]

I know, right?!

I do think that putting Lee on Felton might change this series up a bit--Felton has been abusing Bradley all series.

[Boris Badenov]

I know, right?!

I do think that putting Lee on Felton might change this series up a bit--Felton has been abusing Bradley all series.

That makes sense to me. The way Bradley is playing right now this might be a real improvement, especially given that Lee can shoot 3s going the other way.

[The Rondo Show]

[BASS_THUMPER]

he's gonna have too

[SHAQATTACK]

he's gonna have too

+++++++++ 1    times a million.

[gar]

Bradley has the lowest "per" of any Celtics guard.

Felton would abuse Courtney Lee; but with Smith back we have other problems. Someone said that Bradley did the best job on Smith. If so Williams has done the best on Felton, problem is can't have Bradley and Williams out there at the same time unless Bradley is going to show some offense.

[danglertx]

Going small plays right into the hands of the Knicks.  We have no rim protection and frankly, their small players are better than ours.

It seems to make perfect sense to me, you force Carmello to play defense on a Celtic big or you force NY to use Martin and Chandler who are both less than great offensively at the same time. 

Say Garnett and God forbid Randolph gets to play come in together. 

The primary issue isn't on offense, it's on defense. Do you want Wilcox or Randolph guarding Carmelo?

And while "forcing Carmelo to play defense on a Celtic big" is a good idea in principle, Wilcox and Randolph are so limited offensively that this doesn't buy us much.

No I wouldn't put Shav or Garnett on Melo.  I'd leave that to Bass on our smaller line ups and Pierce and Green when we have two bigs playing.  I'd put one of Shav or Garnett on Chandler who you really don't have to guard and the other on Kidd who you just have to be close enough to keep from shooting a 3.  If Kidd wants to drive on Garnett, I'd live with that for their offense all day every day.

Like I said earlier, you really only have to worry about three of their players driving, Melo, Felton and JR and even JR would rather shoot a fall away 18ft shot than drive.  Everyone else can drive and I'm OK with our chances of defending them. So at any one time the Celtics can hide two players defensively.

OK, so you either put our best (only?) interior defender and rebounder, KG, on the perimeter guarding a PG?

Or, you have Shavlik Randolph on Kidd? You don't see that as just a devastating mismatch for the Knicks? For one, it completely negates Randolph's rebounding - which is, as far as I can tell, the only reason you'd want him on the floor. Second, Kidd could score at will.

Kidd wouldn't be a devastating match up for anyone.  Have you seen him play?  He shoots open threes.  That is all he does.  If Kidd wants to take it to the hole against Shavlik, I'd take that for the Knicks offense all day every day.  Much better than JR or Melo having the ball.

I think you are terribly overestimating Kidd's ability at this point in his career.

[birdwatcher]

I feel like our offense is obviously our achilles heel, so we try to set the tone on defense, which is fine, but it puts Doc in the position to try to match up on D. It takes our aggression out of our offense when we are always trying to match what the knicks are doing.
Also, NY is one of the worst fast break teams in the league this year, so I assume staying small attempts to keep them on their heels on D, and gives us guys who can close out on perimeter shooters. They don't really post up, they let Melo start the offense up high and they always space the floor really well,

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

that is just a small part of it. the laundry list on doc is a mile long. i laid it out in another thread with examples. all anybody else can come up with is talking point generalizations about how great a coach doc is which do not disprove my statements at all.

[CelticConcourse]

I'm pretty sure he has gone big before....

[syfy9]

Going small plays right into the hands of the Knicks.  We have no rim protection and frankly, their small players are better than ours.

It seems to make perfect sense to me, you force Carmello to play defense on a Celtic big or you force NY to use Martin and Chandler who are both less than great offensively at the same time. 

Say Garnett and God forbid Randolph gets to play come in together. 

The primary issue isn't on offense, it's on defense. Do you want Wilcox or Randolph guarding Carmelo?

And while "forcing Carmelo to play defense on a Celtic big" is a good idea in principle, Wilcox and Randolph are so limited offensively that this doesn't buy us much.

No I wouldn't put Shav or Garnett on Melo.  I'd leave that to Bass on our smaller line ups and Pierce and Green when we have two bigs playing.  I'd put one of Shav or Garnett on Chandler who you really don't have to guard and the other on Kidd who you just have to be close enough to keep from shooting a 3.  If Kidd wants to drive on Garnett, I'd live with that for their offense all day every day.

Like I said earlier, you really only have to worry about three of their players driving, Melo, Felton and JR and even JR would rather shoot a fall away 18ft shot than drive.  Everyone else can drive and I'm OK with our chances of defending them. So at any one time the Celtics can hide two players defensively.

OK, so you either put our best (only?) interior defender and rebounder, KG, on the perimeter guarding a PG?

Or, you have Shavlik Randolph on Kidd? You don't see that as just a devastating mismatch for the Knicks? For one, it completely negates Randolph's rebounding - which is, as far as I can tell, the only reason you'd want him on the floor. Second, Kidd could score at will.

Kidd wouldn't be a devastating match up for anyone.  Have you seen him play?  He shoots open threes.  That is all he does.  If Kidd wants to take it to the hole against Shavlik, I'd take that for the Knicks offense all day every day.  Much better than JR or Melo having the ball.

I think you are terribly overestimating Kidd's ability at this point in his career.

At the end of the day, it's a point guard with great handles and one of the highest IQs in basketball going up against a big man who has been in the league for 6 seasons but has only played 111 games. I'd rather have JR or Melo having the ball than Kidd getting easy lay ups or penetrating with ease and kicking out to an open 3 point shooter (have you heard that the Knicks are pretty dang good at 3 point shooting?).

I think you are terrible overestimating Randolph's ability to be a factor out in the perimeter.

[bobbyv]

Going big only works if you have two offensive threat big men/rebounders. Otherwise, the opposing team will use small ball to outquick your bigs. By having a dominant offensive player, you force them to match up with you, instead of you matching up with them. We don't have that.