Struggles in Playoffs

[Spilling Green Dye]

2008:  Learning how to play together in the playoffs, lack of a backup PG, etc.

2009:  BBD/Scal instead of KG = massive dropoff.   Also, tired stars and Rondo poor shooting finished off the Celtics.

[chelsearules]

08 jekyll and hyde road thing except the ecf even in the finals their road games were mostly bad
09 no kg and 1 legit big the road and home games weren't that different
10 smooth sailing and banner 18 

[wdleehi]

2008 (Hawks) was just a freak occurrence ... I wouldn't read anything into those results. The Celtics destroyed them in the four home games. By some weird happenstance, the Hawks just managed to squeeze out a couple of lucky wins.

2009 was the loss of Kevin Garnett. The Celtics simply weren't that much better than the Bulls, and I think they punched above their weight against the Magic.

About your point of the Hawks winning at home specifically...isn't it amazing how much a truly raucus crowd can have an effect on the outcome of series? Those fans were AWESOME their last two home games of that series and they willed them to beat the eventual champs and take em to game 7. If only we could reclaim in 2010 what we lost between 08 and 09...the loudest building in the league.

Not really.


The Celtics struggled on the road early in the playoffs because they didn't put the same effort into defense. 


By the time Detroit rolled around, that was fixed.

The Hawks were unconscious shooting at home. Josh Smith looked like Ray Allen. The crowd had nothing to do with that?

The Hawks shooting better has every thing to do with the Celtics not playing the same level of defense.  They were able to find more room to shoot.

So the young athletic but inconsistent Hawks team were not affected at all by a rediculously loud building? I understand the Celts were not playing the same defense on the road...but maybe the crowd played a part in that aspect as well. Why cant you even entertain that a crowd can have an effect on the outcome of a basketball game? Do you watch the playoffs?

[/color]


I did.  How else would I have been able to recognize the lack of defensive intensity the Celtics played early in the playoffs on the road?


The only way I see a crowd effect the game is when a young team is thrown off by the other teams crowd.  A vet team like the Celtics should not have that problem.  They were just not focusing.  In fact, it took Detroit beating them in Boston to really wake them up on the road.  The Detroit crowd is much better then Atlanta crowd.

[Greenbean]

2008 (Hawks) was just a freak occurrence ... I wouldn't read anything into those results. The Celtics destroyed them in the four home games. By some weird happenstance, the Hawks just managed to squeeze out a couple of lucky wins.

2009 was the loss of Kevin Garnett. The Celtics simply weren't that much better than the Bulls, and I think they punched above their weight against the Magic.

About your point of the Hawks winning at home specifically...isn't it amazing how much a truly raucus crowd can have an effect on the outcome of series? Those fans were AWESOME their last two home games of that series and they willed them to beat the eventual champs and take em to game 7. If only we could reclaim in 2010 what we lost between 08 and 09...the loudest building in the league.

Not really.


The Celtics struggled on the road early in the playoffs because they didn't put the same effort into defense. 


By the time Detroit rolled around, that was fixed.

The Hawks were unconscious shooting at home. Josh Smith looked like Ray Allen. The crowd had nothing to do with that?

The Hawks shooting better has every thing to do with the Celtics not playing the same level of defense.  They were able to find more room to shoot.

So the young athletic but inconsistent Hawks team were not affected at all by a rediculously loud building? I understand the Celts were not playing the same defense on the road...but maybe the crowd played a part in that aspect as well. Why cant you even entertain that a crowd can have an effect on the outcome of a basketball game? Do you watch the playoffs?

[/color]


I did.  How else would I have been able to recognize the lack of defensive intensity the Celtics played early in the playoffs on the road?


The only way I see a crowd effect the game is when a young team is thrown off by the other teams crowd.  A vet team like the Celtics should not have that problem.  They were just not focusing.  In fact, it took Detroit beating them in Boston to really wake them up on the road.  The Detroit crowd is much better then Atlanta crowd.

Okay now we're more on the same page. I do think however that the Hawks crowd, while it was only for those few games, were the loudest I have heard in quite some time. Then again, I wasn't there but they were crazy. The Detroit building is just annoying, not necessarilly loud.

[wdleehi]

2008 (Hawks) was just a freak occurrence ... I wouldn't read anything into those results. The Celtics destroyed them in the four home games. By some weird happenstance, the Hawks just managed to squeeze out a couple of lucky wins.

2009 was the loss of Kevin Garnett. The Celtics simply weren't that much better than the Bulls, and I think they punched above their weight against the Magic.

About your point of the Hawks winning at home specifically...isn't it amazing how much a truly raucus crowd can have an effect on the outcome of series? Those fans were AWESOME their last two home games of that series and they willed them to beat the eventual champs and take em to game 7. If only we could reclaim in 2010 what we lost between 08 and 09...the loudest building in the league.

Not really.


The Celtics struggled on the road early in the playoffs because they didn't put the same effort into defense. 


By the time Detroit rolled around, that was fixed.

The Hawks were unconscious shooting at home. Josh Smith looked like Ray Allen. The crowd had nothing to do with that?

The Hawks shooting better has every thing to do with the Celtics not playing the same level of defense.  They were able to find more room to shoot.

So the young athletic but inconsistent Hawks team were not affected at all by a rediculously loud building? I understand the Celts were not playing the same defense on the road...but maybe the crowd played a part in that aspect as well. Why cant you even entertain that a crowd can have an effect on the outcome of a basketball game? Do you watch the playoffs?

[/color]


I did.  How else would I have been able to recognize the lack of defensive intensity the Celtics played early in the playoffs on the road?


The only way I see a crowd effect the game is when a young team is thrown off by the other teams crowd.  A vet team like the Celtics should not have that problem.  They were just not focusing.  In fact, it took Detroit beating them in Boston to really wake them up on the road.  The Detroit crowd is much better then Atlanta crowd.

Okay now we're more on the same page. I do think however that the Hawks crowd, while it was only for those few games, were the loudest I have heard in quite some time. Then again, I wasn't there but they were crazy. The Detroit building is just annoying, not necessarilly loud.

The only reason that Atlanta was consider load was because no one ever showed up during the regular season.

[Jon]

This isn't a great topic because there isn't any sort of trend here.  2008 was the first year the team was together and Rondo and Perkins were half the players they are today.  And aside from the Hawks series, what was really that surprising?  Going 7 against Cleveland isn't anything to hang your head about. 

As for last year, you can't count it.  KG was out, leaving us with zero front line.  That's why the Bulls made it a series.  If KG was healthy, we would've swept them. 

Unless they struggle this year with a healthy team, I wouldn't worry about it.