Simmons/KG (Revisited/Merged)

[NoraG1]

Basically all the Big 3 need to step up. Allen and Pierce haven't stepped up like they are capable of either.

[celticmaestro]

absolutely completely agree with simmons here. kg needs to dominate like he's capable of doing.

having said that, pierce and ray need to step up too i'm sick of their no-shows.

[celtsrp33]

I somewhat agree.  I think KG needs to pick his spots in order to win the game as a team or by himself - he is capable of either. 

[lon3lytoaster]

I don't care so much about Ray stepping up, and it looks like other than game 3 KG hasn't looked too good (We should of given him enough shots to go for 40+ though.) I want Rajon to step-up and pick up some scoring. He's the only guy who has really gotten to the hole in this series, since Pierce has been reluctant to do much of anything.

I'd probably take Rajon as a third option over Ray... And I certainly wouldn't complain if we let Rajon run wild and give him 20 or more shots tonight.

[galen]

There was a point in game 4 with about 4 minutes to go, where KG just took it super hard to the hoop like three straight possesions.  He somehow just missed one of the baskets I think and maybe was blocked on another.  However, I thought watching that, if he had just played with that attitude just for the whole 4th quarter, we'd have just crushed them.  It just seemed he turned it on too late.

I think he does have it in him, simmons mentioned game 7 against the kings as an example, and I saw it a bit in game 4.  He just needs to do it earlier and longer.

[paintitgreen]

KG did take a lot more interior shots in Game 4.  He just didn't make them.  He, and all of the Celtics, were putting up softies inside and missing at a ridiculous rate.  KG ends up taking a lot of "mini-jumpers" from 3 feet away instead of going up strong. 

Don't really agree with you on this one. KG did go strong in Game 3. He took 8 of his 19 shots from inside 5 feet, making 7 of 8 (3 layups, 3 dunks, 1 putback, missed a layup). He made 1 of 3 from 5-10 feet and 3 of 8 from outside 10 feet. He also went to the line 6 times, hitting 10 of 11 free throws. All told, he went inside and got 32 points on 19 field goal attempts.

In Game 4, KG took only 5 of his 21 shots inside 5 feet, making 2 of them. He had one blocked by Smith late in the game and missed a couple of putbacks. He took 11 of his shots from outside 10 feet and only hit 4 of them. His two made shots in the last 3 minutes were from 7 and 9 feet - not quite inside scoring but better than the 12 to 21 footers he wasn't hitting consistently. He also only went to the line twice, making 2 of 4 free throws. So, he stayed outside and had 20 points on 21 field goal attempts.

Math seems pretty simple to me - if he goes inside he converts more and at a higher rate. Maybe he was scared off by Smith blocking his teammates' shots, but if KG gets intimidated, that's a bad sign for our team all around. The more he stays inside, the more he'll abuse the Hawks and the easier we'll win.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

Since my origianl thread (http://www.celticsblog.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=64&topic=17128.15) has been buried past the 1st page I thought I would continue to get the ball rolling....


Didn't KG remain unselfish last night?

Didn't his unselfishness (7 assists) allow for a balanced attack?

Doesn't that prove that KG doesn't need to be selfish and "take over" or "put the team on his shoulders" in order for us to win?

[FanInTheSouth]

I don't think that Simmons' original statement is changed by last night.  I believe that what Simmons was getting at was that if KG is the best player on our team (I think we can all agree on that), then there are times when he needs to act accordingly and look to be the dominant big that he can be.  Sometimes (not always), we need Kevin to carry us.

[PointGaurd]

KG certainly did take it to the hoop towards the end of the game.  One he made a spin move and was somehow blocked by Josh Smith, the rest he scored.  If he played this way for the whole game he would've had to have had an older brother named Jeffrey who always beat him till he grew taller than him, got cut by his High School varsity team, and had another guy picked #1 over him.   I'm happy with the way Garnet played... The Hawks just played out of their minds and will probably never do that again.