Doc, can't go out there and make baskets for them, that's true. However, what's evident from the entire Celtics team, not just specific players, is that they are all playing with a certain style, a style that has clearly been demanded or instilled by their coach, and because of this, the Celtics have been heavily bogged down on the scoring front for a large part of last month, and it is carrying over into this month.
They were able to get away with what they were doing before when teams weren't playing the type of intense defense that most of them (certainly the Elite ones) are playing now, when we were actually given chances to play this chess game of let's see how we can get the easiest possible shot out of this possession. Sometimes we have to know that the easy shot isn't coming. We have to create something.
There's no way Doc can't see that he's indirectly stifling his own team's talent. I thought that Rondo's breakout in last year's playoffs was an exciting sign for this team for future seasons, but the more I look at it, the more I'm thinking it's precisely what may be the demise of this team in the playoffs.
They really need to stop relying so much on a style of offense that is so reliant on rondo spoon feeding everyone the ball, and then what hurts is that you see this mentality bleeding over onto the bench's style of play as well. The Celtics style was always make the extra pass, to get an even better shot, and that was fantastic because they knew that there had to be realistic limits on always trying to make that extra pass. Sometimes you don't make the extra pass, sometimes you man up and take the [dang] shot, and you as a talented player, try to make sure it goes in.
I see a team out there more concerned about getting a lot of assists or fancy thread the needle or outlet passes, rather than just scoring the [dang] ball however we can do it.
Take away just a small number of the Celtics' foolish gambles in both the Heat game and the Bulls game, and that changes a lot of things for us. The team is actually more in the game, than they are out of it Perhaps we aren't down by as many points, perhaps we aren't down at all, we're barely holding onto a 4 point lead.
This team can score if we actually had more opportunities to attempt to score, as opposed to forfeiting those opportunities, or wasting most of the shotclock throwing passes back and forth, not making any decent offensive execution progress at all, and then take a far worse shot than what we could have had if we only took a bit more initiative.
You hear all this rondo is the team's best player nonsense that carried over from last year's playoffs, and it is absolutely not true. Is he an important player? Yes he is, but in trying so hard to up Rondo's role on this team, they are also stifling far more proven offensive entities. Pierce isn't now suddenly too [dang] old to go for 30 point+ games if he has to. Ray Allen isn't too old to gamble more on creating his own shots however he can, and living with the consequences of a potential miss. There isn't a thing wrong with making Garnett take more shots than what he takes.
When these players, the big 3, start sending a message to some of these teams that they will be looking for their offense outside of these set plays, or this spoon fed by rondo style that they're busy buying into, it will open up opportunities for us elsewhere.
Last I checked, when Pierce, Allen and Garnett came together, we sure as heck weren't saying that we were going to make Rajon Rondo a primary focus of how we run our offense. That's just ridiculous. Because every team knows how much we are relying on rondo setting up our offense for us, it's so much easier to guard us now.
The focus starts with the big three, everything else outside of those 3 are the bonuses. That is what has made this team so dangerous over the years.
I watch games and I see teams not properly respecting just who the heck they're guarding. They're throwing just about anybody on our guys, and having them push up close because they know we'll be thinking pass first, or get it back to rondo before they feel they need to take the initiative offensively. I'm not saying that the Celtics shouldn't pass, I'm not saying that at all.
But less passing around the ball and doing nothing with it, or turning it over entirely, and start getting more [dang] shot attempts up there. This team can score, but we often times don't even get enough shot attempts to give ourselves a chance to win games. It angers me so much, man. What in the blue blazes is rondo doing holding onto the ball for these excessive stretches in our offensive possessions!?
The Boston Celtics are not playing to score, they are playing to rack up assists. One might say, "What the heck is the difference?", but trust me, there is a very, very big difference between trying to score, and trying to rack up assists for the sake of scoring with the help of an assist.
When this team was formed, the focus was on the big 3, not on rondo spoonfeeding our entire offense. Let's go back to what made this team dangerous. It's such a defeatist attitude when I hear players like Pierce, Garnett or Allen saying thins like "As Rondo goes, so does the team" or "He's the engine." No he's not the engine. He's an important role player that supports the real engine, Pierce, Garnett, Allen.
I honestly can't wait for us to have shaq playing for us again because I notice that the team doesn't fall into this ridiculous mentality nearly as much when he's on the court, and the chemistry on the court between Garnett and Shaq was unbelievable. That was pure and good instinctive basketball, and it made this team incredibly dangerous.
I've been really paying attention, and literally every team with some minor degree of talent on their roster, this includes bad teams too, has far superior ball movement than the Boston Celtics, and why is that? Why does every other team in the league not have as much trouble moving the ball around as the Celtics do? It's because there is a natural flaw in the way the Celtics are trying to play, and it starts with Doc having these incredibly talented players that fills out his roster, living or dying by rondo's ability to get them perfect passes all the time, even if it means Rondo must hold onto the ball for most of a possession, not doing much with it.
Topic: Doc not taking advantage of talent we have on team. (Read 2058 times)