Lack of Inside Option Shows Again

[Celtics18]

The Celtics outscored the Knicks by 20 in the paint. So I am not buying the lack of inside scoring again. Seems like Brandon Bass was scoring inside at will. Our problem today was that the Knicks made one more shot and got more than one more call than what we got. Joey certainly provided unwelcome input in the 4th quarter again. He is who he is and we will continue to get shafted by Joey Crawford.

Looking at the points in the paint is missing my point.  It's not about how many points the Celtics can score inside over the course of the game . . . it's how well they can score at the rim at the end of the game, in the last few minutes, when the score is close. 

Any time the Celtics play a good team, they're forced to go to jumpshots in that situation and they almost never score inside.  The result is that they give up a lot of leads because they're not taking high percentage shots.

Every team has problems with scoring at the rim late in the games.

Most teams' defenses pack the paint in crunch time and just give you wide open looks...daring you to shoot from the perimeter.

Exactly.  Amare and Anthony hit some difficult perimeter shots down the stretch.  If my team's going to be a jump shooting team down the stretch, I'd rather have the kind of open looks KG was getting off Rondo penetration than the kind of hero ball one on one jumpers that Anthony was taking and, unfortunately, hitting.

One of the reasons that we have been so good over the last four years is that we have guys who are good shooters and a guy who is superb in creating good looks for those guys and getting them the ball in situations where they can score. 



 

[BballTim]

The Celtics outscored the Knicks by 20 in the paint. So I am not buying the lack of inside scoring again. Seems like Brandon Bass was scoring inside at will. Our problem today was that the Knicks made one more shot and got more than one more call than what we got. Joey certainly provided unwelcome input in the 4th quarter again. He is who he is and we will continue to get shafted by Joey Crawford.

Looking at the points in the paint is missing my point.  It's not about how many points the Celtics can score inside over the course of the game . . . it's how well they can score at the rim at the end of the game, in the last few minutes, when the score is close. 

Any time the Celtics play a good team, they're forced to go to jumpshots in that situation and they almost never score inside.  The result is that they give up a lot of leads because they're not taking high percentage shots.

  The Celts didn't have a great inside scorer in 2008 or 2010 when they went to the finals. Their record in close games and their clutch scoring was about the same last year as it was in 07-08. I think that they'll be able to score fairly decently with a lineup of Rondo/KG/PP/RA/Bass.

[nickagneta]

I don't think the Celtics lack of scoring for periods of time has anything to do with a lack of an inside option. There are almost no teams with an inside scoring option anymore.

The entire game has gone perimeter or to one on one wing offense driving to the basket. Boston isn't the only team that goes through major scoring droughts. It's actually very common in today's game due to the importance put on three point shooting and perimeter basketball.

Anyone remember Miami during last year's Dallas series and the huge scoring droughts they went through?

What about yesterday's game where NY went 7 minutes while only scoring 4 points to let the Celtics back into the game?

It's just what today's game is all about. I think Boston is about average in today's game when it comes to going through large periods of time without scoring.