Allen as 6th man

[jchamorro]

Ray Allen is forcing things right now. I feel like he might be better suited coming off the bench the rest of the way.  We are watching a great player struggle with the inevitable decline of his skills. He can't guard Rip on his own. Doc needs to give House some minutes next game to show the Piston's something different.

[YUNGx24]

and what is ray allen coming off the bench going to do?
his jumpshot still will be off. when he is in the game he will stil have to go through the same plays.
Only thing left to do with Ray is bench him or let him play through the struggles. Which i might add is getting very annoying.
Especially that three he shot that hit the rim and went straight out of play. Wide open shot!

[Raygus]

i dont think throwing eddie house in there to d up rip is any kind of solution. as has been noted in other threads, eddie doesn't have experience playing the 2 guard in this system, and he's about 5 inches shorter than rip. allen doesn't do a great job on him, but eddie will be worse.

[Frontierboy]

You know, I would say that he's spending way too much energy play defense on Rip , but in the Cavs series, he was playing Wally and still couldn't hit a shot, so we know that's not it........

His career is over.... he's a minimum salary guy after his contract is up in 2010 if he doesn't retire then....

[Raygus]

You know, I would say that he's spending way too much energy play defense on Rip , but in the Cavs series, he was playing Wally and still couldn't hit a shot, so we know that's not it........

His career is over.... he's a minimum salary guy after his contract is up in 2010 if he doesn't retire then....

i think you might be overstating it a bit. jesus is struggling, but i think hes still got game.

[wdleehi]

He needs to keep heading to the basket and look to score.  They are playing him for the outside.  They are leaving his drive there. 



And no more getting to the rim and passing off. 

[X Man]

i dont think throwing eddie house in there to d up rip is any kind of solution. as has been noted in other threads, eddie doesn't have experience playing the 2 guard in this system, and he's about 5 inches shorter than rip. allen doesn't do a great job on him, but eddie will be worse.

Not Eddie House but James Posey on Rip has been working great during the series and that should happen for most of the game....

[guava_wrench]

Ray Allen is forcing things right now. I feel like he might be better suited coming off the bench the rest of the way.  We are watching a great player struggle with the inevitable decline of his skills. He can't guard Rip on his own. Doc needs to give House some minutes next game to show the Piston's something different.

House can't play against Det. Watch all the games! House gets trapped in the corner every time when defended by Rip or Hunter. House was horrific in both game 1 and in the 1st regular season game against Det. Why was House more effective in the other 2 games against Det? Because Hunter didn't play.

House also has no chance of defending Rip. You are over-reacting big time. Ray was able to get multiple offensive fouls against Rip. House will get destroyed by the picks they set for Rip, and Rip can just overpower him and shoot over him at will.

Ray should continue to get to try to get to the hoop and the Celtics need to play better team defense on the picks. Fortunately, we have been able to do that at times, as we have won half of the games in the series.

It is amazing how fans come up with these drastic ideas after losses and actually think that they are good ideas.

[CELTICS733]

Ray Ray is killing us!  The match up between he and Rip is so uneven.  KG is holding his own vs the bigs (should be dominating).  Pierce is struggling but at least he has Prince in check.  Rondo is even up with Billups and between Brown and Perkins we're ok up front.  Our loses are more about Allen not stopping Hamilton and us giving McDyse to many easy looks.  On the offensive end Allen is soft to hole and can't post Hamilton and when he does the turn the corner he doesn't finish.  What happened to his game?

[Slugger]

Ease up on Ray.  Sure, his offensive game has been tough to watch, but are you really watching what he is doing on the defensive end on Rip Hamilton??

He has played great D throughout the series on Rip, and at times on Billups.  He is one of the reasons (positive reasons) we are tied at 2-2.

[Eeyore III]

No short-term change with Ray is going to accomplish anything this season, unfortunately.  But it's time to look for an eventual replacement.  He plays the easiest position to find a player at.

Slugger, Bibby and Lucky: separated at birth!

[Roy Hobbs]

His career is over.... he's a minimum salary guy after his contract is up in 2010 if he doesn't retire then....

Oh, come on.  He's coming off the fourth best shooting year of his career, and you're putting him out to pasture?

Something isn't right with his game right now, whether it be mental or physical.  However, to write him off at this stage is ridiculous.

[wiley]

He needs to keep heading to the basket and look to score.  They are playing him for the outside.  They are leaving his drive there. 



And no more getting to the rim and passing off. 

Right.  That's exactly what he should be doing.

Ray is not just in the worst slump of his career.  He's in one of the worst slumps of anyone's career.   If people don't want House to get some minutes at 2 guard, then give Tony Allen about 7 minutes in the first half in Boston (unless Ray starts off hot), and a few more in the second half if he does well in the first half.  By doing this, Tony will be a bit more ready to give us some minutes in the next game in Detroit, where he may be especially needed.  If Ray is going to shoot like this, Tony can play 14 minutes and have 3 turnovers and we still might gain something....

Ray is playing big minutes.  He's talked about needing his legs for his jumper.  Might a few minutes of rest not help his jumper?  Oh yeah I forgot...Forget about the jumper Ray and go the basket!

As for his career being over.  That's ridiculous.  Soon enough he'll be someone's (ours?) excellent 6th man.....

Nobody is suggesting burying Ray on the bench.  He might hit the shot(s) that save our butts in game sevens to come.  What some of us  are suggesting is that you've gotta take some action when a guy is struggling to this extent!!

[Frontierboy]

He career is definately done..... I mean com'on, he's been struggling for over a month now.... how many slumps last this long?  And there doesn't seem to be an end in sight......

[EJPLAYA]

Bad idea. We CAN NOT win a championship without Ray Allen. Putting him on the bench is exactly opposite of what he needs. Doc has had a tighter leash with him than before, but he does so many other things out there that he needs to be on the floor even when he isn't hitting as well as we would like!