Incredibly frustrating to watch..

[ScoobyDoo]

As Jeff mentioned on the cover, this team is so incredibly inconsistent it's torture watching every game. You have no idea what you're going to get. They lose when you think they'll win and vice versa.

Even within the game, like last night. You think "oh, ten point lead" this game is done and then...

But what I find so incredibly frustrating is stuff like:

1. having that ten point lead and then not scoring a basket for what seems like 7-8 minutes! How is that even possible? After about 3 bad possessions of crap shots you tell everyone no shots unless you're taking it directly to the rim.

2. Ray and Rondo racing down on the break with a three point lead and odds against them...just PULL up and set the offense, get a good shot.

3. A hook shot from Perkins on the baseline or a three point shot from Rondo when we're down only 3 with 1:50 to go? Is that the best we can come up with? Whne you have Pierce, Baby and yes, even Ray on the floor? I know Ray's been shooting like crap but I'd rather see a Ray or baby jump shot than Perkins or Rondo taking shots outside of their normal offense( which for Perk and Rondo are is not 10 foot basline hook shots and three point shots...)

I just watch it and I'm baffled by it.

Incredibly frustrating to watch. Even after we blew the 10 point lead, we had multiple, multiple, multiple chances to pull out the game and time after time after time we just made boneheaded plays or took the worst possible shots on the offensive end.   

[LarBrd33]

We are missing our savior.  That's all.  I've gone over all of this before but It doesn't hurt to reiterate how underrated losing KG has been.

Team is built around defense.  Last year one of the best defenses of all time.  KG was easily the best defensively player in the league.  KG was the core of our defense.  Our defense is based on rotation and getting deflections.  You remove a 7-2 guy with crazy athleticism, quickness, savvy, intelligence and ridiculous wingspan/length and you replace him with some stubby fat kid... you're going to take a massive step backwards defensively.   We went from "world class" to "mediocre" at best on that end.

Offensively you take a feared player with ridiculous athleticism, quickness, solid interior game and ability to shoot over anyone from mid range (forcing constant attention) and replace him with some stubby fat 2nd year 2nd rounder who is obviously going to be left open...  that allows teams to give way more attention to Ray and Pierce (and right now Ray has been taken out of this series).  Offense takes a hit.  (Not to mention the fact that you really don't have to cover Rondo outside of the paint... )

And another big one I don't see a lot of people talking about.  Perk has been shutting down Dwight every single time Dwight tries to post up Perk.  I think Dwight's success rate last night was 0% when attempting to post up Perk.   However... Dwight gets a TON of offensive rebounds and still dominates by scoring.  He does this thanks to his offensive rebounds, breaks in our team defense and some transition points.  Basically any time he's under the basket with the ball he's going to dunk it.   Dwight had 10 offensive rebounds last night.   Why?   Well... because for whatever reason Rondo hasn't been able to stay in front of his man (ankles... or by design?) and whereas we normally would "funnel" those players into KG and Perk, we now are just "funneling" those players into Perk.  Perk is forced to react (he gets a lot of blocks this way), but it then forces him to leave Dwight.  Dwight is left under the basket go get an easy offensive rebound and dunk.  OR... they just penetrate, force Perk to react, and pass it to Dwight for an easy dunk.  This doesn't happen nearly as often if we also have KG out there.   Some short fat kid can't make the impact on the glass that KG does (which is why Obese is averaging a below average 5.8 rebounds in 36 minutes).  Obese can't even dunk the ball... how do you expect him or Scal to battle for rebounds down low against one of the most powerful and best rebounders in the league.  Not happening.  Either Perk sticks on dwight and they get a layup... or Perk moves away from Dwight and Dwight gets an offensive rebound. 

You remove the savior and you are going to struggle in a huge way.

[crownsy]

We are missing our savior.  That's all.  I've gone over all of this before but It doesn't hurt to reiterate how underrated losing KG has been.

Team is built around defense.  Last year one of the best defenses of all time.  KG was easily the best defensively player in the league.  KG was the core of our defense.  Our defense is based on rotation and getting deflections.  You remove a 7-2 guy with crazy athleticism, quickness, savvy, intelligence and ridiculous wingspan/length and you replace him with some stubby fat kid... you're going to take a massive step backwards defensively.   We went from "world class" to "mediocre" at best on that end.

Offensively you take a feared player with ridiculous athleticism, quickness, solid interior game and ability to shoot over anyone from mid range (forcing constant attention) and replace him with some stubby fat 2nd year 2nd rounder who is obviously going to be left open...  that allows teams to give way more attention to Ray and Pierce (and right now Ray has been taken out of this series).  Offense takes a hit.

And another big one I don't see a lot of people talking about.  Perk has been shutting down Dwight every single time Dwight tries to post up Perk.  I think Dwight's success rate last night was 0% when attempting to post up Perk.   However... Dwight gets a TON of offensive rebounds and still dominates by scoring.  He does this thanks to his offensive rebounds, breaks in our team defense and some transition points.  Basically any time he's under the basket with the ball he's going to dunk it.   Dwight had 10 offensive rebounds last night.   Why?   Well... because for whatever reason Rondo hasn't been able to stay in front of his man (ankles... or by design?) and whereas we normally would "funnel" those players into KG and Perk, we now are just "funneling" those players into Perk.  Perk is forced to react (he gets a lot of blocks this way), but it then forces him to leave Dwight.  Dwight is left under the basket go get an easy offensive rebound and dunk.  OR... they just penetrate, force Perk to react, and pass it to Dwight for an easy dunk.  This doesn't happen nearly as often if we also have KG out there.   Some short fat kid can't make the impact on the glass that KG does (which is why Obese is averaging a below average 5.8 rebounds in 36 minutes).  Obese can't even dunk the ball... how do you expect him or Scal to battle for rebounds down low against one of the most powerful and best rebounders in the league.  Not happening.  Either Perk sticks on dwight and they get a layup... or Perk moves away from Dwight and Dwight gets an offensive rebound. 

You remove the savior and you are going to struggle in a huge way.

agree 100%, and i'll add what i just posted in another thread, on offense, the lack of any front court player the other team has to double team has destroyed our main mode of offense, the pick and roll.

Baby and perk have been doing well, but neither demand's a double. this has led teams to (correctly) jam paul 25 feet away from the basket, since they don't have to worry about not being able to double near the basket. It also means w have zero pick and roll offense, which was our bread and butter last year in the playoffs.

[LarBrd33]

We are missing our savior.  That's all.  I've gone over all of this before but It doesn't hurt to reiterate how underrated losing KG has been.

Team is built around defense.  Last year one of the best defenses of all time.  KG was easily the best defensively player in the league.  KG was the core of our defense.  Our defense is based on rotation and getting deflections.  You remove a 7-2 guy with crazy athleticism, quickness, savvy, intelligence and ridiculous wingspan/length and you replace him with some stubby fat kid... you're going to take a massive step backwards defensively.   We went from "world class" to "mediocre" at best on that end.

Offensively you take a feared player with ridiculous athleticism, quickness, solid interior game and ability to shoot over anyone from mid range (forcing constant attention) and replace him with some stubby fat 2nd year 2nd rounder who is obviously going to be left open...  that allows teams to give way more attention to Ray and Pierce (and right now Ray has been taken out of this series).  Offense takes a hit.

And another big one I don't see a lot of people talking about.  Perk has been shutting down Dwight every single time Dwight tries to post up Perk.  I think Dwight's success rate last night was 0% when attempting to post up Perk.   However... Dwight gets a TON of offensive rebounds and still dominates by scoring.  He does this thanks to his offensive rebounds, breaks in our team defense and some transition points.  Basically any time he's under the basket with the ball he's going to dunk it.   Dwight had 10 offensive rebounds last night.   Why?   Well... because for whatever reason Rondo hasn't been able to stay in front of his man (ankles... or by design?) and whereas we normally would "funnel" those players into KG and Perk, we now are just "funneling" those players into Perk.  Perk is forced to react (he gets a lot of blocks this way), but it then forces him to leave Dwight.  Dwight is left under the basket go get an easy offensive rebound and dunk.  OR... they just penetrate, force Perk to react, and pass it to Dwight for an easy dunk.  This doesn't happen nearly as often if we also have KG out there.   Some short fat kid can't make the impact on the glass that KG does (which is why Obese is averaging a below average 5.8 rebounds in 36 minutes).  Obese can't even dunk the ball... how do you expect him or Scal to battle for rebounds down low against one of the most powerful and best rebounders in the league.  Not happening.  Either Perk sticks on dwight and they get a layup... or Perk moves away from Dwight and Dwight gets an offensive rebound. 

You remove the savior and you are going to struggle in a huge way.

agree 100%, and i'll add what i just posted in another thrad, on offense, the lack of any front court player the other team has to double team has destroyed our main mode of offense, the pick and roll.

Baby and perk have been doing well, but neither demand's a double. this has led teams to (correctly) jam paul 25 feet away from the basket, since they don't have to worry about not being able to double near the basket. It also means w have zero pick and roll offense, which was our bread and butter last year in the playoffs.

With Rondo (or Marbury) and Baby out there...  That's two players you really don't have to cover outside paint.  Actually... if you have Rondo, Baby and Perk out there... you can move away from any of those guys when they are standing outside of the paint, because none of them can hit shots consistently.   They can put a lot more pressure on Ray and Pierce.

[ScoobyDoo]

That's a great analysis LB33 and I agree 100%. I live out here in LA and I argue with my buddies who are Lakers fans that losing KG is like losing a Kobe or Lebron. KG doesn't put up the points either of those two do but as far as his overall impact on the team (both in production and emotional enrgy) he is neck and neck with those two. He's the alpha dog and he makes it all go.

Also a great point about Rondo and one I've harped on as well. Rondo "appears" to play "make the play defense" form behind instead of simply focusing on stying in front of his man. And it causes us all kinds of problems. What makes it all the more frustrating is that he has the tools to play outstanding fundamental D...but he doesn't alot of the time.  Which as you mention leaves Perk vulnerable and Howard free..

also true re the pressure on Ray and Paul...makes it painful to watch knwoing if we had KG we be toasting these guys this year. I really think this team learned it's lesson last year with the 7 game series and had they been healthy they would have rolled through these playoffs.

Also agree re KG vs Baby.

All this being said though and with all the challenges you inherit from losing KG I still think we had multiple multiple opps to close out both these series in 5 or 6 games and we didn't because of horrible shot selection or boneheaded plays which has less to do with losing KG. I know not having him makes our offense struggle a bit more but.

Rondo is better on the drive than chucking it form three, ESPECIALLY down the stretch

Perk better in the lane with his hook from about 5 feet than from 10 on the baseline.

I loved it when Pierce took it hard to the hole against Howard. He missed the foul shots but I just feel like when we had the 10 point lead had we played with that kind of aggression adn attack mentality, the game would've been over.

Instead we just seem to lose intensity and focus and intelligent decision making.

I guess I'm rounding back to KG again aren't I?     

 

[crownsy]

That's a great analysis LB33 and I agree 100%. I live out here in LA and I argue with my buddies who are Lakers fans that losing KG is like losing a Kobe or Lebron. KG doesn't put up the points either of those two do but as far as his overall impact on the team (both in production and emotional enrgy) he is neck and neck with those two. He's the alpha dog and he makes it all go.

Also a great point about Rondo and one I've harped on as well. Rondo "appears" to play "make the play defense" form behind instead of simply focusing on stying in front of his man. And it causes us all kinds of problems. What makes it all the more frustrating is that he has the tools to play outstanding fundamental D...but he doesn't alot of the time.  Which as you mention leaves Perk vulnerable and Howard free..

also true re the pressure on Ray and Paul...makes it painful to watch knwoing if we had KG we be toasting these guys this year. I really think this team learned it's lesson last year with the 7 game series and had they been healthy they would have rolled through these playoffs.

Also agree re KG vs Baby.

All this being said though and with all the challenges you inherit from losing KG I still think we had multiple multiple opps to close out both these series in 5 or 6 games and we didn't because of horrible shot selection or boneheaded plays which has less to do with losing KG. I know not having him makes our offense struggle a bit more but.

Rondo is better on the drive than chucking it form three, ESPECIALLY down the stretch

Perk better in the lane with his hook from about 5 feet than from 10 on the baseline.

I loved it when Pierce took it hard to the hole against Howard. He missed the foul shots but I just feel like when we had the 10 point lead had we played with that kind of aggression adn attack mentality, the game would've been over.

Instead we just seem to lose intensity and focus and intelligent decision making.

I guess I'm rounding back to KG again aren't I?     

 

pretty much, you can cover the hole a bit, and davis and scal have been doing a good job, but at some point the loss of the DPOY and the pick and roll game he's so good at along with rondo is going to catch us.

[TheReaLPuba]

What's frustrating is that we know Rondo, Ray, and Pierce are better than they've shown this series and they're letting the Magic get away with it.

Big Baby and Perk have stepped up but the other 3 have regressed.

Plus our turnovers are retarded again...can we fix this please?

[ScoobyDoo]

I tried to single handedly pick up my big screen TV and throw it off the deck a few times after some of the ridiculous turnovers.

I could only get one side lifted.

I think I need some of those moving straps they say you can lift a house with. 

[LarBrd33]

What's frustrating is that we know Rondo, Ray, and Pierce are better than they've shown this series and they're letting the Magic get away with it.

Big Baby and Perk have stepped up but the other 3 have regressed.

Plus our turnovers are retarded again...can we fix this please?

Ray isn't playing too well, but I don't think Rondo is capable of anything better than he's showing.  He's nearly averaging a triple double.  Way out of character for him.  He's already playing out of his mind.

[pengaloo]

What's frustrating is that we know Rondo, Ray, and Pierce are better than they've shown this series and they're letting the Magic get away with it.

Big Baby and Perk have stepped up but the other 3 have regressed.

Plus our turnovers are retarded again...can we fix this please?

Ray isn't playing too well, but I don't think Rondo is capable of anything better than he's showing.  He's nearly averaging a triple double.  Way out of character for him.  He's already playing out of his mind.

He's capable of playing better defense