Interesting Simmons' article about the Celtics-Bulls series

[Drucci]

Here is the link : http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090423&sportCat=nba

And here are some interesting quotes about Simmons' predictions for the series :

And, yeah, I feel that way about the Bulls. They are slightly more talented than a depleted Boston team. They can control the boards without Kevin Garnett around. They have just as many options at the end of games. They will be positively frightening at home with their crowd behind them. (I see them winning Game 3 by 20-plus on Thursday night.) And yet, I still think they will lose the series. The playoffs come down to experience and savvy and trust and teamwork and little things like "we ran out of timeouts two games in a row" and "in Game 2, we had the ball up five with 2:30 left and a chance to put Boston away and somehow didn't feed Ben Gordon even though he had an actual fireball shooting out of his butt." These Bulls (not just the players, but the coach as well) haven't had enough playoff reps.

The dirty little secret of this series: Paul Pierce is wiped out. The dude played 108 games last season, then another 82 this season -- all while waving a "come and get us, we're the champs" bull's-eye for every comer -- and spent the past two months carrying a KG-less team on both ends. Now he's wiped out and there is no real way for him to rest: This series is going seven, so is the next one and, if they make it that far, Cleveland will be waiting ... and Pierce is the only guy on the Celtics who can remotely consider handling LeBron. By that point, after playing 200-plus games in 20 months, he will potentially have to slow down the Bo Jackson of basketball seven times over 14 days. And that's if Pierce doesn't break down before then. There was an uh-oh play in the fourth quarter of Game 2 when he tried his hesitation step-back jumper on Rose, couldn't get any lift and got the shot swatted in his face. In 10 years of following him, I can't remember that happening once.

The situation is what it is. Just know that Boston's future in Round 1 rests in Ray Allen's hands. Chicago doesn't have anyone to defend him. The Celtics lost Game 1 because he stunk. They won Game 2 because he went bonkers in the second half. He has become the litmus test of this series -- as Allen goes, so will the close games.

And now, Allen holds a wonderful Bulls-Celtics series in his hands. The champs will fall in Round 1 unless Ray Allen comes through. It's as simple as that. As a Celtics fan, I can only tell you this: When one of the great clutch shooters in recent NBA history holds your immediate playoff destiny in his hands, it's a good place to be.

I agree mostly with him, Ray is the key man of the series (with Rondo) except for the Pierce's part, I think he is counting him out while he shouldn't because there's no way Paul doesn't become a factor in this series.

And just for fun I really loved this part about Vinny Del Negro :

I don't want to jinx it, but Vinny Del Negro is putting on an anti-coaching clinic for the ages. He ran out of timeouts in both games, never double-teamed Pierce when he was heating up in Game 1, didn't attack a one-legged Rondo in Game 2, put Kirk Hinrich on Allen for the biggest play of Game 2, played Brad Miller too much when the JoakimNoah-Ty Thomas combo was destroying the Celtics, and called two timeouts in the final three minutes of Game 2 to design plays for Ben Gordon, who, again, had an actual fireball shooting out of his butt. You can't just scream "go to Gordon again" from the sidelines, Vinny? Actually, why am I complaining about this? Forget I mentioned it.

[cordobes]

The VDN criticism is becoming silly.

[LarBrd33]

I agree with pretty much everything he says... except I'm not as confident we'll win this series.

[Chris]

The VDN criticism is becoming silly.

I agree.  While he has made some questionable decisions within games, he has also (or his staff, who he is responsible for) done a tremendous job of preparing his team and formulating a gameplan that has gone a long way to stop what the C's want to do.

[jdpapa3]

The VDN criticism is becoming silly.

Don't agree. We'd be ripping Doc to shreds if he did this, and rightfully so.

Love this Simmons article except for the prediction for tonight's game. I hope Rondo doesn't lay an egg on the road with all of this media attention he has been getting. This has been his problem though. Consistency.

Simmons has been good lately. He has given props to Doc and been funnier, IMHO.

[Chris]

The VDN criticism is becoming silly.

Don't agree. We'd be ripping Doc to shreds if he did this, and rightfully so.

I agree that he would be ripped apart, but I don't think it would be right. 

Too often people concentrate on the few bad decisions a coach makes, and completely ignore the excellent job they did putting them in a position they should never have even been in, just to  be able to make that decision.

[Timdawgg]

The Joakim Noah piece was priceless. I was dying laughing....

[cordobes]

The VDN criticism is becoming silly.

Don't agree. We'd be ripping Doc to shreds if he did this, and rightfully so.

Love this Simmons article except for the prediction for tonight's game. I hope Rondo doesn't lay an egg on the road with all of this media attention he has been getting. This has been his problem though. Consistency.

Simmons has been good lately. He has given props to Doc and been funnier, IMHO.

Oh, I knew you (and Simmons) would. I just think you are silly. People read too much on a few episodes. And besides the clock management issues, the other critics don't have much substance and are made with the benefit of hindsight.

For example, can you explain to me what's exactly wrong with putting Hinrinch on Allen in the last play?

[Chris]

For example, can you explain to me what's exactly wrong with putting Hinrinch on Allen in the last play?

For the Celtics or Bulls?  Because Hinrich is arguably their best (healthy) perimeter defender. 

[cordobes]

For example, can you explain to me what's exactly wrong with putting Hinrinch on Allen in the last play?

For the Celtics or Bulls?  Because Hinrich is arguably their best (healthy) perimeter defender. 

Exactly. Simmons doesn't seem aware of that though.

[Hoops]

For example, can you explain to me what's exactly wrong with putting Hinrinch on Allen in the last play?

For the Celtics or Bulls?  Because Hinrich is arguably their best (healthy) perimeter defender. 

Exactly. Simmons doesn't seem aware of that though.

Just because Hinrich is the best perimeter defender they have doesn't make him the ideal defender to guard Allen on the last play. Allen's got like 3-4 inches on Hinrich. And with his high release, Allen can get his shot off on Hinrich all day.

[fairweatherfan]

The VDN criticism is becoming silly.

I'm with you - clock management and situational in-game coaching tends to be the last thing young coaches pick up on, and VDN is no exception.  Those type of mistakes are the most obvious to observers, though.  Doc had the same problem - everyone kept saying he was a good coach, but he kept making questionable decisions within the game.  Turns out he is a pretty good coach but took awhile to learn how to deal with those kinds of situations.  In-game coaching is just one component of the job, and VDN has devised some very good general strategies for dealing with us.  Doesn't hurt that his guys are on fire, though.

[GroverTheClover]

For example, can you explain to me what's exactly wrong with putting Hinrinch on Allen in the last play?

For the Celtics or Bulls?  Because Hinrich is arguably their best (healthy) perimeter defender. 

Exactly. Simmons doesn't seem aware of that though.

Just because Hinrich is the best perimeter defender they have doesn't make him the ideal defender to guard Allen on the last play. Allen's got like 3-4 inches on Hinrich. And with his high release, Allen can get his shot off on Hinrich all day.

Hinrich is 6-3, while Ray is 6-5, there's not a huge height discrepancy there. Hinrich is the Bulls' perimeter stopper. He checks Kobe, why wouldn't he check Ray? IMHO, Hinrich is a very good defender.

I agree with cordobes and Chris about Del Negro's unwarranted criticism. He's definitely surpassed all expectations this year with a young team. 

[Chris]

For example, can you explain to me what's exactly wrong with putting Hinrinch on Allen in the last play?

For the Celtics or Bulls?  Because Hinrich is arguably their best (healthy) perimeter defender. 

Exactly. Simmons doesn't seem aware of that though.

Just because Hinrich is the best perimeter defender they have doesn't make him the ideal defender to guard Allen on the last play. Allen's got like 3-4 inches on Hinrich. And with his high release, Allen can get his shot off on Hinrich all day.

Who would you have put on him then?  Hinrich is a superior defender than Gordon and Salmons.  He is also taller than Gordon (although they have just about the same standing reach). 

[Casperian]

Well, VDN aside, that was a great read.

I had goosebumps reading this...twice.

First the Rondo part, than the Ray part...exactly what my fan heart wants during the playoffs.