Doc loses cool to deflect attention from his coaching error?

[Bossco]

With 50 seconds left in the Chicago game, and the Celtics down by 3 and desperately needing a stop (trying to hold them to one shot), doc takes out Perk and has PP covering 7' tall Brad Miller. Chicago gets a mismatch with Rondo trying to cover Miller, Rose misses the shot but Miller EASILY gets the rebound, drives and passes for the easy basket. doc has words for the ref, gets 2 techs and gets tossed. A 5 point game with 29 seconds left becomes a 6 point game.

I am not a coach, but it was easy for me to see that the Perk-less lineup that Doc had out there in the final 50 ticks was not condusive to winning the game because Brad Miller is 7' and already had 4 orebs in the game. It seemed to me that it was obviously destined to fail. What happened was VERY PREDICTIBLE! We just made it too easy for them to score. If Rose hadn't shot the ball and had simply passed it to Miller when Rondo was trying to guard him - that would have been an even easier basket. Who was supposed to rebound the ball for the Celtics?

I think that doc made a terrible substitution decision and it predictibly blew up in his face. If there had been no technicals or tossing of doc I think that it would be reasonable to question doc's decision to take Perk out at the end especially based on the outcome.

doc made sure that didn't happen. Instead of admitting that his decisions may have been partly to blame for the way we lost (a very unlikely event) - doc made it all about the ref.

For me - it was all about doc. It was a mistake that cost us a chance at winning the game. We play hard under doc but sometimes, I think that he needs to coach a little smarter. Don't forget he is getting the big bucks too. These are the types of games where he needs to really earn his paycheck. Danny has made it easy for him getting the big 3, but when the chips are down, he has to come through at the end of games also.

[D Dub]

yeah, he kind of blew that one.



not as bad a gaff as Phil Jax not using the foul to give up 3 with a few ticks left.

[wdleehi]

That is a bit of a reach.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think the ref goaded him into that tech.  It didn't look like Doc did anything to intentionally get thrown out.  Tommy was as upset about it as Doc was.

It was a poor coaching decision putting Starbury in there, though.

[CoachBo]

Which Doc confirmed last night when he used Walker in a similar situation.

I agree with Roy - the official goaded Doc into the T.

[jdpapa3]

Well, Chicago was spreading the floor and running a ton of pick and rolls and Doc didn't want to see a situation where Perk was guarding Hinrich, Gordon, or Rose 20 feet from the basket with no one to protect the rim behind him.

In Doc's defense, it was a good defensive play and a long rebound came off of Rose's miss and went to Miller about 15 feet from the rim. It wasn't like Miller easily grabbed a rebound over a helpless Rondo. It was just an unfortunate bounce off of the rim.

This team's defense is becoming obvious at this point. It is 100% reliable on two capable defensive bigs that can protect the rim from either side. Perk and KG are two of the best in the league at doing this. The team is lost without any bigs because they are essential to the team defense. No way does Salmons get to the rim at will against the Celtics D of a full strength squad. Not even Lebron can.

[nickagneta]

I'm not going to defend the move as it was obviously the wrong one, though I will say I don't think it really determined the final outcome. But I will defend the notion that Doc was somehow.....embarassed.....by the move and then in frustration got himself tossed, possibly on purpose. I think that is just wrong as I think the set of referees on the floor had some very quickly called technicals and seemed to have a very large "I'm-not-taking-crap-from -anybody" chip on their shoulders all night.

The Walker technical for looking at the officials earlier and Brad Miller's technical for a bit of a whine were two of the more ridiculous T's I've seen in a while. Then, the Doc one where he got toosed was just irresponsible officiating. The Celtics still technically had a chance and the ref(Kennedy) clearly had a problem with the Celtics complaining about the large foul and FT discrepancy. When Doc sais something he followed Doc, stared at him, over and over again until Doc turned and said "What?" and so he tossed him.

That was unprofessional and irresponsible. But Doc will eventually get fined for his comments and Kennedy will be rewarded with extra playoff games to muck up. Go figure!

[CoachBo]

Well, Kennedy will have lots of company in Incompetence Row: Bennett Salvatore, Kenny Mauer, Dick "CryptKeeper" Bavetta ...

[KungPoweChicken]

I think that doc made a terrible substitution decision and it predictibly blew up in his face. If there had been no technicals or tossing of doc I think that it would be reasonable to question doc's decision to take Perk out at the end especially based on the outcome.

doc made sure that didn't happen. Instead of admitting that his decisions may have been partly to blame for the way we lost (a very unlikely event) - doc made it all about the ref.









The above is basically my thoughts on the issue. If you noticed in the post game interview, Doc emphasizes how big of a deal the technical was to completing the loss. In actuality, Doc's poor substitution was what finished the Celtics off.

[moiso]

Kennedy looked he was going to do some body building poses when he was looking at Doc.

[kozlodoev]

The above is basically my thoughts on the issue. If you noticed in the post game interview, Doc emphasizes how big of a deal the technical was to completing the loss. In actuality, Doc's poor substitution was what finished the Celtics off.

Doc clearly said in the postgame interview that he had to pull Perkins because he was exhausted (checking the Popcorn Machine, Perk played the entire third quarter and most of the fourth). Now we either have to claim that he is lying, or stop this "coaching decision" nonsense.

Truth be told, there aren't too many coaching decisions to be made these days: you play whoever is healthy and not in foul trouble, and stay away from Pruitt and Giddens unless you absolutely have to use them. That's all.

[guava_wrench]

The above is basically my thoughts on the issue. If you noticed in the post game interview, Doc emphasizes how big of a deal the technical was to completing the loss. In actuality, Doc's poor substitution was what finished the Celtics off.

Doc clearly said in the postgame interview that he had to pull Perkins because he was exhausted (checking the Popcorn Machine, Perk played the entire third quarter and most of the fourth). Now we either have to claim that he is lying, or stop this "coaching decision" nonsense.

Truth be told, there aren't too many coaching decisions to be made these days: you play whoever is healthy and not in foul trouble, and stay away from Pruitt and Giddens unless you absolutely have to use them. That's all.

This seemed the obvious reason to me and I mentioned it last night in the chat. When Moore fouled out, Perk was brought back into the game immediately. Perk never plays that much in one half. Perk is a big guy.

If you look at how the play developed, Pierce was on Miller. Miller set a screen to force Pierce and Rondo to switch. We may have ended up with Rondo on Miller anyway. I still would have liked to have had Perk in the game, but if he can't rotate due to exhaustion, what is the point.

[Tai]

Should Doc have kept Perkins in? Maybe Perkins was just exhausted, and if he was, he may be ran around by Miller or something. Personally, I think Perkins should've been in there, but I'm not gonna sit here and say it was the worst mistake he's ever made.

Either way, if Tommy's blasting the refs in front of local TV, it's not fair to say Doc himself just talked about the refs so no one would ask about his questionable substitution. We all saw it, we all were p---ed. Not just Tommy, and not just Doc.

[xmuscularghandix]

I am not a coach

[winsomme]

I think the reason that Doc subbed for Perk was that he didn't want to call a timeout after a hopeful miss and wanted the shooting lineup in the game for the next possession.

a bit of a gamble, but not totally without logic....