Pierce should post up alot more.

[FatjohnReturns]

Paul is so good at drawing fouls. He should try to get deep post iso and take his man. He would take alot less contact on the drives if he would just get the ball deep instead of trying to drive to the rim. His array of fakes and spins would help him get quite a few and 1's.

[Drucci]

He should, but most importantly, he should stop forcing shots and hogging the ball like he did last night. I'm so sick of his isos that result in a brick or a turnover, especially when he takes the game tying shot in the last seconds.

[Bahku]

Paul is so good at drawing fouls. He should try to get deep post iso and take his man. He would take alot less contact on the drives if he would just get the ball deep instead of trying to drive to the rim. His array of fakes and spins would help him get quite a few and 1's.

Yup (TP) ... I agree, and there are very few players who can create fouls as well as Paul Pierce ... he's the master of the up-fake and creating space where there is none. I don't know why they've gone away from it, but it's one of this team's strongest offensive weapons, and they should be utilizing it much more than they have recently. It's NOT a coincidence that we won the championship in the year that Pierce was playing his best ball, or that he won the Finals MVP ... he was doing just what you're speaking about here on a regular and very successful basis. We need more of the Captain's "A" game, and lately it's been about a "C-".

[housecall]

what about drawing up a play for Ray to close once in awhile with Paul driving and dishing?

I feel they are looking into the past to often when Paul had a better chance of closing without primarily taking jumpers everytime.Two seasons ago i would have bet on 8-10 times he probably would have made something happen.Also i feel egos are in the way here.

Where is it written that a team has to have 1 closer?I feel because Kobe&Lebron is that guy in crunch time Doc feels Paul is suppose to be that guy.I don't see it that way,especially when Ray is just as capable and has been hot of late.

[Harris34]

This is my main concern with the offense right now. All Pierce seems to be getting is top of the key ISO's, which isn't really a play, it's just telling Pierce to try to create something with everyone else standing around.

What happened to the lob under the basket play? What happened to the post ups? What happened to the baseline face up shot?

It seems like he's been relegated to either being a decoy, a spot up 3 point shooter, or he has to try to cram home an ISO with 3 guys ready to block his shot.

If you look at the games where he has scored a bunch of points, you'll see it's mostly from 3 pointers, and while always being a big part of his game, has really been the only thing he's been doing lately. He is an AMAZING face up shooter from 15-20ft, and he's an above average back to the basket post up player. Yeah, he can't go 1 on 5 anymore, so I don't see why that's all the team seems to want to run for him anymore.

[moiso]

Yes, Pierce posting more would be great.  It seems like he used to do it a lot more but has gotten away from it.  It makes perfect sense now, since nobody else is consistently posting up and scoring.  Plus Paul can't get by guys from the perimeter like he used to, so he may as well start closer to the rim.

[Tommysgod]

Wow, it's really starting to sicken me how much crap Pierce has been getting on this blog lately. I think if anyone actually watched the games, they would see it's pretty evident that Pierce is still playing through that thumb injury. He's still our best player and come playoffs when hes logging more then 30 minutes (which is what he's been averaging over the past month and a half) a game, you will see the consistency returned in his offensive game.

My main concern with the celtics offense right now is just what this thread is labeled, the celtics need to call more plays for the best offensive player PLAIN AND SIMPLE. It baffles me that he took 13 shots last night and people on here are calling him a ball hog? It's actually quite laughable. Pierce should be taking 16-18 shots a game and going to the line 7-8 times a game. However, the offense the celtics now run is Rondo pounding the ball and trying to make something in the half court and to be quite honest, it ain't very good. This is the reason we've consistently not been scoring anywhere near the century mark in games for a while now. Don't get me wrong Rondo can make things happen and hes an absolute stud on the fast break, however when we're in the half court Ray and Pierce need to be touching the ball A LOT more then Rondo. I'm getting sick and tired of these single digit shooting nights from both Ray and Paul, this is a Doc and Rondo issue and they better figure it out soon or we'll be watching the playoffs from home after we lose in the first round.

With all this said, I think it's time to start drawing up a lot more plays for the captain, including but not limited to, his over the top pass from Perk under the basket, their famous out of bounds play where he comes around a Perkins pick and is wide open to shoot a three or drive and also more ISO post-ups near the basket please!Right now, I think it's pretty clear that for whatever reason Pierce is being used as a decoy in our offense and its pretty evident in watching the games that when he touches the ball, hes doing nothing but pick and rolls with KG and Perk and the intent of the play is to get Perk or KG the ball with a smaller guy near the basket. I don't mind this play, but this shouldn't be run as much as it is and Pierce should definitely be used more as an offensive weapon and scoring threat and not a freaking decoy.

One last thing as well, is anyone else sick and tired of our end of the quarter or end of the shot clock offense? Rondo is not a scorer Doc, this is without question Paul Pierce time and when you should be utilizing him more then any other time in the games, but no its always lets play four corners offense and have Rondo pound the ball like Pierce and take an awful long jump shot that has absolutley no chance in hell of going in, YUCK!! Rondo, you are not a scorer like Paul Pierce and you never will be, please understand that! At least last night at the half time buzzer we tried to go inside to KG with 3.5 second left, unfortunately that was just as ugly with his nice air ball from 13 feet away on a turnaround jumper. I can think of one time in the past 2 months we let Paul do what he used to in these situations and that was the Charlotte game last week at half time and he took Wallace right into the paint spun and hit his patented fadeaway jumper, swish! How bout we starting doing that again huh? Ok my rant is done for now guys, thanks!

[PLamb]

Pierce has lost a good half step or more on his quickness that he had earlier this year

He's also definitely lost some elevation

With these assets of his in decline, I think he would be a much worse post player as, when he was younger and posted people up, it was often his quickness and explosion in the elevation that made him effective

I think he's done the right thing to transform his game to more of a perimeter player

His problem has been a serious lack of respect from the referees on his dribble drives that would make tons of contact and get him to the line

Pierce is going to the line at a rate that would be the lowest of his career except for his rookie season

For most of his career he's made more FTs per game on average than he has been shooting FTs per game this year

And this year, unlike the last two, he has been shooting a major portion of the teams technical FTS, whereas over the last two years it has been Ray Allen

That further goes to show just how little he is heading to the free throw line because of calls he is getting

[BudweiserCeltic]

The thing about Pierce in the post is that he's likely to draw double-teams with his back to the basket. He's also has one of the best foot-work in the history in the NBA and has a knack for getting people in foul trouble. He'd do very well in the post. He's also bigger and stronger (not necessarily taller) than the vast majority of people that defend him.

I've always wanted to see him post more, if only to mix his game a bit. But he should be quite successful around the basket.

[moiso]

Pierce has lost a good half step or more on his quickness that he had earlier this year

He's also definitely lost some elevation

With these assets of his in decline, I think he would be a much worse post player as, when he was younger and posted people up, it was often his quickness and explosion in the elevation that made him effective

I think he's done the right thing to transform his game to more of a perimeter player

His problem has been a serious lack of respect from the referees on his dribble drives that would make tons of contact and get him to the line

Pierce is going to the line at a rate that would be the lowest of his career except for his rookie season

For most of his career he's made more FTs per game on average than he has been shooting FTs per game this year

And this year, unlike the last two, he has been shooting a major portion of the teams technical FTS, whereas over the last two years it has been Ray Allen

That further goes to show just how little he is heading to the free throw line because of calls he is getting

With declines in quickness and elevation, posting up makes more sense than ever.  Paul is too skilled to become a one dimensional jump shooter.  With his wide, strong frame and intelligence he should be able to continue to be an elite scorer for years if he would make it easier on himself and post up more like MJ, Kobe, and Bird did as their athleticm declined.  The 3 point shooting is awesome, but if they take that away, he's not finding it easy to blow by people and get to the rim like he used to be able to do.

[wdleehi]

I would like to see alot more variety in Pierce's offense.


Post him up more.


Run him off some more screens. 



He isn't the same player he used to be in creating his own shots, but he is still a good scorer.  Now is the time to start doing more off the ball to create easier shots for him.

[FatjohnReturns]

Pierce has lost a good half step or more on his quickness that he had earlier this year

He's also definitely lost some elevation

With these assets of his in decline, I think he would be a much worse post player as, when he was younger and posted people up, it was often his quickness and explosion in the elevation that made him effective

I think he's done the right thing to transform his game to more of a perimeter player

His problem has been a serious lack of respect from the referees on his dribble drives that would make tons of contact and get him to the line

Pierce is going to the line at a rate that would be the lowest of his career except for his rookie season

For most of his career he's made more FTs per game on average than he has been shooting FTs per game this year

And this year, unlike the last two, he has been shooting a major portion of the teams technical FTS, whereas over the last two years it has been Ray Allen

That further goes to show just how little he is heading to the free throw line because of calls he is getting

Sorry this is wrong."I think he would be a much worse post player as, when he was younger and posted people up, it was often his quickness and explosion in the elevation that made him effective

His loss of quickness and explosion is the exact reason he needs to post up. He is taking so so much contact on the drives its no wonder he is banged up. Perimeter players need to be able to drive to the rim to keep defenders honest. Your right about not getting any respect from the refs though.

Pierce can do in the deep post what Perkins cant. Plus he can draw fouls like crazy and get the other teams into the penalty early in the quater.

[PLamb]

So tell me as you develop this Pierce post game and try to rely on it more to get his game going, who is he going to be posting up in the playoffs

Marvin Williams
LeBron James
Mikael Pietrus
Luol Deng
Ron Artest
Gerald Wallace
Carlos DelFino
Hedo Turkoglu
Carmelo Anthony

He's going to be extremely unsuccessful posting these players up and when they delay him enough for the weakside help to come Paul Pierce is going to become a very very frustrated offensive player that will then just start to force stuff

Doc's strategy, that I assume he has put into mothballs until the playoffs, of a high post 1-3 screen and switch that puts Pierce matched up with a much smaller PG at the foul line extended is much more effective and logical than posting Pierce up against the athletic 3's he will be facing most of the time

Now if you want to discuss trying a baseline 1-3 switch that allows Pierce to be posting up a PG, that's different, though ultimately a lot harder to succeed with in a drawn up play as it's easier to rotate a big over to double him and render Pierce having to pass out of a double team

[FatjohnReturns]

Pierce already has a strong post game. He is stronger than everyone on that list except Lebron and maybe Artest. So he is gonna get his shot off and its gonna be within 10 feet of the hoop. He has a wide array of spins, fades and fakes already. I am not worried about "developings Pierce's post game"  the problem is in Docs offense it calls for Pierce to be on the wing. Not a good idea anymore.

[LB3533]

Only way to post up Paul is to surround him with shooters within the 2nd unit.

Right now I think Ray and Rondo are playing with the 2nd unit.


You can't post Paul with KG and Perk down low....it just doesn't work.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Sheed, Baby, Finley, Pierce, Robinson lineup.

Post Pierce up, have Baby cut for any offensive rebound etc. and u got "shooters" on the floor surrounding Pierce.