Give Doc A lot of credit

[Rida]

Ok I admit it. I was among the biggest Doc haters until the finals last year.

However this season I honestly cannot fault him for one decision. (Even starting Scal when KP was out)

The play call yesterday for Ray was sublime. He even later revealed that he called another play after Philly called Timeout and Rondo talked him into running the orignial play.

For me that is the sign of great leadership. Listening to those you lead is one of the hallmarks of a great leader.

Superb play and superb execution. He could have just caved in and let Pierce go one on one and we have seen that, that particular play has little success.

Way to go Doc. You are really coming into your own as an elite coach.

[wdleehi]

It was a good play and dumb defense on the part of the 76ers.


No good defense is going to allow Ray to get that open with 6 seconds left in the game.  (lucky for the Celtics and us, Ray can still hit that shot with the slight crack in defense that play would of created against a better defense)

[Rida]

Thad young turned his back on Ray for what must have been a split second.

Then again if he hadn't done that Pierce may have been able to go to the hole.

You have to pick your poison with Pierce and Ray on the floor.

I love the fact that Eddie was in too just to space the floor a little bit more

[Chris]

It was a good play and dumb defense on the part of the 76ers.


No good defense is going to allow Ray to get that open with 6 seconds left in the game.  (lucky for the Celtics and us, Ray can still hit that shot with the slight crack in defense that play would of created against a better defense)

But the beauty of the play was that if they stuck on Ray, Pierce would then either be one on one to be able to try to get his shot off, or if Baby's man helped, then Baby would be wide open with a lane to the basket.

I think Doc has been doing a lot to dispell any notion that he is a bad X's and O's guy. 

[Rida]

It was a good play and dumb defense on the part of the 76ers.


No good defense is going to allow Ray to get that open with 6 seconds left in the game.  (lucky for the Celtics and us, Ray can still hit that shot with the slight crack in defense that play would of created against a better defense)

But the beauty of the play was that if they stuck on Ray, Pierce would then either be one on one to be able to try to get his shot off, or if Baby's man helped, then Baby would be wide open with a lane to the basket.

I think Doc has been doing a lot to dispell any notion that he is a bad X's and O's guy. 

Couldn't have said it any better

[Redz]

It was a good play and dumb defense on the part of the 76ers.


No good defense is going to allow Ray to get that open with 6 seconds left in the game.  (lucky for the Celtics and us, Ray can still hit that shot with the slight crack in defense that play would of created against a better defense)

But the beauty of the play was that if they stuck on Ray, Pierce would then either be one on one to be able to try to get his shot off, or if Baby's man helped, then Baby would be wide open with a lane to the basket.

I think Doc has been doing a lot to dispell any notion that he is a bad X's and O's guy. 

Couldn't have said it any better

Doc has always been given a decent amount of credit for is his ability to call a play out of a timeout.

[moiso]

Yeah, for years we have heard that he is one of the best at calling plays in a timeout.

[Jaycelt]

Superb play and superb execution. He could have just caved in and let Pierce go one on one and we have seen that, that particular play has little success.

That implies that Pierce was asking to go one on one.
He clearly wasn't.  He set up Ray beautifully earlier down the stretch and has been the de facto point guard down the stretch in all the C's close games the last two years, which has turned out pretty well despite what your quote implies.

[nickagneta]

As others have pointed out I think it was a well drawn up play. It gave his team lots of options depending on what the defense did and left the decision as to what to be done with probably his smartest player on the court at the time.

Nice execution on Baby's part to set the screen when Ray didn't cut it close enough to Baby to make it work as effectively. I think the guys who set screens on this team take a lot of grief but that play is a perfect example of why these guys get caught moving on the screen so much. Either the man with the ball using the pick moves before the pick is set or the man for whom the screen is set doesn't properly utilize it and doesn't cut close enough to make the screen effective.

As for Doc I also want to give him credit for keeping his cool. I think 75% of NBA coaches my have picked up a late technical after Pierce was pulled to the ground by a rookie with 4 minutes left and no call was made. It resulted in a layup the other way and a 7 point edge for Philly. Given that Doc had been livid with the play calling and that the team was looking listless he could have gone nuts and maybe cost his team a point or two because of technicals. Instead he remained calm, gathered the troops, called a good play with Pierce going to the basket again giving the ref a chance at a make up call and got his team back in the game. I think this moment was better coaching than drawing up that last play.

[BballTim]

Superb play and superb execution. He could have just caved in and let Pierce go one on one and we have seen that, that particular play has little success.

That implies that Pierce was asking to go one on one.
He clearly wasn't.  He set up Ray beautifully earlier down the stretch and has been the de facto point guard down the stretch in all the C's close games the last two years, which has turned out pretty well despite what your quote implies.

  I think it implies that Paul had multiple options. If Young had stayed with Ray then Paul could have just taken it to the hoop.

[housecall]

 I give Ray and Rondo credit for talkng Doc into running the first play he drew up.Doc wanted them to run another play but Ray and Rondo spoke up in the time out,said the first one would work easier.I give Doc credit as you stated for listening to his players.