Thoughts after LA Game

[manl_lui]

First Congrats to Ray Ray for breaking the long time record

Second, I've been seeing a lot of threads about trading, etc...
to be honest, I've kind of saw the lost coming...

5 of our bench players are injured (Shaq, JO, Semih, Nate, Delonte and Marquis)...pretty much our whole 2nd unit is depleted...

however I am very very proud of how the Celtics played yesterday, with no one to back up the starters, the starters played very hard, yes fatigue did show up by the 3rd and 4th quarter but they fought hard...we were up 15 at one moment, and if we won, we would've have so much to brag about beating the lakers with half our team injured...

I am not panicking, i believe and willing to my money to it that after the all star break, we will bounce back...this is no slump, since we lost 3 of our last 4 games...this isnt last year...we're not making excuses as Doc said no one will feel sorry for you...but injury IS the reason why we lost recently...

after the all star break, Shaq and Delonte will be back, giving breathing room for the Celtics, JO will be back in a month...and Nate will probably be back in a few games...
we got this =)

o and side note, its nice to see Von Wafer being aggressive and trying to play defense against Kobe, you can see hes starting to buy into the system

[manl_lui]

btw Ray Allen's website is finally up =)

http://www.rayallen20.com/

looks really nice

[ducksawce]

I totally agree.  The Celtics only lost by 6, despite the fact that their 2 position was obliterated by foul trouble, Paul Pierce/Rondo/KG lost the ability to make jump shots entirely, and they played with only 8 (2nd half: 7) rotation players.  I was pretty proud of the way they gritted the 4th quarter out, despite the obvious fatigue and foul trouble...good on them.

Von's play made me smile.  I KNEW he was going to have a game like this.  In watching him during the 2009 Rockets run (against LA no less!), I remember thinking to myself "THIS is the type of guy the Celtics need for aggressive penetration".  I'm actually hoping that the Celtics end up pairing Delonte with Von in the bench backcourt.  Importantly, you could actually see that Von was learning "on the job" how to guard Kobe.  Initially he got burned (who wouldn't?), but he gradually learned how to anticipate his moves and get in his face (as he did on the last shot he defended Kobe on...which Kobe missed!).  A Delonte-Von pairing could be devastating defensively. 

Now all the team needs is a backup 3.  Ehhh, that's for another thread...

[jaser]

I agree, it's still not the time to panick, we got this. A win would have been nice to go with Ray's record, but oh well. LA had a game plan, and it worked. They were clogging the lanes and giving us outside shots. We weren't able to hit them, and that's that. I'm really proud of our guys making a stand, and of Doc for not making any excuses.

Can't wait for the other guys to come back. Celtics are scary when they have a complete and healthy roster.

[Eat Your Greenys]

ray allen is looking reallly nice!

[Megatron]

This game showed exactly why we need Shaq.

Shaq offers a threat on the offensive end and clogs the lane on defense.

Perkins cannot score against Gasol/Bynum straight up, they are just too big. Shaq can and it will open up the floors for others.

[Chris]

This game showed exactly why we need Shaq.

Shaq offers a threat on the offensive end and clogs the lane on defense.

Perkins cannot score against Gasol/Bynum straight up, they are just too big. Shaq can and it will open up the floors for others.

Actually I thought it showed why we need JO...but same idea. 

JO has the length and mobility to stick with Gasol or Bynum, defensively, and he has a 10 foot jumper that defenses have to respect on offense.

When Perkins is in there, it allows 2 Lakers defenders (along with whoever is covering Rondo) to roam, which makes it incredibly difficult for KG, Pierce, and Allen to get open shots.  And when Davis is in there, he just does not have the length to keep Gasol and Bynum (or even Odom) off the boards. 

I really think the C's need to have JO healthy if they meet the Lakers in the finals. 

[jaser]

This game showed exactly why we need Shaq.

Shaq offers a threat on the offensive end and clogs the lane on defense.

Perkins cannot score against Gasol/Bynum straight up, they are just too big. Shaq can and it will open up the floors for others.

Yup, we really need a healthy Shaq.
I wonder how Kendrick's knees are doing? To me he's like playing at 75-80%. He just doesn't have the elevation yet. It's like he's still favoring that knee.

[Onslaught]

This game showed exactly why we need Shaq.

Shaq offers a threat on the offensive end and clogs the lane on defense.

Perkins cannot score against Gasol/Bynum straight up, they are just too big. Shaq can and it will open up the floors for others.

Shaq would help some. But we had him last time we played LA and he didn't bring anything to the table.

[Chris]

This game showed exactly why we need Shaq.

Shaq offers a threat on the offensive end and clogs the lane on defense.

Perkins cannot score against Gasol/Bynum straight up, they are just too big. Shaq can and it will open up the floors for others.

Shaq would help some. But we had him last time we played LA and he didn't bring anything to the table.

Yeah, Shaq is not a great matchup for the Lakers.  Bynum and Gasol are too big for him to abuse them offensively, they are both too quick and skilled in the post for him to cause much of an issue for them defensively, and Kobe can kill him on the pick and roll.

He can be a valuable 6 fouls, and could potentially get a couple fouls on the Lakers bigs, but he is not a great matchup.

Shaq is much more important against teams like the Heat, who have no one who can slow him down in the post, and the Magic, since his strength defensively (digging guys out of the post, and forcing them to beat him with footwork and touch) fits in well with defending Howard. 

[Witch-King]

btw Ray Allen's website is finally up =)

http://www.rayallen20.com/

looks really nice

TP. That is an interesting website. Props to Ray Allen becoming the All-time leader in career NBA 3's scored last night.

It was a shame that we lost this game at home after we had a 9-point lead at halftime. I'm hoping that last night was the last time we'll have to worry about the Los Angeles Lakers this season, however you never know. Bryant and Company have been to the NBA Finals 3 seasons in a row already; you can't be 100% certain that the San Antonio Spurs or the Dallas Mavericks will be able to edge-out the Lakers in the West during the playoffs this season...

[SalmonAndMashedPotatoes]

Of course, having Shaq and JO and Delonte and Quisy would have helped matters.  But talking about injuries is boring and ultimately beside the point.  Even with everything seemingly against us (injuries, foul trouble, the officials, the Lakers being super motivated, etc...), we still should have won this game.

But we lost to the Lakers for the same reason we always lose to them--once again we played right into their hands on the offensive end.  Every one knows Kobe plays off Rondo, roams in the passing lanes, and is a double-teaming menace.  Can somebody tell me why we play right into that defensive scheme by taking the ball out of Rondo's hands?  It's so much easier and ultimately more devastating for Kobe to roam and double team when the man he's cheating off doesn't have the ball.  Further, taking the ball out of Rondo's hands and giving it to Paul takes the Cs out of the their offensive comfort zone, and puts the play-making responsibility on a guy who's just not a good facilitator.  What results is more contested jumpers, worse passing, and as counter-intuitive as it sounds, more jumpers for Rondo.

I realize Rondo had a tough shooting night, but we didn't lose this game because he clanked 6 jumpers.  We lost this game because we panicked and played right into the Lakers defensive game plan.  I'm fine with Rondo going 4-21 on jumpers if he continues to run the offense.  But if Rondo has a bad shooting night AND we take the ball out of his hands (and basically render him a jump shooter and nothing else), that's a recipe for losing every single night against most teams in this league.  

One of Doc's strengths as a coach is not changing the game plan in the face of adversity.  For whatever reason that strength doesn't extend to keeping the ball in Rondo's hands at all times.  We've played two good halves against LA this year--and Rondo's had the ball in his hands in those halves.  And we've played two bad halves against LA--and those were the halves when we took the ball out of Rondo's hands.  When we will learn?

[celticinorlando]

few things after sleeping off the bitterness:

1. the key to the Cs title is getting a SF that can help defend Lebron and Kobe. If they can get a guy that can contribute there..good news.

2. a healthy (nate, Shaq, Erden, West and SF tba...) and boston beats LA in 6 games. No doubt in my mind.

3. 4 minutes at the end of the 2nd and 4 minutes at the start of the 3rd was the game

4. Too many long jumpers late in the shot clock...beat LA with early offense

5. I din't think PP was 60 percent last night and this is why we didn't see him on Kobe. too much out of him to play him and score a lot..in the end that hurt

6. loved the retro uniforms

7. i do think they match up better sunday with miami. heat don't have 3 7 footers for boston to contain without their bigs...the key will be PP staying out of foul trouble...