Why the blown leads???

[BballTim]

  One problem last night was Perk's comical foul trouble. In general, though, I think a lot of it has to do with substitution patterns.

[hpantazo]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

Great point about the epic collapses.  It would be one thing if teams were blowing the Celtics out every night and ther weren't able to compete.  But to see them lose big leads night after night and utterly fail to execute down the stretch is much worse.  This team has no killer instinct, is too old and tired to play good basketball for 48 minutes and chokes down the stretch which is a recipe for disaster.

worst part is that the players keep saying that they just didn't play hard enough or take the other team seriously enough etc. and keep mentioning that the postseason is what matters. They may be right, but if they don't give a full effort against some of the top teams during the regular season they won't even know what concerns they need to focus on during the playoffs. They need to get their act together and give a full effort. This includes everyone, Pierce, Ray, Rondo, Perk, especially Sheed, and Doc too.

[Spicoli]

Bump

[Drucci]

If only we had the answer...

Actually we have it : suddenly, after playing great, collective basketball through 2 quarters (or 3), the Celtics decide to go one on one on every possession, run the clock down, attempt 3 pointers 1 possession out of 2, play lazy D, commit turnovers (a lot of them) and commit fouls.

Now, the real question is : why do they start doing that after halftime, and get away from what made their success in the first half?!

And to that question, I have no clue... and it looks like the C's dont have one, either.

[QuinielaBox]

We are just a dang lousy team. Too slow, too small, and too soft mentally and physically to do anything about teams with SUPERIOR TALENT.

STUPID US FOR THINKING THE CELTICS WOULD CAKEWALK THROUGH AND WIN 75 GAMES and SWEEP FOUR SERIES EN ROUTE TO AN 18th NBA CHAMPIONSHIP.

[Spicoli]

If only we had the answer...

Actually we have it : suddenly, after playing great, collective basketball through 2 quarters (or 3), the Celtics decide to go one on one on every possession, run the clock down, attempt 3 pointers 1 possession out of 2, play lazy D, commit turnovers (a lot of them) and commit fouls.

Now, the real question is : why do they start doing that after halftime, and get away from what made their success in the first half?!

And to that question, I have no clue... and it looks like the C's dont have one, either.

I agree with everything you said here. If this was truly a bad basketball team, they wouldn't have the ability to get up big on teams in the first place. They'd just get beat from start to finish. In the first half i saw a championship level basketball team, and in the second half i saw a lottery team. The rebound rate was pretty even i believe, so that wasn't the reason. Rasheed sucked as usual, but i don't put all these blown leads squarely on him. The one-on-one ball is what's doing it. There is absolutely no ball movement in the second halves. I'm not sure if Doc is to blame for this, but he's the coach, and he gets paid big dollars to correct these types of things. But, he has not.

[colincb]

I don't know how many times I've said to myself "Doc call a time out" well before our leads disappear into a deficit. There are many reasons we lose these leads, but Doc's game management is faulty and it shows up in also in some of the head-scratching rotations he employs too. Doc does have a bunch of strengths, but these are not among them.

What's most concerning is that we see the same things and Doc keeps articulating them, yet things don't change. Maybe the troops aren't listening or are too stupid to get it, but I think they don't get the message in a timely manner when they're slipping off course. It doesn't help when your on-floor general is still such a young pup either and sometimes Rondo gets distracted by his own on-court problems (like missing free throws). He has to focus on running the show and moving the ball around during games and focus on his weak spots afterwards.

All the other players have their issues too, but the head coach and floor general are responsible for managing the games and they haven't been doing well at it despite the record or their stats.

[Spicoli]

I don't know how many times I've said to myself "Doc call a time out" well before our leads disappear into a deficit. There are many reasons we lose these leads, but Doc's game management is faulty and it shows up in also in some of the head-scratching rotations he employs too. Doc does have a bunch of strengths, but these are not among them.

What's most concerning is that we see the same things and Doc keeps articulating them, yet things don't change. Maybe the troops aren't listening or are too stupid to get it, but I think they don't get the message in a timely manner when they're slipping off course. It doesn't help when your on-floor general is still such a young pup either and sometimes Rondo gets distracted by his own on-court problems (like missing free throws). He has to focus on running the show and moving the ball around during games and focus on his weak spots afterwards.

All the other players have their issues too, but the head coach and floor general are responsible for managing the games and they haven't been doing well at it despite the record or their stats.

Yeah. I think Doc can be a pretty good coach at time, but it's his responsibility to stop the bleeding and do something different. For this same scenario to be playing out over, and over, and over again....Doc has to take the blame for not trying something different.

[BASS_THUMPER]

All the other players have their issues too, but the head coach and floor general are responsible for managing the games and they haven't been doing well at it despite the record or their stats.

ok sheed missed a ez chance for a dunk..and blew it..doc says..

"sheed hold out your hand cuzz im gonna spanks u..."..?

i want to hear how would u guys handle sheed and missin a ez chance to get 2 on the board...

[FatjohnReturns]

(1) age.       (2) reintergrating players that have been out.

[Spicoli]

(1) age.       (2) reintergrating players that have been out.

I wouldn't have a problem accepting this, if it wasn't for the fact that age doesn't seem to be a problem when we go up big on teams. If age was truly an issue, we'd look slow from start to finish, but that hasn't been the case. We only look slow in the second halves. I think the age thing is relevant in some regards, but not in regards to the blowing of huge leads.

[QuinielaBox]

I'll say it again. The Celtics are MENTALLY SOFT and NOT TOUGH ENOUGH PHYSICALLY TO COMPETE IN THIS LEAGUE ANYMORE.

A stinking playoff spot is not really guarenteed either. Other teams want it more than us. If things don't change, Doc Rivers should be fired and Danny Ainge needs to rebuild.