Panic Button / This is Ridicluous (merged rant threads)

[celticinorlando]

somehow this team has to get more athletic

[CelticSooner]

This team reminds me of the Pistons after they won the title a few years ago. They never seemed to have that intensity and hunger that it took to get them the title. I don't think it's any coincidence Sheed was a common link between both teams.

It's blatantly obvious the regular season is an after thought to the C's right now. I hope they realize once the playoffs roll around the East is much tougher than it was two years ago. You can't just turn in on and off.

[More Banners]

It doesn't matter how athletic you are if you're too lazy to jump.  "Athletic" is not our problem right now (but it would help).

[Jon]

I think people are totally getting carried away here.  Sure, it's depressing and I can't bear to watch sports TV or read the Globe right now; however, the larger question has to be asked if the C's are simply a product of their environment.  Think about it, the fact that management sits anyone on the core who so much as gets a paper cut has to be sending a pretty clear message to the players that the regular season isn't a priority.  With that mentality, it isn't a shock that the team isn't playing every game with the same intensity they played the past two years. 

And guess what?  It likely doesn't matter.

Shaq's coasted through the regular season many times on route to championships.  The Spurs have never made the regular season a priority.  We'll likely be OK if we're healthy and have our butts in gear come playoff time. 

[GreenFaith1819]

I think people are totally getting carried away here.  Sure, it's depressing and I can't bear to watch sports TV or read the Globe right now; however, the larger question has to be asked if the C's are simply a product of their environment.  Think about it, the fact that management sits anyone on the core who so much as gets a paper cut has to be sending a pretty clear message to the players that the regular season isn't a priority.  With that mentality, it isn't a shock that the team isn't playing every game with the same intensity they played the past two years. 

And guess what?  It likely doesn't matter.

Shaq's coasted through the regular season many times on route to championships.  The Spurs have never made the regular season a priority.  We'll likely be OK if we're healthy and have our butts in gear come playoff time. 

Thank You.

[GreenFaith1819]

somehow this team has to get more athletic

Spurs aren't athletic, either, but they are contenders.

[PosImpos]

I'm as gloomy as I've ever been.  It's not even the losses, it's the effort.  I loved the team that lost 18 in a row because they busted their rear ends.

Just pathetic.

Bring it back KG!

Yeah.  I liked watching this team last year even when KG was out because they found ways to win, and even when they didn't, they played hard.  Sure, it ended in a 2nd round loss, but I felt like this team lost to the Magic because they had left everything on the floor in the second half of the season, not because they had given up.

[vinnie]

This team has fallen into extremely bad habits and some of these habits were present when KG was playing -- slow starts, bad third quarters, major defensive breakdowns, no movement on offense, etc. You truly are fooling yourselves if you think that all of a sudden come June, the light is going to come on and the C's will just turn it on and roll over eveyone. Not going to happen.

[vinnie]

somehow this team has to get more athletic

Spurs aren't athletic, either, but they are contenders.

Spurs are more athletic than the Celtics and I do not believe they are true contenders for the title in the west. Everything goes through LA.

[Rondo_is_better]

somehow this team has to get more athletic

Nathaniel Robinson.

[jadams5214]

The other big difference with this team is that teams don't fear the Celtics anymore especially in Boston.

The Celtics of the last couple years had such a killer instinct.  The first halves they have played in the last few games would have resulted in 15 point leads easily.  This years team gets ahead then gets lazy, makes a turnover, misses free throws, get beat for rebounds,gives up a wide open 3 pointer === little plays here and there that add up.  It doesn't take much to give an opposing team hope and the Celtics have mastered the art of letting teams back into games.

And in this day and age, teams know exactly what is happening.  I can almost hear Detroit't coach tonight at halftime telling his terrible team to "just hang in there, these guys blow big leads almost every night"   Even a team that is decimated by injuries and has lost 14 of 17 games can come back against this Celtic team.

KG coming back will undoubtedly give the Celtics an emotional lift.  It should be enough to get them playing well for a few games.  But it will not be enough to turn this season around --- make no mistake there are great issues with this team that are painfully obvious to anyone watching the teams recent collapses especially against some of the NBA's absolute worst teams...

[anotherbanner]

You would think the team would lose a little something with KG out, but who knew they would be this bad? Where is the KG-less team from last year's playoffs? In fact, this team was built to get through times where a top guy might be out, but this team is just bad. Losing big leads, or just plain being outplayed from the opening tip,this team seems to have more issues than just KG (and Marquis) coming back could solve.

[PosImpos]

You would think the team would lose a little something with KG out, but who knew they would be this bad? Where is the KG-less team from last year's playoffs? In fact, this team was built to get through times where a top guy might be out, but this team is just bad. Losing big leads, or just plain being outplayed from the opening tip,this team seems to have more issues than just KG (and Marquis) coming back could solve.

Who would have thought our team would be worse this year without KG, despite signing Rasheed Wallace and re-signing Big Baby?

[makaveli]

It is ridiculous. Absurd, really. I swear to god I'm gonna be so p1ssed at the celtics if this is a repeat of last year.

At this point, a repeat of last year would be a blessing