I haven't been able to post since the last game, and I have some things that I want to get off my chest today. This series against the Hawks could either be the best, or the worst thing to happen to this Celtics team. Worst case scenario: if they lose, they supplant the Mavericks as the biggest upset in history and given the age/history of KG/Pierce/Allen, it is conceivable that they would not recover. And I'd be too sick to watch the rest of what really has been a great season in the NBA.
On the other hand, the Celts have really cruised through much of the season without having to make adjustments/define themselves. They had not played a meaningful game in almost a month, and if they can beat the Hawks one could argue that it was good for the team to have to define its playoff roles and solve some issues early before they faced a crisis against a better team in a later round and could not recover. So, what are these issues that need to be worked out...
1) Identity. The "conventional wisdom" is that a team doesn't completely overhaul and win a title that same year, and after scoffing at that all season I am seeing the wisdom in the statement now. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Celtics, Suns, and Mavs all have played below expectations in these playoffs. The big problem, IMO, is that with a new team people don't know their roles yet. When the Spurs are in a difficult situation they don't panic, because they know what they do. They know what role Duncan will play, what Ginobili will do, how Parker should react, and what the role players need to do. The Celts, Suns, and Mavs all have displayed various degrees of impotence in the face of post-season pressure, and a good bit of that is because when times get tough no one is really sure how they're supposed to react. This is a big problem on Boston, because there are 3 (maybe 4) players who are used to being The Man on their team, and in order for that to mesh in the regular season they all had to subsume their individual games and buy into the team concept. But the team needs an identity, a hierarchy for tough game situations, and they need it now. Hopefully they figure this out now, against the Hawks, and can then apply it going forward.
2) Leadership. This ties somewhat into the previous point, but it deserves its own bullet. Someone has to be the one to step forward and decide what to do in tough situations. Generally it is either the coach and/or the best player, but Doc is inexperienced and GPA all seem to be trying to be co-best players. There's got to be a head to this beast. I think that this is why the Lakers have not had any trouble integrating Gasol into the line-up, because Kobe and Phil are still the clear-cut heads of the team. On Boston, Pierce has the seniority but KG has the most talent. One of them has to step to the fore. I'd like to see it be KG, especially in this series, as the Hawks have no answer for him. But if KG can't/won't then it has to be Pierce. Someone has to do it.
3) Shot selection in crunch time. As Doc pointed out 2 games ago, when the Celts get down everyone seems to want to be the one to take the big shot. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those shots are jumpers and often-times they come off the 1-on-1 and not from the team offense. They entered the 4th quarter up by 10, and proceeded to shoot jumper after jumper after jumper the whole time that Atlanta was closing the gap and taking the lead. In those types of situations, every possession should include either a dribble-drive by Pierce (or Rondo) and/or a touch by KG in the post. And even if they break down the defense to get an open 22 footer, sometimes those shots should be past upon to re-post to KG after he kicks it out. Don't just make it easy for the defense to defend and rebound one long jumper after another.
4) Recognition/adjustments. Last game drove me crazy, even before the loss. All season Doc has played Posey at PF in crunch time with KG at center...why now, in one matchup where that would actually be PERFECT, did he go away from that? KG on Smith was a bad matchup for us last game because 1) Smith was knocking down the 22-footer consistently, forcing KG out of the paint and 2) KG can't help off Smith, meaning that when Johnson drove there weren't any shotblockers. Why not put Posey in, have him guard Smith (whose really just a SF that can jump), and let KG guard Horford? Or, another option, since Johnson was (consistently, repeatedly) killing Ray Allen and Pierce was in foul trouble...why not put Posey on Johnson and Pierce on Smith, then let Ray guard Childress? Why just lose, with the same line-up getting abused repeatedly with the same play?
Bottom line: even before they won game 5 last night, the Pistons were in a better position than the Celtics because they really do know how to play in the playoffs...they just don't always have the effort there. I thought that was really, really bad...but it's even worse when the effort IS there, like it's been with the Celts, and the team loses anyway. The Celtics need to work smarter not harder to win these last 2 games. And they need to address some of these issues. If they do, then they'll be better prepared for the rest of the playoffs. If they don't...I don't even want to think about it.
Topic: My LONG pre-game 5 rant (Read 5503 times)