Doc Rivers and his stupid substitutions + poor coaching

[Drucci]

Seriously, this second half was amazing in terms of watching Doc helping this team lose the game.

I was surprised to see him put the Quis and Sheed earlier than expected on the court in the third - only good coaching decision he made in the second half.

Then, after Quis and Sheed have been making a comeback by themselves and playing great, he takes BOTH of them out of the game with 5 minutes remaining in the 4th to put KG and TONY ALLEN (yes, TA!) back in the game!! Just so you know, Quis couldn't miss a shot and was excellent defensively and Sheed was really good too.

Doc also stayed with House for 5 minutes against Collison, just enough time to let Daren get on fire and score 7 straight points (momentum killer for the C's).

Then, Doc of course stayed with Pierce for the remainder of the game, who either turned the ball of forced a terrible shot.

Terrible second half by the starters but the blame is mostly on Doc (getting out of timeout with Rondo's jumpshots).

Also, I don't know if the coach is to blame for it or now, but going to Perk for 3 straight possessions in the third when the Hornets are on a run and when you desperately need to score is an EPIC FAIL.

[Who]

I wish the team would go back to Perk being the last resort offensively.

[Rondo_is_better]

Not really Doc's fault. Its a players league. People always call for the coaches' head when things are going poorly. Its no more Doc's fault now than it was in 2006.

[Drucci]

Not really Doc's fault. Its a players league. People always call for the coaches' head when things are going poorly. Its no more Doc's fault now than it was in 2006.

Really? It's Doc who pulled Marquis (who was unstoppable tonight and had just made like 3 shots in a row) and Rasheed out of the game with 5 minutes remaining.

How is a player supposed to perform and help his team if his coach sticks him to the bench?

[PosImpos]

Bench the starters.  It sounded ridiculous to me a week or two ago, but now it makes sense.  If Danny doesn't make a huge trade, we need to do something huge to send this team a message.

[Rondo_is_better]

Not really Doc's fault. Its a players league. People always call for the coaches' head when things are going poorly. Its no more Doc's fault now than it was in 2006.

Really? It's Doc who pulled Marquis (who was unstoppable tonight and had just made like 3 shots in a row) and Rasheed out of the game with 5 minutes remaining.

How is a player supposed to perform and help his team if his coach sticks him to the bench?

If the players (Pierce, Garnett, Perk stand out) had played adequate, passable basketball it wouldn't have mattered what Doc did with 5 minutes left. I'm not saying what Doc did was inconsequential - but when you look at the big picture its the players out there under-performing for 28 minutes of every game that is killing us, not bad coaching decisions here and there.

[FatjohnReturns]

Doc is bad.

[MaxwellSmart86]

I wish the team would go back to Perk being the last resort offensively.

YES....been saying this for awhile.

[MaxwellSmart86]

Well, I think the Stubbornness of sticking with the SAME starting 5 has something to do with this....GOTTA shake things up---Start Marquis and/or Rasheed....have Perk and Ray/PP come off the bench...DO SOMETHING!!!

[crownsy]

Well, I think the Stubbornness of sticking with the SAME starting 5 has something to do with this....GOTTA shake things up---Start Marquis and/or Rasheed....have Perk and Ray/PP come off the bench...DO SOMETHING!!!

This is the NBA, coaches can't really do that.

It's hard to tell a player "your going to the bench, but you still have to play hard and like it!!" when they make 5-6 times more than you do.

IT works in college, not in a league where stars are guaranteed their $$, performance be [dang]ed.

[BigDanz2000]

This season is becoming comical.

Double digit leads-- followed by nearly double digit losses.

I no longer get frustrated, I laugh in anger.  

To try and temper that feeling of hatred towards this stretch of hideous display, I cannot watch this team with complete attention.

If there is an interesting college game on, I will watch that.  If there is an interesting show on, I will watch that.  I am sad to say that I have relegated my Celtic watching to commercial breaks during other programs.  

I just cannot stand to continually watch the Celtics make the same mistakes over and over again.  This team needs a message, I do not know what that message would be, but they need one.

To steal a line from Rick Pitino, " 2007-2008 is not walking through that door."  

[Drucci]

Well, I think the Stubbornness of sticking with the SAME starting 5 has something to do with this....GOTTA shake things up---Start Marquis and/or Rasheed....have Perk and Ray/PP come off the bench...DO SOMETHING!!!

This is the NBA, coaches can't really do that.

It's hard to tell a player "your going to the bench, but you still have to play hard and like it!!" when they make 5-6 times more than you do.

IT works in college, not in a league where stars are guaranteed their $$, performance be [dang]ed.

What about starting the usual starters for the first half and then starting the third with our bench?

I mean, something has to change because the starters keep blowing the lead in the third against every team, regardless of their talent.

[MaxwellSmart86]

or how about Pressing FULL COURT to start the 3rd?...I think Tommy mentioned this about a week ago.

[Rtpas11]

Doc isn't the problem. My only beef with Doc is not mixing the old guys with the young guys. Doc like I said needs to get on some Mike D'Antoni agenda for now on. Based on observation....

1st half: Start the starters
2nd half: Start the bench

[Brickowski]

Doc is most definitely part of the problem.  He has that clueless, deer-in-the-headlights look.

Didn't he say, before the game, that guys who were ball stoppers would be benched?  Then why wasn't Pierce benched?  Pierce dribbled around aimlessly on every possession, and he didn't just stop the ball, he coughed it up.  Or is Pierce immune to being benched for horrible play?