Why does this team blow leads??

[yoursweatersux]

Just wanted a thread about it to see what you guys have to say. I honestly can't figure it out.

I'm thinking it's one of these:
1) Age. They simply can't expend full effort for 48 minutes.
2) Laziness. Winning the championship made them complacent.
3) Substitution patterns
4) Something else
5) A little bit of all the above.

[GreenFaith1819]

I honestly don't know...I've followed the Celtics for nearly 30 years now and I cannot think of a similar season like this one in recent memory..

I still believe in the Celtics like many of you, but this is strange.

I'm sure Pierce would've helped tonight, though.

[PosImpos]

Because they are pretenders.

I can't really put it any other way than that.  I can't come up with any logical, reasoned explanation.  But the bottom line is this: with or without Paul Pierce, this team is a pretender.  They'll show you some exciting play, but when it comes down to it they can't go all the way - whether in one particular game, or a post-season as a whole.

[radiohead]

I honestly don't know...I've followed the Celtics for nearly 30 years now and I cannot think of a similar season like this one in recent memory..

I still believe in the Celtics like many of you, but this is strange.

I'm sure Pierce would've helped tonight, though.

Let me take stab at it:

- the starters get tired (case in point, rondo vs the cavs today)

- once we give up the lead, there seems to be a sense of "panic" among the players...bad shots, broken plays, no concentration on D, etc.

- no killer instinct. the team tends to relax as they build a good lead, and once the opponent comes back, they just couldn't "turn it ON" anymore

[CelticSooner]

They blow leads because they don't play good enough offense for 4 quarters. Scoring runs are nonexistent with this team coming out of halftime. All teams have to do is slowly chip away at the lead and by the 4th quarter the game should be about even. Then it becomes a game of attrition that doesn't favor the old Celtics.

[gar]

The trade of Eddie House was a mistake. Sheed and BBD were/are the problem not the need for a PG. House would have helped tonight. Marquis and Eddie were key to the second unit.

[snively]

We tend to get more transition opportunities in the 1st half with KG and Rondo at optimum energy, which is a major boon for our offense.

Those opportunities tend to go away in the 2nd half either because of a slack in the defensive effort or a loss of urgency/energy offensively that leads to an over-reliance on slow-developing halfcourt sets and post-ups (a very unreliable source of offense this year for the C's).

[KG_ended_Bias]

No clear finisher in the 4th anymore! Pierce used to be that GUY in the final period, but now he seems to have lost that edge of dominating the whole 4th quarter as opposed to the final 3minutes as he is still able to do. In the meanwhile leading up to him trying to takeover we may have blown the lead or in a tight game. Doc needs to know who his guy is going to be and stick with it! Phil Jackson has 3 Stars also, but only KOBE is getting a play called for him in the clutch.

[droopdog7]

Because they are pretenders.

I can't really put it any other way than that.  I can't come up with any logical, reasoned explanation.  But the bottom line is this: with or without Paul Pierce, this team is a pretender.  They'll show you some exciting play, but when it comes down to it they can't go all the way - whether in one particular game, or a post-season as a whole.

This is the right answer. Team just isn't good enough.

[twinbree]

I know this is a long shot but I'm really praying yoursweatersux is Doc in disguise trying to brainstorm with the fans because honestly the coaches need to start thinking outside the box. The same old same old + running starters to the ground regularly isn't working anymore.

[LarBrd33]

KG isn't KG anymore so we can't blow out teams like we use to when we had a superstar.

And our bench is garbage.   That's why we blow leads.

[GreenFaith1819]

Because they are pretenders.

I can't really put it any other way than that.  I can't come up with any logical, reasoned explanation.  But the bottom line is this: with or without Paul Pierce, this team is a pretender.  They'll show you some exciting play, but when it comes down to it they can't go all the way - whether in one particular game, or a post-season as a whole.

Well, I don't know...I'd wait to see if they do this in the playoffs. My guess is that The Boston Celtics will Throttle some folks in the Playoffs this year.

There is No Way that Boston with our rich history will stink up the playoffs.

Red would flip in his grave...Tommy would run the players out of the building, etc....

[snively]

Because they are pretenders.

I can't really put it any other way than that.  I can't come up with any logical, reasoned explanation.  But the bottom line is this: with or without Paul Pierce, this team is a pretender.  They'll show you some exciting play, but when it comes down to it they can't go all the way - whether in one particular game, or a post-season as a whole.

That's a cop-out.  The C's have several tangible weaknesses that can be blamed before going all abstract and labeling them pretenders (what does that even mean?).

The C's have a nasty combination of weaknesses on offense.  They are a terrible offensive rebounding team, which puts a ton of pressure on them to shoot high %s, only they don't have a reliable go-to scorer, which puts the onus on their sets to consistently generate good looks and/or their defense to generate transition opportunities.  

Their offensive sets produce post-ups for KG/Sheed/Baby/Perk, shooting/playmaking opportunities for Ray off of screens, elbow isos for Pierce, and plenty of open jumpers for Sheed and Rondo.  Unfortunately all of our big men are very inconsistent post players, Ray struggles when forced into the playmaking role, Pierce tends to rely too heavily on the inconsistent step-back and Rondo and Sheed rarely hit their open jumpers.  

Is it any wonder that when the game slows down and we try to execute against an established D we struggle mightily?

[Eja117]

Because our coach is into positivity and all that BS and doesn't do things like sitting Sheed after one of those idiotic threes, getting in his face and saying "You do that again and you're down to the bottom of the depth chart! Do you want to play? DO ...YOU...WANT...TO...PLAY? Then don't do that any more." while making sign language hand signs.

Cause he says stupid cliche things to the media like "We just didn't play well. We had our looks, but the Cavs just played better" instead of "My players don't really want it right now. They just sorta want to show up and collect checks"

Cause he doesn't tell Perk things like "Yeah. Next time some punk like Varejao comes up and pushes you like that when he nothing to do with you, you have my full permission to punch him in the mouth. In fact if you don't I might have to find someone who will. There's a local girls high school game going on tonight and I'm pretty sure there'll be a kid there that could do it for me, so I'm not really sure what your excuse is."

Cause there are no repercussions whatsoever for lazy play, stupid play, wimpy play, and completely uninspired play.


Bad coach - bad players. It's not hard.

[Bosstown]

The trade of Eddie House was a mistake. Sheed and BBD were/are the problem not the need for a PG. House would have helped tonight. Marquis and Eddie were key to the second unit.

Yea cause Nate really got minutes  

The real issue is that Doc did a god awful job managing minutes...*cough* Rondo *cough* Although I do agree with homey that we need a legit 6'10" athletic rebounder/hustle guy on the 2nd unit because we just don't go after boards. We absolutely don't hustle on the loose balls, i HATE Varejao but i'd sadly take him on my team over any of the Cs bigmen we have on our bench.