is this switch flipped theory bad for our future?

[openairmovie]

Yes they flipped the switch we can safely say now. But think about who is on this team...perk. bbd rondo. T.a.  guys who need to be leaders of some sort in our future if they are still around. So nw that they've seen they can take the regular season for granted and turn it on in the playoffs do you guys see this becoming an issue when the current vets. Kg paul and ray are gone?

[Redz]

I don't know if it's bad for individual teams, but it sure isn't great for the league.  As a fan, there were a whole bunch of games this year that I would not have liked to have paid for a ticket to see the product being presented on the floor.

Obviously I'm happy with the results, but I really despised effort the Celtics were giving. And yeh, I know "they were injured", but they also were routinely outhustled on their home floor, and certainly appeared to look like last night's Magic - "not wanting it more".

[More Banners]

I don't know if it's bad for individual teams, but it sure isn't great for the league.  As a fan, there were a whole bunch of games this year that I would not have liked to have paid for a ticket to see the product being presented on the floor.

Obviously I',m happy with the results, but I really despised effort the Celtics were giving. And yeh, I know "they were injured", but they also were routinely outhustled on their home floor, and certainly appeared to look like last night's Magic - "not wanting more".

TP.  A few articles have popped up in the media lately referring to making a "mockery" of the regular season.  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say a mockery was made of the fans who paid for the tickets to those games.  That they went at it half-assed in front of their home fans so often was insulting.

[cdif911]

I think most teams in the league "flip the switch" in some ways in the playoffs though - rotations change, defense gets better, overall quality of play generally goes up (though this year may be an exception - perhaps b/c the Celtics made such a dramatic flip of the switch, where others its a more marginal change) but teams do usually give it their all in the playoffs, as they should, where in the regular season coast a little bit - again not like the Celtics did this year, which is why its more obvious

[Bahku]

This team did not take the regular season for granted ... there were many reasons why the season wasn't as good as it could have been, but it wasn't because our team didn't try. I'm not worried at all about our future ... I think with Rondo leading, this team will be just fine, no matter how the personnel changes.

[Prof. Clutch]

I'm believing more and more that the C's regular season play was more a result of chemistry problems than flipping any switch.  I think the C's always wanted to win, I just think they struggled to know how to win.

[pengaloo]

I agree with many of you - I'm not convinced we really flipped any switches in the purest sense. Yes, it looks like we're much more focused out there, but I'm hearing from the players and coaches themselves that injuries as well as chemistry issues between Rondo and the vets were the main factors for our disappointing regular season play. Although I think Rasheed definitely flipped a switch .    

[reggie35]

I don't know if it's bad for individual teams, but it sure isn't great for the league.  As a fan, there were a whole bunch of games this year that I would not have liked to have paid for a ticket to see the product being presented on the floor.

Obviously I'm happy with the results, but I really despised effort the Celtics were giving. And yeh, I know "they were injured", but they also were routinely outhustled on their home floor, and certainly appeared to look like last night's Magic - "not wanting it more".

This is a great point. I think the league should shorten the regular season to 60 games and have two playoffs. One playoff system for the championship as they do now, and one playoff system for draft position.

This makes the regular season more important and makes things more exciting for fans of the lesser teams.

[CoachBo]

There wasn't any switch - it was a health thing, which the Celtics didn't do a great job of explaining to the fanbase, with a little chemistry factored in.

[MBunge]

There wasn't any switch - it was a health thing, which the Celtics didn't do a great job of explaining to the fanbase, with a little chemistry factored in.

Nah.  I'll admit that the health and chemistry issues were obviously more serious than I thought when I would get so frustrated with these Celts in the regular season, but there was also a mental aspect where this team just wasn't competing hard every game.  The proof is that any health or chemistry problems should have been worse on the road, yet the exact opposite was the case.

As for the "flip the switch" mentality, all great players and great teams raise their performance level in the post-season.  It's just not usually as stark as with this team.

Mike

[wdleehi]

What ever works for this team right now.

[BballTim]

There wasn't any switch - it was a health thing, which the Celtics didn't do a great job of explaining to the fanbase, with a little chemistry factored in.

  Health and cohesiveness. They had to get used to playing together, adjust to Rondo's being a bigger part of the offense, and re-adjust to their roles with a full squad.

[blackbird]

Similar to what others here have posted, I spent hundreds of dollars going to games this year and now I'm wishing I had saved my money for a couple of playoff tickets. If the players don't care about the regular season, then I won't either.

And so, I definitely won't go to as many games next year and I think that many other fans feel the same way. I don't think we'll see pathetic Philly- or Atlanta-style "crowds" in the garden, but who knows? If it starts to affect the bottom line, that will affect Wyc's willingness to pay the luxury tax.

[SamuelAdams]

I worry for the same reason that paying for regular season may be a chump play going forward.   We shouldn't forget the strain of the trade deadline had on the team.  

I am going down the path of appreciating Doc for his attitude of not caring about some regular season games if the team leaders needed rest AND good practices.   Doc said it and he was right.

[moiso]

Health was a huge factor but I really believe we did flip a switch.  You can't tell me we were playing this hard for 48minutes during the regular season.  The effort level is night and day. 
I am thankful that we did have a switch though, unlike Cleveland and Orlando.