Will Tony Allen finally see minutes against the Pistons? He should

[EJPLAYA]

but one of his weaknesses is dribbling. which, by the way still amazes me, how can you be an nba guard and often lose the ball off your foot in traffic? the NBA: where fundamentals don't happen.

the kid averages 4 to's per 10 minutes on the floor. You can;t have that in a series against a team like detroit, even more so when, thanks to posey being a combo forward who can play the 2 with ease, there is no justifiable reason for it to happen.

posey just contained lebron james/ whoever Cleavland wanted to put at the 2 (wally, gibson, whoever.) Why would you take his minutes at the 2 away just to get TA involved? Posey is more than capable of gaurding rip hamalton and prince.

this isn't youth basketball, tony sits because there is a much better player available to do his job, and his name is james posey. I like tony allen, but i really don't see why we would now start giving a turnover prone,  offensive enigma minutes over a championship veteran in posey. just to make tony feel part of the team or something? no thanks.

Perfectly said crownsy! TP!

[feckless]

TA is a non-thinking player.  When every possession counts it is hard to use a player like Tony who really doesn't get strategy and many of the finer points of the game.  it will take an injury or a glaring mismatch need for his defense to get him off the bench.

[Vermont Green]

I think Posey is the better defender to use on Rip.


If Rip comes off a screen, the big man can step in front of him, Posey is the best equipped swingman to pick up the big man. 

I suspect that we will see cameo appearances by Tony Allen but that it will be at the expense of Eddie House minutes, not Posey.  I love what Eddie did the last two games but there is no one on Detriot that he can cover.  I don't think Posey can cover Rip and if they try to switch as wdleehi suggests, Perk will foul out in the first quarter.

Tony is going to get some time because he is a good defensive match-up for us against Billups and Rip.  If he looks scared and clueless out there, the good DOCtor will have him back on the bench in short order.  If he steps up though or happens to grab a rebound, hit a shot or two while not turning it over, he will get more time.  I predict that there will be a game or two where he does play well and gets meaningful minutes beyond end of quarter defensive substitutions and things like that.

[RebusRankin]

No TA. Use Posey. I mean he did play good D on Lebron so he should be able to defend Hamilton.

[Oldschoolkid]

What will probably happen is that a situation will arise for him, they will put him in, just like they did with LEON POWE, then PJ, then EDDIE, and he will play his heart out, like they did, big baby too, so look at who is saying what NOW, because they will disappear like they did b4......THEY...said the same thing about Eddie, can't defend, can't shoot, spotty, can't pass, doesn't know the plan......same for LEON, same things said over and over.
Play the man, and play him beyond a mistake or two, everyone has been making mistakes, you cannot play thinking that 1 mistake and i am on the bench again.....! Tony Allen can play, and given the chance he will. Keep rotating guys in until you see who is working, who is on that night, who can play great
"D" (which CAN be more important than great offense!!!)and who's shot is falling. As we now have seen, the rotation is key, it has gotten us this far. 14 games and the stars could also be tired, one night off.......A lot of bench guys sparked the wins...if you were watching......Oh points for Sam, for following thru and giving to the team 100% of the time, it was HE who covered Paul P in practice the way LEbron did in the game, as you can see it helped, Paul himself said so, that is worth a TP for Sam, so don't ever give up onm those who have helped in the past, that old
"Just play the 6 guys because it is the playoffs" doesn't work, on some teams it did, but not here, not now! No two teams are the same, you have to adapt, change, make it work,,see....!

[nickagneta]

As Denzel once said, "Please explain this to me like I am a four year old".

What exactly has Tony Allen done this regular season or postseason that warrants coming in and taking time from James Posey and Ray Allen?

"Please explain this to me like I am a four year old".

What does Tony Allen bring to the table that James Posey and Ray Allen do not bring to the table much better and much more often.

"Please explain this to me like I am a four year old".

What makes you think that Tony Allen would do such a great job on anyone on the Pistons while he has been so cold when he proved in a Detroit game this year already that when he is cold he can be had by much smarter basketball players?

I just do not understand the love that so many has for this guy. He isn't that good.

[threzd]

Actually, I found that in the later games (Games 6 and 7) in the Cavs series, LeBron was getting by Posey and into the paint with regularity. Only when Doc put Pierce back in LeBron did LeBron really have to work a lot harder to get into the middle, and LeBron ended up settling for jump shots more often.

This leads to me to wonder about Posey's quickness. (I admit, not being from the New England area, I haven't been able to watch any of the Celtics games that aren't on ABC/ESPN/TNT, so I can't argue about that definitively.) He was having trouble staying with LeBron, how will he fare against the quicker Rip? Sure, Posey has the length, but after running through screen after screen, can he get in front of Rip in time to alter a shot? Here, I think TA would be an adequate fit.

I don't believe that TA is as dumb as many of you believe - you guys are really making him sound like a retard. Sure, he's a turnover machine on offense, but he's not an idiot. After he made the pump fake mistake against Billups in that home loss to Detroit, a couple weeks later we ended up playing the Spurs. We're up by 3 or whatever, Ginobili comes in, sees TA guarding him, and pump fakes a 3. TA smartly doesn't fall for it, and as Ginobili tries to lean in to draw a foul on the 3 pointer, TA simply sidesteps out of the way, and you have Ginobili flailing into empty space. This, to me, shows that TA remembered the game against the Pistons, learned from his mistake, and adjusted. I think this shows that he's really not that dumb, and that he's really actively working to improve and build on his mistakes.

That said, while I support TA coming in to play maybe 5-10 minutes for some defense, I don't really want him handling the ball at any time on offense. Are we playing 4 on 5 then? No, cause TA is not Ben Wallace, he can hit a jumper, and make a layup.

[BASSTHUMPER]

we need fresh people wearin down billups and hamilton and thats when tony and house will help out...be nice to see scalabrine off the bench for perk on sheed but big baby should be able to knock him down a peg..my concern is that rondo and ray dont turn it into a shooting match cause the pistons will win..being so close to the trophy i expect kevin to have a monster game and of course paul..powe should get sum minutes too..he played well vs the pistons in the regular season..

but yeah tony can play d and will get sum minutes.

[the_Bird]

posey is a much better choice.

sadly, tony's in ability to protect the basketball/ shoot a jumper will likely keep him out of this series as well, especially with posey playing so well.

Tony is not a horrible shooter, he shot 31% 3's for the year and his career, he can hit open 3's from the corner and he doesn't have to handle the ball with Paul or Rondo in there. Also Tony Allen hits the offensive boards which could come in handy...

Kind of a misleading stat when he hasn't hit a 3 pointer since the month of February! He's missed his last 32 three point attempts he has taken! Thanks, but no thanks!

True about February, not true about 32 (he's missed his last 17).  The point stands, though - Tony Allen's not a great shooter, and has been a pretty bad one for several months.  For whatever reason, he's terrible in short stints, he's not a guy like House who came come off the bench, play only ten minutes, but play 10 very effective minutes.  The only time Tony's really done anything of note in his career, he's been playing big minutes and that's obviously not an option right now. 

And...  I just don't trust him out there, ESPECIALLY not against a crafty veteran team like Detroit.  Guy's in his fourth year, played what, three years in college...  and still seems to make rookie mistakes.  I don't want to say the guy's not smart (hate to have him tell a buddy to "eff me up"), but you've got to wonder...

[CoachBo]

TP for Bird.

The ONLY situation I'd even begin to consider using Tony is a last 90 seconds or so defense for offense switch.

We simply cannot waste possessions on him with the ball in his hands making poor decisions.

[Chris]

I expect to see Allen at least a little bit next series...but not too much.  It is a long series, and defensively, he is a good matchup against both their big PG's, as well as against Rip.  I don't expect him to get any extended minutes, but he could come in for 2-3 minute spurts to give Allen a bit of a break, and maybe get a little energy on the floor.

[wdleehi]

I expect to see Allen at least a little bit next series...but not too much.  It is a long series, and defensively, he is a good matchup against both their big PG's, as well as against Rip.  I don't expect him to get any extended minutes, but he could come in for 2-3 minute spurts to give Allen a bit of a break, and maybe get a little energy on the floor.

I thought he would be a good guy to use at the end of a quarter when the other teams has the ball with around 30 seconds left or in the offensive/defensive switches teams do at the end of games.

But since he wasn't used at the end of game 7 when they were doing that (they had House out there on defense instead), I don't think he will see court time without an injury, foul troubles, or blow out.

[Chris]

I expect to see Allen at least a little bit next series...but not too much.  It is a long series, and defensively, he is a good matchup against both their big PG's, as well as against Rip.  I don't expect him to get any extended minutes, but he could come in for 2-3 minute spurts to give Allen a bit of a break, and maybe get a little energy on the floor.

I thought he would be a good guy to use at the end of a quarter when the other teams has the ball with around 30 seconds left or in the offensive/defensive switches teams do at the end of games.

But since he wasn't used at the end of game 7 when they were doing that (they had House out there on defense instead), I don't think he will see court time without an injury, foul troubles, or blow out.

They were using House as the offensive replacement in game 7, not defensive.

But anyways, Allen is a much better matchup against Detroit.  They have 2 big combo guards, and Rip Hamilton, all of which are perfect for Allen to chase around, and be physical with.

With that said, I only expect to see him play around the quarters...I can't see them trusting him much near the end of the game.

[wdleehi]

I expect to see Allen at least a little bit next series...but not too much.  It is a long series, and defensively, he is a good matchup against both their big PG's, as well as against Rip.  I don't expect him to get any extended minutes, but he could come in for 2-3 minute spurts to give Allen a bit of a break, and maybe get a little energy on the floor.

I thought he would be a good guy to use at the end of a quarter when the other teams has the ball with around 30 seconds left or in the offensive/defensive switches teams do at the end of games.

But since he wasn't used at the end of game 7 when they were doing that (they had House out there on defense instead), I don't think he will see court time without an injury, foul troubles, or blow out.

They were using House as the offensive replacement in game 7, not defensive.

But anyways, Allen is a much better matchup against Detroit.  They have 2 big combo guards, and Rip Hamilton, all of which are perfect for Allen to chase around, and be physical with.

With that said, I only expect to see him play around the quarters...I can't see them trusting him much near the end of the game.

He was out there for both.

Rondo and Ray kept switching. 

[Chris]

I expect to see Allen at least a little bit next series...but not too much.  It is a long series, and defensively, he is a good matchup against both their big PG's, as well as against Rip.  I don't expect him to get any extended minutes, but he could come in for 2-3 minute spurts to give Allen a bit of a break, and maybe get a little energy on the floor.

I thought he would be a good guy to use at the end of a quarter when the other teams has the ball with around 30 seconds left or in the offensive/defensive switches teams do at the end of games.

But since he wasn't used at the end of game 7 when they were doing that (they had House out there on defense instead), I don't think he will see court time without an injury, foul troubles, or blow out.

They were using House as the offensive replacement in game 7, not defensive.

But anyways, Allen is a much better matchup against Detroit.  They have 2 big combo guards, and Rip Hamilton, all of which are perfect for Allen to chase around, and be physical with.

With that said, I only expect to see him play around the quarters...I can't see them trusting him much near the end of the game.

He was out there for both.

Rondo and Ray kept switching. 

Hmmm, I stand corrected. 

For what its worth though, House did play very good defense on Delonte.  He really is a pest when he wants to be.