Is This Team Out Of Gas Already?!!?!??!

[star18]

"It's about the Celtics over time."
And guess what KG, Paul and Ray and Sheed didn't even want to play basketball tonight.    They had to because of their contracts and it is their job.   They don't want to play against street clothes teams.   They are fine, they are going for the title this year and they will be there no doubt, no reason to worry.

[Rondo_is_better]

How many times do you get married? Once, maybe up to 5 times for some people?
How many NBA finals do you play in? Once, 6 for Jordan, 6 for Kobe.
For many people those are important times in their life, which takes a lot of energy to put into. Once you put in that much energy you realize that it isn't something you are going to do every day, because it takes alot out of you.
If you want the Celtics to play NBA finals intensity for 82 games forget about its not going to happen.

I just want them to play with enough intensity to not be neck and neck with a winless team that has 7 guys in street clothes halfway through the 4th quarter. That's not that much to ask, is it?

I understand I wanted them to be up 30 at half too, but you just cannot simply do that all 82 games a year, every year you play.  

Thing is, I DIDN'T want that, and I don't expect that. There's a giant gap between being lifeless the way we were and going all out. I would have liked them to find a middle ground--that's all--and I feel like that's what should be expected out of these guys. They are SOOO much better than the Nets, we could've been up 20 at the half if we had just scored off of a few more of their 24 turnovers! It wouldn't have taken a big effort! When a team is too tired to even put out average effort, it worries me! Officially all I am saying!

[star18]

If they whoop NJ tonight by 40 points they probably lose to Orlando by 3, instead of beating them by 4.  That is how the game goes.
Put in a half-azz effort against NJ and go all out against Orlando, LA, & Spurs.  That's basketball.

[MattG12]

How many times do you get married? Once, maybe up to 5 times for some people?
How many NBA finals do you play in? Once, 6 for Jordan, 6 for Kobe.
For many people those are important times in their life, which takes a lot of energy to put into. Once you put in that much energy you realize that it isn't something you are going to do every day, because it takes alot out of you.
If you want the Celtics to play NBA finals intensity for 82 games forget about its not going to happen.

I just want them to play with enough intensity to not be neck and neck with a winless team that has 7 guys in street clothes halfway through the 4th quarter. That's not that much to ask, is it?

Well, lucky for us. That extremely tough team known as the Nets is not going to make the playoffs. So we don't have to worry about winless teams with seven guys in street clothes when it really matters.

That's not really relevant to the "these-poor-performances-have-me-worried-because-they-could-be-forebearers-of-a-major-breakdown-to-come" point I'm trying to make.

This isn't about the Nets. It's about the Celtics over time.

Very well, can we at least finish a full month of basketball before we start talking about how the Celtics are going to hold up for the rest of the season? They played 8 games in 12 days. They played the Cavs in Cleveland, they played the Bulls, they played the Bobcats who always play well against them, they played Chris Paul and a pretty good Hornets team, they played the Suns and their arsenal of offense, they played back to backs. Overall they have played very well. Winning 7 games in 12 days is not an easy thing to do whether it be in the playoffs or the first couple weeks of the season.

[star18]

"When a team is too tired to even put out average effort, it worries me! Officially all I am saying!:
Bottom line is who cares, I'm suprised KG even suited up against this team, [dang] its 12:00 I have to hit the clubs, see ya later.

[Rondo_is_better]

How many times do you get married? Once, maybe up to 5 times for some people?
How many NBA finals do you play in? Once, 6 for Jordan, 6 for Kobe.
For many people those are important times in their life, which takes a lot of energy to put into. Once you put in that much energy you realize that it isn't something you are going to do every day, because it takes alot out of you.
If you want the Celtics to play NBA finals intensity for 82 games forget about its not going to happen.

I just want them to play with enough intensity to not be neck and neck with a winless team that has 7 guys in street clothes halfway through the 4th quarter. That's not that much to ask, is it?

Well, lucky for us. That extremely tough team known as the Nets is not going to make the playoffs. So we don't have to worry about winless teams with seven guys in street clothes when it really matters.

That's not really relevant to the "these-poor-performances-have-me-worried-because-they-could-be-forebearers-of-a-major-breakdown-to-come" point I'm trying to make.

This isn't about the Nets. It's about the Celtics over time.

Very well, can we at least finish a full month of basketball before we start talking about how the Celtics are going to hold up for the rest of the season? They played 8 games in 12 days. They played the Cavs in Cleveland, they played the Bulls, they played the Bobcats who always play well against them, they played Chris Paul and a pretty good Hornets team, they played the Suns and their arsenal of offense, they played back to backs. Overall they have played very well. Winning 7 games in 12 days is not an easy thing to do whether it be in the playoffs or the first couple weeks of the season.

Fine, fine. We can revisit this later 

[MattG12]

How many times do you get married? Once, maybe up to 5 times for some people?
How many NBA finals do you play in? Once, 6 for Jordan, 6 for Kobe.
For many people those are important times in their life, which takes a lot of energy to put into. Once you put in that much energy you realize that it isn't something you are going to do every day, because it takes alot out of you.
If you want the Celtics to play NBA finals intensity for 82 games forget about its not going to happen.

I just want them to play with enough intensity to not be neck and neck with a winless team that has 7 guys in street clothes halfway through the 4th quarter. That's not that much to ask, is it?

Well, lucky for us. That extremely tough team known as the Nets is not going to make the playoffs. So we don't have to worry about winless teams with seven guys in street clothes when it really matters.

That's not really relevant to the "these-poor-performances-have-me-worried-because-they-could-be-forebearers-of-a-major-breakdown-to-come" point I'm trying to make.

This isn't about the Nets. It's about the Celtics over time.

Very well, can we at least finish a full month of basketball before we start talking about how the Celtics are going to hold up for the rest of the season? They played 8 games in 12 days. They played the Cavs in Cleveland, they played the Bulls, they played the Bobcats who always play well against them, they played Chris Paul and a pretty good Hornets team, they played the Suns and their arsenal of offense, they played back to backs. Overall they have played very well. Winning 7 games in 12 days is not an easy thing to do whether it be in the playoffs or the first couple weeks of the season.

Fine, fine. We can revisit this later 

Deal! Tommy Point for the good discussion. (I gave you one as well star, obviously)

[Tai]

I hate to say it, but we looked old tonight against the Nets. Creaky. a step slow. Not lazy, but just not physically able to do things quickly.

If the Nets weren't the Nets--with 7 players, no less--we would have lost that game. Same thing for the Timberwolves.

This team seems like the best team in the league on 3 days rest; NOT the best team in the league.

I hope I'm wrong.

Tanguay and Scal and everybody involved with the team is saying it was the 8 games in 12 days that made everyone tired and lethargic, but I ask, what is going to keep the Celtics from playing in this fatigued, slow manner every time they have to play a back to back, or late in the seaason, or in the playoffs after the fatigue of a long season?

They just came off a brutal stretch and need to get back and practice. Calm down everything is going to be okay...

Uhh I don't really need to calm down right now, bud. I'm pretty chill. Just identifying a cause for concern as the season goes on--if we're out of gas after a jam-packed stretch now, what keeps us from being out of gas in the playoffs after MANY of these jam-packed stretches and the wear and tear of the regular season? A team breaking down this early is cause for concern.

Just last year the Celtics started 27-2 and didn't break down until late December. Now its happening 8 games in? Not good....

I understand where you're coming from, but have some faith. The C's haven't "broken down" yet. All that matters at this point is that they are 7-1. If any team has "broken down", it's the Cavs, and I hate to say it but they haven't broken down either. They'll be in the hunt later in the season along with the Celtics.

Fair enough. But we looked shaky as balls tonight. To the point that I got worried...and if one game is enough to make me worried, then it is one hell of a bad game--bad enough to make me worried about the whole season to come, even.

Based on that logic if one game is enough to cause you to worry, one good game should be enough for you to regain your confidence. So... here you go.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291027005

Not really. In the real world something doesn't have to be weighted equally like that. If someone breaks a person's trust, like for example cheating on their spouse, it takes a lot more than being truthful about the next thing that happens to win that person's trust back. 

How about if they tell the truth 7 times? The Celtics still have 7 wins and 1 loss.

Yeah, and that's great, but for me 5 nice wins don't mean as much in a positive way as the two horrible games we played against MIN and NJ do in a negative way. For me its like the 5 nice wins are "telling the truth" about small things and then the two bad games are like "cheating on your spouse". They don't compare in significance.

Your not skewing statistics, but your analogy is skewed.  

In the one game we lost, we gave up 110 points, but somehow scored 103. Defensively, our worst game without question. But we did the get the 100+ points we were supposed to get against the hapless Suns' defense. Not the Celtics' best game by any means (we did lose...), but not a complete disaster. Not "cheating on your spouse" level.  

In our six wins, only two teams managed to score 90 points on us. The Nets didn't even get 80 tonight. The Nets having half of their roster in street clothes gives them an excuse IMO as a 0-7 team, but as far as the Celtics' performance so far this season is concerned, what happened tonight can't offset the other 5 teams that failed to score more than 90 points on us, if not partly because the Nets didn't score 80 points on us, anyways.

The fact of the matter is, as a defensive team so far, the Celtics do look as advertised. Like Star18 said, the stats don't lie (TP for you btw, Star ). The Celtics are right now 2nd in defensive efficiency (91.2) and points per game (85.6), with only the Bucks being better. For a team "out of gas", that's pretty good. It's the offense by the Celtics that looks flat, and that could very well be cured by a 3 days rest + practice.

If the Celtics look out of gas with how they are, then how does the rest of the league look?

[xmuscularghandix]

I hate to say it, but we looked old tonight against the Nets. Creaky. a step slow. Not lazy, but just not physically able to do things quickly.

If the Nets weren't the Nets--with 7 players, no less--we would have lost that game. Same thing for the Timberwolves.

This team seems like the best team in the league on 3 days rest; NOT the best team in the league.

I hope I'm wrong.

Tanguay and Scal and everybody involved with the team is saying it was the 8 games in 12 days that made everyone tired and lethargic, but I ask, what is going to keep the Celtics from playing in this fatigued, slow manner every time they have to play a back to back, or late in the seaason, or in the playoffs after the fatigue of a long season?

They just came off a brutal stretch and need to get back and practice. Calm down everything is going to be okay...

Uhh I don't really need to calm down right now, bud. I'm pretty chill. Just identifying a cause for concern as the season goes on--if we're out of gas after a jam-packed stretch now, what keeps us from being out of gas in the playoffs after MANY of these jam-packed stretches and the wear and tear of the regular season? A team breaking down this early is cause for concern.

Just last year the Celtics started 27-2 and didn't break down until late December. Now its happening 8 games in? Not good....

Yea its been eight games, but its been eight games in twelve days. And the ones we struggled on were a four in five. These stretches will hurt anyone especially a team that's depending heavily on 3 players who are very new to our system.(one of which who didn't play a lot in the preseason because of Baby and is now getting thrown in)

Just like Doc said, they haven't been able to practice and buckle down on things for about a week and a half. A lot of the defensive problems is strictly pick and roll.

The past 3 games have been about tired legs after a long stretch, not practicing in a while, and mostly the absence of Marquis Daniels. I could could about 8 times when his presence would have been SOO valuable.

Sorry told you to calm down BUD, but i think your overreacting a little bit. TP Chief.  

[Tai]

I hate to say it, but we looked old tonight against the Nets. Creaky. a step slow. Not lazy, but just not physically able to do things quickly.

If the Nets weren't the Nets--with 7 players, no less--we would have lost that game. Same thing for the Timberwolves.

This team seems like the best team in the league on 3 days rest; NOT the best team in the league.

I hope I'm wrong.

Tanguay and Scal and everybody involved with the team is saying it was the 8 games in 12 days that made everyone tired and lethargic, but I ask, what is going to keep the Celtics from playing in this fatigued, slow manner every time they have to play a back to back, or late in the seaason, or in the playoffs after the fatigue of a long season?

They just came off a brutal stretch and need to get back and practice. Calm down everything is going to be okay...

Uhh I don't really need to calm down right now, bud. I'm pretty chill. Just identifying a cause for concern as the season goes on--if we're out of gas after a jam-packed stretch now, what keeps us from being out of gas in the playoffs after MANY of these jam-packed stretches and the wear and tear of the regular season? A team breaking down this early is cause for concern.

Just last year the Celtics started 27-2 and didn't break down until late December. Now its happening 8 games in? Not good....

I understand where you're coming from, but have some faith. The C's haven't "broken down" yet. All that matters at this point is that they are 7-1. If any team has "broken down", it's the Cavs, and I hate to say it but they haven't broken down either. They'll be in the hunt later in the season along with the Celtics.

Fair enough. But we looked shaky as balls tonight. To the point that I got worried...and if one game is enough to make me worried, then it is one hell of a bad game--bad enough to make me worried about the whole season to come, even.

Based on that logic if one game is enough to cause you to worry, one good game should be enough for you to regain your confidence. So... here you go.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291027005

Not really. In the real world something doesn't have to be weighted equally like that. If someone breaks a person's trust, like for example cheating on their spouse, it takes a lot more than being truthful about the next thing that happens to win that person's trust back. 

How about if they tell the truth 7 times? The Celtics still have 7 wins and 1 loss.

Yeah, and that's great, but for me 5 nice wins don't mean as much in a positive way as the two horrible games we played against MIN and NJ do in a negative way. For me its like the 5 nice wins are "telling the truth" about small things and then the two bad games are like "cheating on your spouse". They don't compare in significance.

Well then you just like to think of things in a negative light. The wins against the Cavs, 76ers, Bulls, and Bobcats meant more in a good way than the loss against Suns or the WIN against the Wolves or the WIN against the Nets meant in a bad way.

For a team this great those wins are par for the course. Seeing chinks in the armor and being worried about them does not make me a pessimist. It makes me a concerned fan. When you're on a ourse of success in life and then you suddenly deviate from it, even briefly, don't you get concerned? 5 A's on tests and then 2 D minuses (MIN and NJ) are enough to get me concerned about my performance...

I'm gonna assume you just threw MIN and NJ out there as far as D minuses cause you're over arguing this. Or are we just giving the Suns game an F? Either way, I can't see games we not only didn't lose but limited our opponents to 90 points or under as D's. If you wanna give those games C's because the offense wasn't there, then that's fine.

[Rondo_is_better]

I hate to say it, but we looked old tonight against the Nets. Creaky. a step slow. Not lazy, but just not physically able to do things quickly.

If the Nets weren't the Nets--with 7 players, no less--we would have lost that game. Same thing for the Timberwolves.

This team seems like the best team in the league on 3 days rest; NOT the best team in the league.

I hope I'm wrong.

Tanguay and Scal and everybody involved with the team is saying it was the 8 games in 12 days that made everyone tired and lethargic, but I ask, what is going to keep the Celtics from playing in this fatigued, slow manner every time they have to play a back to back, or late in the seaason, or in the playoffs after the fatigue of a long season?

They just came off a brutal stretch and need to get back and practice. Calm down everything is going to be okay...

Uhh I don't really need to calm down right now, bud. I'm pretty chill. Just identifying a cause for concern as the season goes on--if we're out of gas after a jam-packed stretch now, what keeps us from being out of gas in the playoffs after MANY of these jam-packed stretches and the wear and tear of the regular season? A team breaking down this early is cause for concern.

Just last year the Celtics started 27-2 and didn't break down until late December. Now its happening 8 games in? Not good....

Yea its been eight games, but its been eight games in twelve days. And the ones we struggled on were a four in five. These stretches will hurt anyone especially a team that's depending heavily on 3 players who are very new to our system.(one of which who didn't play a lot in the preseason because of Baby and is now getting thrown in)

Just like Doc said, they haven't been able to practice and buckle down on things for about a week and a half. A lot of the defensive problems is strictly pick and roll.

The past 3 games have been about tired legs after a long stretch, not practicing in a while, and mostly the absence of Marquis Daniels. I could could about 8 times when his presence would have been SOO valuable.

Sorry told you to calm down BUD, but i think your overreacting a little bit. TP Chief.  

Champ, I call people what I want;D Alright bud? Glad we settled this bro. Lets go play gamecube naked.

[xmuscularghandix]

I hate to say it, but we looked old tonight against the Nets. Creaky. a step slow. Not lazy, but just not physically able to do things quickly.

If the Nets weren't the Nets--with 7 players, no less--we would have lost that game. Same thing for the Timberwolves.

This team seems like the best team in the league on 3 days rest; NOT the best team in the league.

I hope I'm wrong.

Tanguay and Scal and everybody involved with the team is saying it was the 8 games in 12 days that made everyone tired and lethargic, but I ask, what is going to keep the Celtics from playing in this fatigued, slow manner every time they have to play a back to back, or late in the seaason, or in the playoffs after the fatigue of a long season?

They just came off a brutal stretch and need to get back and practice. Calm down everything is going to be okay...

Uhh I don't really need to calm down right now, bud. I'm pretty chill. Just identifying a cause for concern as the season goes on--if we're out of gas after a jam-packed stretch now, what keeps us from being out of gas in the playoffs after MANY of these jam-packed stretches and the wear and tear of the regular season? A team breaking down this early is cause for concern.

Just last year the Celtics started 27-2 and didn't break down until late December. Now its happening 8 games in? Not good....

Yea its been eight games, but its been eight games in twelve days. And the ones we struggled on were a four in five. These stretches will hurt anyone especially a team that's depending heavily on 3 players who are very new to our system.(one of which who didn't play a lot in the preseason because of Baby and is now getting thrown in)

Just like Doc said, they haven't been able to practice and buckle down on things for about a week and a half. A lot of the defensive problems is strictly pick and roll.

The past 3 games have been about tired legs after a long stretch, not practicing in a while, and mostly the absence of Marquis Daniels. I could could about 8 times when his presence would have been SOO valuable.

Sorry told you to calm down BUD, but i think your overreacting a little bit. TP Chief.  

Champ, I call people what I want;D Alright bud? Glad we settled this bro. Lets go play gamecube naked.

Sounds good brother.

But my final argument is that last year (when you said we didn't break down till December) We lost the third game of the year to a Pacers team that finished with 36 wins,

then beat the Big 3 Rockets who actually had Artest, Yao, and McGrady all playing,

only to be outscored in the first quarter 2 games in a row with the Bucks and Thunder.

And last year we went on a record breaking streak of at the beginning, but there were teams we should have blown out that were really uncomfortably close games.

[celticsclay]

I hate to say it, but we looked old tonight against the Nets. Creaky. a step slow. Not lazy, but just not physically able to do things quickly.

If the Nets weren't the Nets--with 7 players, no less--we would have lost that game. Same thing for the Timberwolves.

This team seems like the best team in the league on 3 days rest; NOT the best team in the league.

I hope I'm wrong.

Tanguay and Scal and everybody involved with the team is saying it was the 8 games in 12 days that made everyone tired and lethargic, but I ask, what is going to keep the Celtics from playing in this fatigued, slow manner every time they have to play a back to back, or late in the seaason, or in the playoffs after the fatigue of a long season?

They just came off a brutal stretch and need to get back and practice. Calm down everything is going to be okay...

Uhh I don't really need to calm down right now, bud. I'm pretty chill. Just identifying a cause for concern as the season goes on--if we're out of gas after a jam-packed stretch now, what keeps us from being out of gas in the playoffs after MANY of these jam-packed stretches and the wear and tear of the regular season? A team breaking down this early is cause for concern.

Just last year the Celtics started 27-2 and didn't break down until late December. Now its happening 8 games in? Not good....

Yea its been eight games, but its been eight games in twelve days. And the ones we struggled on were a four in five. These stretches will hurt anyone especially a team that's depending heavily on 3 players who are very new to our system.(one of which who didn't play a lot in the preseason because of Baby and is now getting thrown in)

Just like Doc said, they haven't been able to practice and buckle down on things for about a week and a half. A lot of the defensive problems is strictly pick and roll.

The past 3 games have been about tired legs after a long stretch, not practicing in a while, and mostly the absence of Marquis Daniels. I could could about 8 times when his presence would have been SOO valuable.

Sorry told you to calm down BUD, but i think your overreacting a little bit. TP Chief.  

Champ, I call people what I want;D Alright bud? Glad we settled this bro. Lets go play gamecube naked.

Sounds good brother.

But my final argument is that last year (when you said we didn't break down till December) We lost the third game of the year to a Pacers team that finished with 36 wins,

then beat the Big 3 Rockets who actually had Artest, Yao, and McGrady all playing,

only to be outscored in the first quarter 2 games in a row with the Bucks and Thunder.

And last year we went on a record breaking streak of at the beginning, but there were teams we should have blown out that were really uncomfortably close games.

Game cube naked eh?

[ToppersBsktball10]

lol @ posts like these already. I mean really?

Wasn't trying to sound like a jerk?

[ACF]