Walker and Giddens, Again.

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't expect Giddens or Walker to be able to help much in the playoffs.  However, they could allow Pierce and Ray rest -- something Danny, Doc, and Pierce himself have all said is necessary -- down the stretch.

In the playoffs, the lack of a backup 3 (assuming that Scal and Tony are both injured) can be mitigated by playing the starters extended minutes.  However, that shouldn't be happening in the regular season.

[wdleehi]

I don't expect Giddens or Walker to be able to help much in the playoffs.  However, they could allow Pierce and Ray rest -- something Danny, Doc, and Pierce himself have all said is necessary -- down the stretch.

In the playoffs, the lack of a backup 3 (assuming that Scal and Tony are both injured) can be mitigated by playing the starters extended minutes.  However, that shouldn't be happening in the regular season.

One more reason to give Walker some minutes now.  If they do not return, what do the Celtics do when Pierce and or Ray get into early foul trouble in the playoffs guarding Kobe or Lebron?  Go Small in the backcourt? 


While I wouldn't want to see this happen, Walker with a little experience before the playoffs could be a big bonus.

[winsomme]

How is Bill Walker going to play defense on the leagues best player for ten minutes a game? He's smaller, slower, and a rookie. Not to mention that he hasn't played in any meaningful minutes all season. Bill Walker does one Tomahawk Dunk and now posters are calling for him to guard Lebron. Give me a break. We should have traded for Gerald so we could have had a Kobe stopper too.

No one in the league can stop Lebron James defensively. Even if they do stop him, the referees will give him the ticky tack fouls because he is a star, but thats a different subject. I just suggested Bill Walker could harass him, much like Brian Scalabrine and Tony Allen will be asked to do if they are healthy enough to play.

Do you think Ray Allen can stop him? How about Tony Allen? Even James Posey didnt really stop him last year, just harassed him. Lebron is going to hit a certain number of shots no matter who or what is covering him. Our best option is clearly Paul Pierce, but why wear out Paul for the 44 minutes Lebron is going to be in the game? That IMO hurts us more than playing Walker against him for 10 minutes because then if we happen to be in a close one in the 4th quarter, Paul is beaten up and cant score for us, let alone stop Lebron.

I just hate to see Pierce played so many minutes. Just my opinion.

I very much doubt Walker can do a job nearly as good as Tony Allen or even Scalabrine (who already doesn't have a chance to slow down LeBron...), assuming they're healthy. If they're not, I think that you just have to pray another player joins the team. I don't see Walker being able to do a much better job than Ray or Marbury, so I guess at least you'd take the mismatch on the other side.

Btw, the Rockets did an excellent job on LeBron the other night. Of course, having the 2 of the best (if not the 2 best) perimeter defenders of the league in the roster helps. This article on how the Rockets defend LeBron is interesting:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-247/The-Houston-Rockets-Beat-the-Odds.html

I find it curious that you site this article while at the same time  lamenting not having another 3 with length to help man-up on LeBron.

If anything, this article reiterates the point i've made about the importance of team defense and "steering" LeBron to the help - something that doesn't require length or great man-to-man skills.

We have enough defenders who can play minutes at the 3 and follow a game plan to take away LeBron's primary and force him baseline - that's about intelligence and discipline, not footspeed and length/size.

Boston has enough smart defenders in Pierce/Ray/Scal/TA to give LeBron different looks and steer him toward the help. I am uncocerned about him shooting over the top - we've seen this in two games this year - in the first game LeBron didn't hit jumpers and we won, the 2nd he was uncharacteristically hot from outside, hitting 4 3's and multiple jumpers off the dribble.

In Both instances Boston was able to force LeBron to take a higher percentage of jump shots than he is accustom to - if they can do that in a 7 game series, I like our chances at limiting his efficiency...  

okay, but are TA and Scals really going to be available for the playoffs?

[billysan]

I find it curious that you site this article while at the same time  lamenting not having another 3 with length to help man-up on LeBron.

If anything, this article reiterates the point i've made about the importance of team defense and "steering" LeBron to the help - something that doesn't require length or great man-to-man skills.

We have enough defenders who can play minutes at the 3 and follow a game plan to take away LeBron's primary and force him baseline - that's about intelligence and discipline, not footspeed and length/size.

Boston has enough smart defenders in Pierce/Ray/Scal/TA to give LeBron different looks and steer him toward the help. I am uncocerned about him shooting over the top - we've seen this in two games this year - in the first game LeBron didn't hit jumpers and we won, the 2nd he was uncharacteristically hot from outside, hitting 4 3's and multiple jumpers off the dribble.
In Both instances Boston was able to force LeBron to take a higher percentage of jump shots than he is accustom to - if they can do that in a 7 game series, I like our chances at limiting his efficiency...  

If all 4 of these guys are healthy, this is a possibility. The fact is, they are not and that leaves the entire load on Ray and Paul if we continue the same rotations with the same players. The whole point here was making sure our guys were not as beat up and tired as the opposition come 4th quarter in the close game. If this means playing a rookie for a few minutes in the first half or even the third quarter then thats what we should do IMO. That is not to say that we should allow the game to get out of hand during this few minutes either.

There are plenty of games left with plenty of opportunity for Doc to play these guys earlier in the count for few minutes so they gain some more experience and understanding before the playoffs start.

[cordobes]

How is Bill Walker going to play defense on the leagues best player for ten minutes a game? He's smaller, slower, and a rookie. Not to mention that he hasn't played in any meaningful minutes all season. Bill Walker does one Tomahawk Dunk and now posters are calling for him to guard Lebron. Give me a break. We should have traded for Gerald so we could have had a Kobe stopper too.

No one in the league can stop Lebron James defensively. Even if they do stop him, the referees will give him the ticky tack fouls because he is a star, but thats a different subject. I just suggested Bill Walker could harass him, much like Brian Scalabrine and Tony Allen will be asked to do if they are healthy enough to play.

Do you think Ray Allen can stop him? How about Tony Allen? Even James Posey didnt really stop him last year, just harassed him. Lebron is going to hit a certain number of shots no matter who or what is covering him. Our best option is clearly Paul Pierce, but why wear out Paul for the 44 minutes Lebron is going to be in the game? That IMO hurts us more than playing Walker against him for 10 minutes because then if we happen to be in a close one in the 4th quarter, Paul is beaten up and cant score for us, let alone stop Lebron.

I just hate to see Pierce played so many minutes. Just my opinion.

I very much doubt Walker can do a job nearly as good as Tony Allen or even Scalabrine (who already doesn't have a chance to slow down LeBron...), assuming they're healthy. If they're not, I think that you just have to pray another player joins the team. I don't see Walker being able to do a much better job than Ray or Marbury, so I guess at least you'd take the mismatch on the other side.

Btw, the Rockets did an excellent job on LeBron the other night. Of course, having the 2 of the best (if not the 2 best) perimeter defenders of the league in the roster helps. This article on how the Rockets defend LeBron is interesting:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-247/The-Houston-Rockets-Beat-the-Odds.html

I find it curious that you site this article while at the same time  lamenting not having another 3 with length to help man-up on LeBron.

If anything, this article reiterates the point i've made about the importance of team defense and "steering" LeBron to the help - something that doesn't require length or great man-to-man skills.

We have enough defenders who can play minutes at the 3 and follow a game plan to take away LeBron's primary and force him baseline - that's about intelligence and discipline, not footspeed and length/size.

Boston has enough smart defenders in Pierce/Ray/Scal/TA to give LeBron different looks and steer him toward the help. I am uncocerned about him shooting over the top - we've seen this in two games this year - in the first game LeBron didn't hit jumpers and we won, the 2nd he was uncharacteristically hot from outside, hitting 4 3's and multiple jumpers off the dribble.

In Both instances Boston was able to force LeBron to take a higher percentage of jump shots than he is accustom to - if they can do that in a 7 game series, I like our chances at limiting his efficiency...  

Since when forcing the driver to where the help is doesn't require skills? Do you really think there's no correlation between having Battier/Artest and the kind of defence Houston played?

As I've said before, team defence is sometimes a very overrated concept. It doesn't work without good individual defenders, period. And our defensive system is based on our perimeter defenders not being beaten off the dribble.

Finnaly, you're clearly answering the wrong person: I've said multiple times I'd be much more worried if Allen isn't ready and by this I don't mean healthy (the problem is that I don't know if he will be ready, it's a crapshot) and that I don't think that a 3 like Walker would do a much better job than a 1 like Marbury on Lebron.

[Toine43]

I find it curious that you site this article while at the same time  lamenting not having another 3 with length to help man-up on LeBron.

If anything, this article reiterates the point i've made about the importance of team defense and "steering" LeBron to the help - something that doesn't require length or great man-to-man skills.

We have enough defenders who can play minutes at the 3 and follow a game plan to take away LeBron's primary and force him baseline - that's about intelligence and discipline, not footspeed and length/size.

Boston has enough smart defenders in Pierce/Ray/Scal/TA to give LeBron different looks and steer him toward the help. I am uncocerned about him shooting over the top - we've seen this in two games this year - in the first game LeBron didn't hit jumpers and we won, the 2nd he was uncharacteristically hot from outside, hitting 4 3's and multiple jumpers off the dribble.
In Both instances Boston was able to force LeBron to take a higher percentage of jump shots than he is accustom to - if they can do that in a 7 game series, I like our chances at limiting his efficiency...  

If all 4 of these guys are healthy, this is a possibility. The fact is, they are not and that leaves the entire load on Ray and Paul if we continue the same rotations with the same players. The whole point here was making sure our guys were not as beat up and tired as the opposition come 4th quarter in the close game. If this means playing a rookie for a few minutes in the first half or even the third quarter then thats what we should do IMO. That is not to say that we should allow the game to get out of hand during this few minutes either.

There are plenty of games left with plenty of opportunity for Doc to play these guys earlier in the count for few minutes so they gain some more experience and understanding before the playoffs start.

Tony isn't healthy now but there's no way he won't be back by the Eastern Conference Finals. And Scal, well, let's not kid ourselves, he isn't guarding LeBron unless TA, Paul, and Ray are all hurt or fouled out. There is definitely a shortage of true wings on the roster. We can't afford much foul trouble, or many injuries. That is just the way it is. We couldn't afford to have Pierce or Ray getting hurt in the playoffs anyway, for many other reasons than their ability to guard LeBron. And they're just going to have to stay out of foul trouble, which 99% of the time isn't a problem for either of them.

[twinbree]

Tony looks to be getting back in early April so he should be ready to go by the start of the playoffs.

[xmuscularghandix]

I don't expect Giddens or Walker to be able to help much in the playoffs.  However, they could allow Pierce and Ray rest -- something Danny, Doc, and Pierce himself have all said is necessary -- down the stretch.

In the playoffs, the lack of a backup 3 (assuming that Scal and Tony are both injured) can be mitigated by playing the starters extended minutes.  However, that shouldn't be happening in the regular season.

i actually like the lineup of

1 Marbury
2 House
3 R. Allen

it seems very small but against teams second units it stretches the floor and allows Pierce to rest, also you can just switch Ray with Paul if either gets tired. BUT once Marbury gets into the groove of the offense i'd like to see either Walker or Giddens get some minutes at the 3 so that mom and dad can get some rest.

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't expect Giddens or Walker to be able to help much in the playoffs.  However, they could allow Pierce and Ray rest -- something Danny, Doc, and Pierce himself have all said is necessary -- down the stretch.

In the playoffs, the lack of a backup 3 (assuming that Scal and Tony are both injured) can be mitigated by playing the starters extended minutes.  However, that shouldn't be happening in the regular season.

i actually like the lineup of

1 Marbury
2 House
3 R. Allen

it seems very small but against teams second units it stretches the floor and allows Pierce to rest, also you can just switch Ray with Paul if either gets tired. BUT once Marbury gets into the groove of the offense i'd like to see either Walker or Giddens get some minutes at the 3 so that mom and dad can get some rest.

Yeah, but if Paul's only backup is Ray, *and* you're trying to limit both Ray and Paul's minutes, that means Ray and Paul can't play a lot of time together on the court.  That's the problem with having one starter as the primary (only) backup for another starter.

[Change]

First & foremost, I tip my hat for D-troit basketball for teaching a lesson not to coast. On & Off switch is becoming a bad habit for this team.

Lets discuss this games strategy. Such a good game plan play pp 48mins, give the new guys a lot of minutes not knowing the system yet, and keep Bill & JR as bench warmers.

The reason we lost this game was the hustle & the energy of pistons 2nd team "scrubs". So why not see what our "scrubs" can do & relieve our starters some. That way Marbury & Moore will have time to learn the system. 

[Change]

First & foremost, I tip my hat for D-troit basketball for teaching us a lesson not to coast. On & Off switch is becoming a bad habit for this team.

Lets discuss this games strategy. Such a good game plan play pp 48mins, give the new guys a lot of minutes not knowing the system yet, and keep Bill & JR as bench warmers.

The reason we lost this game was the hustle & the energy of pistons 2nd team "scrubs". So why not see what our "scrubs" can do & relieve our starters some. That way Marbury & Moore will have time to learn the system. 

[Bankshot]

First & foremost, I tip my hat for D-troit basketball for teaching a lesson not to coast. On & Off switch is becoming a bad habit for this team.

Lets discuss this games strategy. Such a good game plan play pp 48mins, give the new guys a lot of minutes not knowing the system yet, and keep Bill & JR as bench warmers.

The reason we lost this game was the hustle & the energy of pistons 2nd team "scrubs". So why not see what our "scrubs" can do & relieve our starters some. That way Marbury & Moore will have time to learn the system. 

The Celtics lost because Ray and Rondo couldn't knock down shots.  If they have their regular offensive games, the Celtics win.

[celticinorlando]

and they let some end of the bench scrub get 11 points on them

[gar]

Herrmann is no scrub, but unfortunately we are going to need a healthy TA and Scal. Playing Marbury and House is not working, especially if Doc does not even let him bring the ball up and create off the dribble. If you play TA and Marbury they will force them to shot and Eddie will loose minutes. I don't see how this works against the bigger SG's. We are already looking at being undersized at the 3 and 4 off the bench against most teams.

[illantari]

I realize we're doing our best with a short roster and fighting for home court but....
PP's last three games: 39min, 39min, 47min
RA's last three games: 42min, 43min, 36min

We already ARE losing games we should be winning.  Shouldn't we at least make sure PP and RA aren't burn out by the playoffs?  Didn't we say we'd rather have KG at 100% than HCA?  Why isn't that true for Captain and RayRay?  Can't we throw Walker at least out there for a few minutes?  Rookies generally can bring some energy anyway, might make the team less lifeless.