The official support Ray Allen thread..

[bf17290]

I'm not a big Ray fan and I've been EXTREMELY frustrated with him. Not just the shooting, but the bad passing, dribbling, moving without the ball, just simple basketball stuff. Forget it, this season has been a dream so far and whatever positivity I can muster out about this issue, needs to and will go to Ray.

If your at the game, tell Ray he can do it and that we need him.

Come on RAY! We need you.

[hpantazo]

Ray Allen is awesome. He's not old or washed up, he was a fantastic scorer last season. I think he still has some lingering injury that he doesn;t want to talk about. Maybe it's better that he doesn't talk about it, because as long as he is in the game he draws defensive attention on the perimeter and helps the celtics spread the floor on offense, even if he isn't hitting any shots.

[CsfanNH]

Ray Allen still has plenty gas in the tank and I am still very happy that we acquired him.

CsfanNH

[Roy Hobbs]

I'm a big Ray fan, and have been singing his praises all season long.  He's making his supporters look bad so far, but I expect he'll turn that around. 

[Andy Jick]

my mistake...i misread the title.  i thought this was "the official ray allen life support thread." 

[fairweatherfan]

Ray, if you learn to quickly pass out of the doubleteam and create shots for your teammates, the doubleteam will quickly go away, creating shots for you.  Less dribbling and more ball movement will open up the game for you and let you show off that shooting stroke.  You can do it buddy!

[bf17290]

Nothing but love for Ray right now.

We need you.

You can do it.

[kw10]

Come on Ray, you know you want that ring. You can do it. We are all behind you!

[winsomme]

anybody starting to feel Snake Plissken  coming to mind with all the heat Ray is taking....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EELobwdHg&feature=related


my name is Plissken....

[CelticSteve]

I love Ray's game in every way- when he is playing his game. He seems to have lost his confidence in the last few games, and given his history, that is surprising. My speculation is that Ray is injured and won't admit it because he wants to be part of this run. I can't say I blame him, and I hope "Doc" would make that diagnose and instead of prescribing extended playing time- prescribe some additional rest. I have no statistics to back this up, but it seems that each time Ray was rested (beginning of the Season and then when he returned after being out a few games for injury) he shot the ball better- and to me, that indicates an age related overuse injury- perhaps his ankles again. So why does he frequently play more minutes than KG and Paul? Why is he placed in a position to be the main scoring option with the second unit in Doc's rotation (KG and Paul out at the same time)? I would think Paul should play with the second unit instead of Ray, since Paul is better at creating his own shot- particularly with how Ray is playing now. Ray's movement on the floor looks tired and his running looks like he is protecting injured feet. When he handles the ball now, he isn't able to shake his man and he runs too much time off the shot clock- resulting in bad shot attempts by his teammates or his own forced bad attempts. I think Doc has designed his rotation to give Ray the best chance of increasing his scoring statistics- since among Ray, Paul and KG he seems to be in more often without one of the other 2. Problem is, Ray needs the help now. If Ray is hurting or if he is just playing poorly- or if Chauncey is killing Rondo- then Doc needs to make the adjustment and may need to insert the other Allen. I just hope Doc hasn't killed Tony's confidence by not playing him. Again, I love Ray's game- but I keep hollering at Doc through my TV to give Ray some rest. It falls on my kids’ ears, but it makes me feel better!  

[SShoreFan 2.0]

love Ray Allen.

Skilled and Classy.

Will be standing and applauding him tomorrow from the balcony.

[winsomme]

or better yet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs-3dZq_aJo&feature=related


you can't meet the Duke....are you crazy....

[Tommy Gun]

I think part of Rays problem lies with How Doc has used him..All he does is try and run through baseline screens to get free..Cleveland just banged the snot out of him all over the floor..

Did we ever see a pick and pop play with ray at the top of the key? Double pick, staggered screens, triple pick..These plays have been around since the beginning of time

No we stuck with what was'nt working and Cleveland did'nt have to make a single change on Defense of Ray..

Doc finally went with some new guys...Now maybe he can come up with a few new plays

[MattG12]

I believe Ray will get his shot back this series, however if he doesn't we can still win the series.

December 19, 2007: Ray does great, Celtics lose 87-85...
Looking into the Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton match up...
Ray: 24 pts, 5 rebs, 2 asts, 1 pf, 0 to, +8 (Also going 3-5 from 3 point land)
Rip: 21 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 3 pf, 1 to, -2

The next game against Detroit Ray got himself into foul trouble (5 PF) but Big Baby came in off the bench and single handedly won us the game.

Game 3 against Detroit Ray got 3 points on 1-9 shooting, including 0-3 from beyond the arc. However he did get 8 rebounds/5 assists and was +15 while he was in. Rip was -18 while he was in although he did manage to get 15 points. Celtics won the game 90-78.

In the regular season we won twice without big game from Ray, the bench would need to come up big, but i still don't think his slump is going to carry into this series.

[coco]

I've always been a RA fan.  And I think that somewhere along the line, Ray frame of mind changed from being aggresive to passive(i.e. letting the game come to him).  The problem is that now, he is passive/unselfish to a fault.  KG has alway been unselfish to a fault, now you add RA's lack of aggresiveness, RRondo/Perk lack of offensive game and you've got a team who struggles to score.

Then you compound the problem by removing your third best two-way player - after PP and KG - from the rotation...yes I am talking about TAllen.

Tony might give you 4TOs/gm, but he'll also give you at least 4FTs, 3rbds, 2steals in 15/20mins while shutting down whomever he is guarding.