Go small?

[snively]

I don't like the idea of going small right away, the Celtics have a size advantage on Miami. They should try and use it to their advantage.

Now this is a lineup they could try for a few minutes, but I wouldn't start with it. Having Rondo, TA, and Perkins all on the floor could really screw up our offense.

The OP presumes a KG suspension.  Do you think Sheed or Baby would do any better for the offense?

Yes, because our offensive sets are predicated on having two big men on the court. It is a line up that we've played with before so there would be less disruption in our chemistry.

Sheed is also a much better jump shooter than Tony Allen, he should start for KG. He'll have to play bigger minutes without KG in the line up, might as well start him and leave BBD in his bench role.

Good points.  I think Sheed on Beasley would be flirting with disaster on defense though.  Neither Sheed nor Perk have a prayer of sticking with Beasley on a drive to the basket.

[Fafnir]

I don't like the idea of going small right away, the Celtics have a size advantage on Miami. They should try and use it to their advantage.

Now this is a lineup they could try for a few minutes, but I wouldn't start with it. Having Rondo, TA, and Perkins all on the floor could really screw up our offense.

The OP presumes a KG suspension.  Do you think Sheed or Baby would do any better for the offense?

Yes, because our offensive sets are predicated on having two big men on the court. It is a line up that we've played with before so there would be less disruption in our chemistry.

Sheed is also a much better jump shooter than Tony Allen, he should start for KG. He'll have to play bigger minutes without KG in the line up, might as well start him and leave BBD in his bench role.

Good points.  I think Sheed on Beasley would be flirting with disaster on defense though.  Neither Sheed nor Perk have a prayer of sticking with Beasley on a drive to the basket.

Yeah, I don't like Sheed playing except at C in most situations. We'll see what happens.

I'm hopeful that KG won't be suspended and this will be moot.

[wdleehi]

Going small is not a good idea.


Much of the Celtics attack went towards Pierce and KG posting up.


If TA starts, Pierce can not post up Beasley.

Start Wallace and go after Beasley in the low post.  (do it if KG plays as well)

[makaveli]

Just play the guys that are hot...Doc did a pretty good job yesterday when he played Tony and sit Ray down and rotated Ray and Pierce so that Tony could stay in the game.
LOL at one point I taught Doc replaced Tony with Ray and I was like, this game is over

[Who]

If TA starts, Pierce can not post up Beasley.

I think Miami would put Beasley on Tony Allen and allow Richardson to stick on Pierce because there is no way that Beasley is going to be able to defend Pierce effectively.

Start Wallace and go after Beasley in the low post.  (do it if KG plays as well)

Agreed -- there is no way that Beasley or Haslem can adequately defend Rasheed Wallace in the low post. The Celtics first option, if not KG, should be starting Sheed.

My second option would Brian Scalabrine. His team defense and ability to check Beasley would be valuable.

[twinbree]

That's an interesting idea but Doc will probably prefer to start with a regular size line-up. I hope he considers starting Scal instead of Sheed if KG is suspended because I think Sheed is too old to handle all those minutes.

[celticinorlando]

rondo-------arroyo
ray  ---------richardson
tony----------wade
PP------------beasley
Perk----------O neal


let Q or nate play #2 point. sheed, baby off the bench...boston would be better served going small like this. they can get away with it because the heat have ZERO inside game

[ben]

Start Sheed, he will destroy beasley

[Who]

I would be worried about Beasley in a small ball lineup. He doesn't have a post game against bigger opposition but I think if he saw Paul Pierce down on the block ... he'd happily go down there and be a very effective weapon.

Beasley enjoys playing against smaller players, feels more comfortable against them in the post. That is why he wanted to play small forward minutes in the past. Only, in this scenario, the paint wouldn't be clogged with two other big men. He'd have a lot of space to punish a smaller defender.

It could give Miami the second option their offense sorely needs.

-----------------------------------------------

I also worry about any switches, particularly off the pick and roll ... which could leave Ray, Rondo or Tony defending Beasley below the foul line.

Celtics would have to send immediate double teams in those situations.

[BudweiserCeltic]

As long as we stop playing through Perk I'm fine with whatever to tell the truth. Posting up Perk is really damaging our offensive flow. I thought he and Baby hurt us a lot in the first half, and Perk in the first part of the third quarter (though admittedly, he also had some good scores early on).

Rondo had to be blamed quite a bit too, but he was sick and his energy was all over the place the whole game.

But going that much to Perk, killed Pierce, and we were lucky to have him wake-up. Ray too, but it was clear that he was having a bad game himself with his shot quite flat(he also got the nose bleeding, and I don't know how much that affected him).

But as always, lack of ball movement and good decision making from our PG hurts Ray the most.

[Coach]

If KG is suspended (as I think he will be), would you give any consideration to going small by starting TA? The benefit would be to have TA play Wade fir more if the game, allowing Ray to focus more on offense. Beasley isn't a particularly big PF so perhaps PP can hold his own (while giving beasley problems on the other end).. We can then keep our bigs rotation off the bench in tact while giving more minutes to finley, quis, or nate.

Thoughts?

I think we should go with the small line up for about 20 mins tonight, I like Rondo, TA, Ray, PP, Rasheed Lineup.  I think that PP can hold his own, and would give him a great matchup on the offesive end.  He would torch Beasley...

[Coach]

I also worry about any switches, particularly off the pick and roll ... which could leave Ray, Rondo or Tony defending Beasley below the foul line.

Celtics would have to send immediate double teams in those situations.

How would this be different then if we had a "big" line up on?  If you switch the 2 - 4 pick and roll, you would still have a mis-match.   The key is not to switch it, but to have who ever is guarding Wade to slide under the pick, never over, and never switch..

[Who]

I also worry about any switches, particularly off the pick and roll ... which could leave Ray, Rondo or Tony defending Beasley below the foul line.

Celtics would have to send immediate double teams in those situations.

How would this be different then if we had a "big" line up on?  If you switch the 2 - 4 pick and roll, you would still have a mis-match.   The key is not to switch it, but to have who ever is guarding Wade to slide under the pick, never over, and never switch..

The only difference is one position -- small forward can switch if Pierce is there.

[2short]

I know Davis is going to start but my initial thought was to start daniels & PP at forwards.  Both are good defenders and can fill fastbreak lanes.
Beasley has good speed and I'm not sure davis & sheed can stay with him.  On the other side of coin beasley can't guard sheed on the low post...wait why is davis starting?