An Interesting Statistic

[Atzar]

Of our five starters, Ray Allen would probably be pegged by most people as the weakest defender.  I was looking through 82Games.com earlier, though, and I found something that I thought was very interesting:

The Celtics' SG's combine to hold opposing 2's to a PER of 10.1.  This is the best mark in the NBA, and it's not really close. 

The next lowest mark of any team at any position is the Cav's 11.8 at SF. 

The next lowest SG mark is Atlanta's 12.5, followed closely by Cleveland's 12.6. 

Discuss.

[footey]

You get a tommy point for that, bro. nice stat. Who knew??

[Schupac]

In all fairness, I think if Ray was posting on this board he would be the first person to tell you that is a result of great Celtics TEAM defense and not his individual defense.

[Toine43]

I'm sure that stat has a lot to do with the team Ray plays on. That being said, I think Ray does a better job than people give him credit for. I can't speak to his defense before he got to Boston, but I heard it wasn't good. In Boston, I don't think there's much anyone can complain about. There's no doubt in my mind about his effort, and I'm not just saying that, if you watch him I think it's clear that he's busting his but out there. He doesn't have the physical tools to be a great defender, but we don't need him to be great with the other guys we have out there. The frontcourt will obviously hide tons mistakes for guys, so it's not always that important for Ray to even stay in front of his man. The the two things I believe he needs to do in order to be a positive defensive presence out there are contest as many shots as possible (which he does), and if he can't stay in front of his man, send him in the direction of help (which he also does).

[xmuscularghandix]

Ray wasn't expected to do much defending on the Sonics because he was expected to carry the entire scoring load. So its like while he was on the defensive end he was just rebuilding his stamina for when he got on the offensive side, plus when was the last time before the 07 celtics was there a team that preached defense so hard?

[Atzar]

I definitely think that the team defense plays a significant part in this stat, but I also think that Ray is personally responsible for it at least to a certain degree.  I'm not saying that he should be First Team All-Defense, but he also doesn't deserve the 'poor defense' label at all (except for Joe Johnson, who for whatever reason can light Ray up). 

This is just a theory, but I think it may be what Ray does on offense that helps this.  He's kind of like Rip Hamilton in that he spends very minute he's on the court running his man around the key and through screens trying to get open.  I think this just drains the other SG.  In the Finals last year, I remember that Kobe had a habit of getting off to a torrid start.  In the second half, though, his shot seemed to flatten out and he'd start to clank shots that it seems like he usually hits.  It may just be coincidence, but I think the effort of trying to contain Ray on defense just runs most SG's out of gas.

[kw10]

In all fairness, I think if Ray was posting on this board he would be the first person to tell you that is a result of great Celtics TEAM defense and not his individual defense.

Hey Schupac, you Ray Allen in disguise? 

[RockinRyA]

In all fairness, I think if Ray was posting on this board he would be the first person to tell you that is a result of great Celtics TEAM defense and not his individual defense.

Hey Schupac, you Ray Allen in disguise? 

 

very clever ray.. very clever 

[zerophase]

ray allen is actually a much better defender than people give him credit for. he has to play some great players every night and has been going at it with them his whole career.

[SShorefan 3.0]

Of our five starters, Ray Allen would probably be pegged by most people as the weakest defender.  I was looking through 82Games.com earlier, though, and I found something that I thought was very interesting:

The Celtics' SG's combine to hold opposing 2's to a PER of 10.1.  This is the best mark in the NBA, and it's not really close. 

The next lowest mark of any team at any position is the Cav's 11.8 at SF. 

The next lowest SG mark is Atlanta's 12.5, followed closely by Cleveland's 12.6. 

Discuss.

Attention Ray Allen Trade Posters (and you know who you are!!):

Put this in your pipe and smoke it!! 

Is there a way to fast track Atzar to the 100 TP club?  Let's fact it, this man is a genius!!