3 Dumb Plays

[droopdog7]

I think you missed the dumbest play of all. With 6 or 7 minutes left Rondo inexplicably doubled Dwight Howard and Dwight quickly found Jason Williams for a three, and that's what started that whole fourth quarter near collapse. Just no reason for that, your plan for single coverage was working all game.

This.

[droopdog7]

I think you missed the dumbest play of all. With 6 or 7 minutes left Rondo inexplicably doubled Dwight Howard and Dwight quickly found Jason Williams for a three, and that's what started that whole fourth quarter near collapse. Just no reason for that, your plan for single coverage was working all game.

That I will agree was a bad play, though it might have been designed out of the time out as a way to show Howard a different look and steal a turnover. Can't tell. It almost seemed scripted.

Doc came out and said it was not what they wanted and that Rondo did it on his own.

[nickagneta]

I think you missed the dumbest play of all. With 6 or 7 minutes left Rondo inexplicably doubled Dwight Howard and Dwight quickly found Jason Williams for a three, and that's what started that whole fourth quarter near collapse. Just no reason for that, your plan for single coverage was working all game.

That I will agree was a bad play, though it might have been designed out of the time out as a way to show Howard a different look and steal a turnover. Can't tell. It almost seemed scripted.

Doc came out and said it was not what they wanted and that Rondo did it on his own.

TP then Dumb play. I agree.

[EJPLAYA]

Sorry guys, but I still disagree about Ray's play. At that point they were about a minute and a half and we were still up about 10. Ray has a history of turning over the ball against smaller guys as he goes to the basket. Nelson was squarely in front of him and a very pesky defender. He should have pulled the ball out and reset. That would have taken 2-3 of those possessions by the Magic at the end away from them as it would have run off about 18-20 more seconds. They were instantly fouling everyone at the very end and that is about what we were having come off the clock. It is one thing if he is wide open going to the rim. Another when he is being defended. That being said, I thought Ray played a very good game overall. Rondo had a rough one. I'd rather get that out of his system with a win though!

[Drucci]

I think you missed the dumbest play of all. With 6 or 7 minutes left Rondo inexplicably doubled Dwight Howard and Dwight quickly found Jason Williams for a three, and that's what started that whole fourth quarter near collapse. Just no reason for that, your plan for single coverage was working all game.

That I will agree was a bad play, though it might have been designed out of the time out as a way to show Howard a different look and steal a turnover. Can't tell. It almost seemed scripted.

Doc came out and said it was not what they wanted and that Rondo did it on his own.

TP then Dumb play. I agree.

Yeah I remember that play, it made me cringe and the Magic went on an offensive roll after that three. Poor decision by Rondo, especially when you consider Dwight had missed his 3 previous shots when he played one on one.

[EJPLAYA]

I think you missed the dumbest play of all. With 6 or 7 minutes left Rondo inexplicably doubled Dwight Howard and Dwight quickly found Jason Williams for a three, and that's what started that whole fourth quarter near collapse. Just no reason for that, your plan for single coverage was working all game.

I agree with this as well. Should have been 4 dumb plays… 3 of them by Rondo. I think with his Cleveland and Miami series though we can give him a pass for now.    

Clock management is kind of tough when you play like he does,  100 miles an hour. He'll learn.

[Tai]

Rondo needs more rest. He played 46 minutes today but the last 12 minutes were full of bad decisions and slow play. You can tell that Rondo's tired when he couldn't even win a jump ball against Redick.

Yeah, I agree. Is Nate THAT useless that we can't give him time? I mean, sure Howard wouldn't have to jump to block him, but surely he can make 3's!

[nickagneta]

Rondo needs more rest. He played 46 minutes today but the last 12 minutes were full of bad decisions and slow play. You can tell that Rondo's tired when he couldn't even win a jump ball against Redick.

Yeah, I agree. Is Nate THAT useless that we can't give him time? I mean, sure Howard wouldn't have to jump to block him, but surely he can make 3's!

At this point, I'll trust Doc's judgment on Nate and apparently Doc feels he is that useless. At some point people need to start trusting Doc's decisions. He won the title in 08. Took a clearly overmatched team with an injury decimated front court into the second round of the playoffs and nearly knocked off the team that went to the Finals and now, this year, after saying all year that he just had to get everyone healthy for the playoffs and that then this team would roll, has been 100% right and without homecourt knocked off Cleveland and is now one up on Orlando.

If Doc isn't playing him because he doesn't trust him and Doc has decided that the starters and Baby, Shhed and Tony is the eight man rotation he is going to ride to a championship, that's okay by me.

[Neurotic Guy]

The odds seemed to be with Ray making something good out of the play.  As it played out, it went off his leg right to Reddick and we needed a hustle play to get the jump ball.  That play -- if went the C's way for either the possession or basket would have sealed it. 

Also could have sealed it if the great steal off Nelson by Rondo had been caught rather than kicked by KG -- also could have nicked Nelson as it went out of bounds rather than missing him by a hair.

Also, Baby could have out-rebounded VC not once but twice on VC's putback. That would have been huge.

Also, could have boxed out Nelson after the VC FT miss.

Bottom line is that we expected Magic to make a run and they did.  In the end, We held them off -- but a few breaks either way could have either given the Magic a chance to win or could have sealed it earlier for the C's.  It's basketball -- no game is perfect.  I am ecstatic for the win. On the road against (once again) the 'best team in the NBA'.

And Rondo will eat Nelson for dinner at some point in this series. 

[Brendan]

The Celtics offense goes down the drain in the 4th quarter all the time. Primarily due to Pierce, Allen, and KG (Hollinger had an article on this.) I think Rondo was pressing a bit too much and trying to figure out how to attack and compensate for Dwight.

The team really didn't play great in the first two quarters. They could have made this a laugher - I'm hoping the close ending is a good "teachable moment" and the C's keep their boots on the Magic necks next time.

[CoachBo]

Rondo needs more rest. He played 46 minutes today but the last 12 minutes were full of bad decisions and slow play. You can tell that Rondo's tired when he couldn't even win a jump ball against Redick.

Yeah, I agree. Is Nate THAT useless that we can't give him time? I mean, sure Howard wouldn't have to jump to block him, but surely he can make 3's!

At this point, I'll trust Doc's judgment on Nate and apparently Doc feels he is that useless. At some point people need to start trusting Doc's decisions. He won the title in 08. Took a clearly overmatched team with an injury decimated front court into the second round of the playoffs and nearly knocked off the team that went to the Finals and now, this year, after saying all year that he just had to get everyone healthy for the playoffs and that then this team would roll, has been 100% right and without homecourt knocked off Cleveland and is now one up on Orlando.

If Doc isn't playing him because he doesn't trust him and Doc has decided that the starters and Baby, Shhed and Tony is the eight man rotation he is going to ride to a championship, that's okay by me.

Ditto.

I'm wondering what anyone could have seen about Robinson in the regular season to make them think he's anything BUT useless, frankly. The guy would give up points to air on the defensive end.

[guava_wrench]

The Celtics offense goes down the drain in the 4th quarter all the time. Primarily due to Pierce, Allen, and KG (Hollinger had an article on this.) I think Rondo was pressing a bit too much and trying to figure out how to attack and compensate for Dwight.

The team really didn't play great in the first two quarters. They could have made this a laugher - I'm hoping the close ending is a good "teachable moment" and the C's keep their boots on the Magic necks next time.

We actually played great early on. The way Ray was getting to the rim was incredible. He was also doing this against a good defensive team.

I'm not sure we should expect much better against Orlando than we had early on during games when the refs are reluctant to blow the whistle on borderline calls. This is to our advantage though, since we are the masters of mauling defense.

[BudweiserCeltic]

The Celtics offense goes down the drain in the 4th quarter all the time. Primarily due to Pierce, Allen, and KG (Hollinger had an article on this.) I think Rondo was pressing a bit too much and trying to figure out how to attack and compensate for Dwight.

The team really didn't play great in the first two quarters. They could have made this a laugher - I'm hoping the close ending is a good "teachable moment" and the C's keep their boots on the Magic necks next time.

I disagree. The main problem in the 4th has been Rondo's decision making, poor pace setting, and play calling.

He's aggressive throughout the whole game, and then stops. He's the PG, the offense is in his hands since the playoffs in 08 (which was a mistake then).

[vinnie]

Rondo absolutely must get more rest as this series moves along.

[CoachBo]

Rondo has a tendency to play the clock, rather than the scoreboard, with a lead.

With that said, this was not his best game from an attacking standpoint - at all.