Doc Handed LA The Game!

[FallGuy]

It's so easy to blame the coach when the shots don't drop. If Ray shot a horrible 30% from the field tonight and a bad 25% from three by making 2 three pointers and 2 non three pointers and went 2 for 8 from three and 4 for 13 from the field, Doc is a genius and the Celtics win.

Just four baskets. Just four baskets by a guy who if he takes 13 shots usually makes 6.

That's the difference between Doc being an idiot and Doc being a genius.

Amazing how that happens!!

Exactly. Anyone who thought Doc blew the game last night either wasn't paying attention or doesn't know basketball.

[Spilling Green Dye]

It's so easy to blame the coach when the shots don't drop. If Ray shot a horrible 30% from the field tonight and a bad 25% from three by making 2 three pointers and 2 non three pointers and went 2 for 8 from three and 4 for 13 from the field, Doc is a genius and the Celtics win.

Just four baskets. Just four baskets by a guy who if he takes 13 shots usually makes 6.

That's the difference between Doc being an idiot and Doc being a genius.

Amazing how that happens!!

Exactly. Anyone who thought Doc blew the game last night either wasn't paying attention or doesn't know basketball.

I know basketball, I was paying attention, and yet I disagree with you.  I personally think Doc blew it.

While it could be said that coaching doesn't determine if Ray's shots go in or not, good coaching makes adjustments based upon who is hot/cold and where the offense is. 

Let me ask you guys this:  If at a key junction in game 2 they went away from Ray and forced the ball to a struggling Pierce, would you think that's a good gameplan?  No.  And yet it was clear that Ray, 0 for 12 at that point and 0 for 7 from three-pointer, was dead cold.  Pierce on the other hand was clutch, and 3 for 4 from downtown.  Yet they ran a play for Ray out of the timeout.  That's bad coaching.

There were many other mysterious moves that really cost the Celtics, and Doc is to blame for them.  A few of those bad coaching moves:

-Removing KG early in the 1st quarter when he was clearly playing better than anyone on the court.

-Allowing a lineup to consist of 4 bench players early in the game, which led to LA's run.

-Pulling KG early in the 3rd quarter when he was once again the best player on the court. 

-Not going to KG down the stretch.

-Playing Glen Davis WAY too long in the 4th quarter.  He became a defensive liability, and for every finish around the hoop he'd either give up a basket on the other end, or get a turnover.  Perkins would have been a slight upgrade over (and fresher), and Rasheed would have been a much bigger upgrade overall. 

Bad coaching.

[connerhenry43]

the only issue i had was him taking garnett out in the first quarter with 6 minutes to play when KG was rolling...then PP got the foul and boston had a line up that allowed the lakers to go on that huge 21-6 run. should have kept KG in the game. I had no problem bringing ray in. tony was gassed and i always think ray's next 3 is going to drop...i didn't like the quick 3 by ray from the corner with 1:30 to play and boston down 4. i would have played through KG

could not agree with this more. i know kg is not rondo and cannot play 46 minutes, but this was arguably his best game of the playoffs and he gets 32 minutes? let him play the first quarter, or at least until the initial fast start cools off.

[Celtics18]

Im not a coach but i can see that Paul Pierce whos your best player comes in and hits a big 3 pointer and the game is close what happens next? you keep calling plays for Ray Allen who played crappy defense and was terrible offensively all game long? he didnt even make a free throw? Phil Jackson was going with Odom it was easy for Pierce to just dribble to the basket and get fouled every possession!

Call me crazy if you want but Doc layed an egg! Tony was killing Bryant defensively and took him out of the game Ray couldn't defend Fisher or Bryant all game long and he keeps him in the game but the bigger question is when the game is on the freaking line you call plays for your hall of famer and best player in green not a jump shooter and live with jump shots!

"(Ray Allen) didn't even make a free throw."

Clearly, Ray had a horrible game, but he was in fact two for two from the charity stripe.

I know it seems like a small detail to pick on you about, but lazy posts with untruths by overexuberant boobs happen to be a pet peeve of mine.

[Andy Jick]

Two thoughts on this thread...

1) the refs had too much of an influence on this game.  it had no flow - very choppy - and that's hard to play in (if you've ever played the game of basketball).

2) shots just didn't fall.

so how do you blame Doc for this?  Funny how Doc goes from genius to idiot in the matter of 48 hours...

I will blame Doc for ONE thing: putting BBD on Gasol.  He can't guard him, and that killed us late.  Bad substitution pattern, but the rest I put on the players, and I'll also give the Lakers credit...they earned that one.

[nickagneta]

It's so easy to blame the coach when the shots don't drop. If Ray shot a horrible 30% from the field tonight and a bad 25% from three by making 2 three pointers and 2 non three pointers and went 2 for 8 from three and 4 for 13 from the field, Doc is a genius and the Celtics win.

Just four baskets. Just four baskets by a guy who if he takes 13 shots usually makes 6.

That's the difference between Doc being an idiot and Doc being a genius.

Amazing how that happens!!

Exactly. Anyone who thought Doc blew the game last night either wasn't paying attention or doesn't know basketball.

I know basketball, I was paying attention, and yet I disagree with you.  I personally think Doc blew it.

While it could be said that coaching doesn't determine if Ray's shots go in or not, good coaching makes adjustments based upon who is hot/cold and where the offense is. 

Let me ask you guys this:  If at a key junction in game 2 they went away from Ray and forced the ball to a struggling Pierce, would you think that's a good gameplan?  No.  And yet it was clear that Ray, 0 for 12 at that point and 0 for 7 from three-pointer, was dead cold.  Pierce on the other hand was clutch, and 3 for 4 from downtown.  Yet they ran a play for Ray out of the timeout.  That's bad coaching.

There were many other mysterious moves that really cost the Celtics, and Doc is to blame for them.  A few of those bad coaching moves:

-Removing KG early in the 1st quarter when he was clearly playing better than anyone on the court.

-Allowing a lineup to consist of 4 bench players early in the game, which led to LA's run.

-Pulling KG early in the 3rd quarter when he was once again the best player on the court. 

-Not going to KG down the stretch.

-Playing Glen Davis WAY too long in the 4th quarter.  He became a defensive liability, and for every finish around the hoop he'd either give up a basket on the other end, or get a turnover.  Perkins would have been a slight upgrade over (and fresher), and Rasheed would have been a much bigger upgrade overall. 

Bad coaching.

I agree with the Davis too long oin the fourth quarter part. Bad move.

That said you are missing the unsaid point of my comment.

When the Celtics lose, fans want to point blame. Fans for the most part are clueless about basketball as compared to an NBA coach. Sorry, that's just a fact and I'm sorry if anyone is insulted but it's just a fact that we are morons, basketball wise as compared to an NBA coach.

The easiest guy to blame for fans is always the coach.

But if one player hits a couple of more shots or another player plays defense just a bit better and creates a couple of stops or if a call or two goes the other way, well then, there's no one to blame because the Celtics won. Suddenly the idiot coach that lost is transformed into the genius coach that kept that player in or made that substitution or whatever.

Ray Allen may just have had the biggest Jekyll and Hyde back to back shooting performance in the history of NBA playoff basketball. Simply put if Ray goes 3 for 13 with 1 three pointer and 2 non three pointers and has a simply dreadful shooting night, it's a tie game. How stupid is Doc then?

I am firmly convinced that the fan's perception of a coach's performance is completely based on the performance of his players. In this case, Ray Allen, who Doc relied on to not have a historically ridiculous up and down two game swing made doc look like a genius one night and an idiot the next.

[Spilling Green Dye]

Two thoughts on this thread...

1) the refs had too much of an influence on this game.  it had no flow - very choppy - and that's hard to play in (if you've ever played the game of basketball).

2) shots just didn't fall.

so how do you blame Doc for this?  Funny how Doc goes from genius to idiot in the matter of 48 hours...

I will blame Doc for ONE thing: putting BBD on Gasol.  He can't guard him, and that killed us late.  Bad substitution pattern, but the rest I put on the players, and I'll also give the Lakers credit...they earned that one.

I never thought Doc was a genious after game 2 b/c of Ray's shots.  And see my post above:  Doc failed b/c he did not make the necessary in game adjustments to account for Ray's lack of shooting, or anything else that was happening in game.

[Spilling Green Dye]

It's so easy to blame the coach when the shots don't drop. If Ray shot a horrible 30% from the field tonight and a bad 25% from three by making 2 three pointers and 2 non three pointers and went 2 for 8 from three and 4 for 13 from the field, Doc is a genius and the Celtics win.

Just four baskets. Just four baskets by a guy who if he takes 13 shots usually makes 6.

That's the difference between Doc being an idiot and Doc being a genius.

Amazing how that happens!!

Exactly. Anyone who thought Doc blew the game last night either wasn't paying attention or doesn't know basketball.

I know basketball, I was paying attention, and yet I disagree with you.  I personally think Doc blew it.

While it could be said that coaching doesn't determine if Ray's shots go in or not, good coaching makes adjustments based upon who is hot/cold and where the offense is. 

Let me ask you guys this:  If at a key junction in game 2 they went away from Ray and forced the ball to a struggling Pierce, would you think that's a good gameplan?  No.  And yet it was clear that Ray, 0 for 12 at that point and 0 for 7 from three-pointer, was dead cold.  Pierce on the other hand was clutch, and 3 for 4 from downtown.  Yet they ran a play for Ray out of the timeout.  That's bad coaching.

There were many other mysterious moves that really cost the Celtics, and Doc is to blame for them.  A few of those bad coaching moves:

-Removing KG early in the 1st quarter when he was clearly playing better than anyone on the court.

-Allowing a lineup to consist of 4 bench players early in the game, which led to LA's run.

-Pulling KG early in the 3rd quarter when he was once again the best player on the court. 

-Not going to KG down the stretch.

-Playing Glen Davis WAY too long in the 4th quarter.  He became a defensive liability, and for every finish around the hoop he'd either give up a basket on the other end, or get a turnover.  Perkins would have been a slight upgrade over (and fresher), and Rasheed would have been a much bigger upgrade overall. 

Bad coaching.

I agree with the Davis too long oin the fourth quarter part. Bad move.

That said you are missing the unsaid point of my comment.

When the Celtics lose, fans want to point blame. Fans for the most part are clueless about basketball as compared to an NBA coach. Sorry, that's just a fact and I'm sorry if anyone is insulted but it's just a fact that we are morons, basketball wise as compared to an NBA coach.

The easiest guy to blame for fans is always the coach.

But if one player hits a couple of more shots or another player plays defense just a bit better and creates a couple of stops or if a call or two goes the other way, well then, there's no one to blame because the Celtics won. Suddenly the idiot coach that lost is transformed into the genius coach that kept that player in or made that substitution or whatever.

Ray Allen may just have had the biggest Jekyll and Hyde back to back shooting performance in the history of NBA playoff basketball. Simply put if Ray goes 3 for 13 with 1 three pointer and 2 non three pointers and has a simply dreadful shooting night, it's a tie game. How stupid is Doc then?

I am firmly convinced that the fan's perception of a coach's performance is completely based on the performance of his players. In this case, Ray Allen, who Doc relied on to not have a historically ridiculous up and down two game swing made doc look like a genius one night and an idiot the next.

I get the point of your post, and not once did I think Doc was a genius after game 2.  But I did think, during the game, that his substitutions and the gameplan were better.  Had Ray hit that final 3-point attempt, I would not have thought Doc was a genius.  I would have thought he was lucky considering how cold Ray had been.  During game 3, at multiple junctions, I thought Doc was making awful moves.  I did not think that during game 2, and it wasn't b/c the shots were falling.

It is true that there are many things we as fans don't see or know.  Perhaps KG asked to come out, etc.  But based upon how the game was going, IMO it was not best to keep doing the same thing.  Some minor adjustments needed to be made, and they weren't at all.

[Chief]

I've gained a lot of respect for Doc's coaching during these playoffs. However, last night he gambled a few times and it may have cost the Celtics the game and perhaps the series. You can't continue to go with a guy who is 0-11 and you can't have Big Baby guarding Gasol down the stretch. Rasheed has proven to be the best Gasol stopper and Tony the best Kobe stopper. With Rondo, Pierce, and KG playing well on offense in the 4th, Doc should have went with the safer rotation.

[bobdelt]

The 2nd quarter was terrible, posting up big baby against bynum, and Nate just dribbling around. No offense at all.

I didnt understand his strategy there.

That wasn't Doc's strategy.

Doc chose the line up. Doc chose to pull KG, Paul and Rondo a little early. With that set on the floor, there really wasnt much else they could do.

[Bankshot]

I've gained a lot of respect for Doc's coaching during these playoffs. However, last night he gambled a few times and it may have cost the Celtics the game and perhaps the series. You can't continue to go with a guy who is 0-11 and you can't have Big Baby guarding Gasol down the stretch. Rasheed has proven to be the best Gasol stopper and Tony the best Kobe stopper. With Rondo, Pierce, and KG playing well on offense in the 4th, Doc should have went with the safer rotation.

Wasn't Baby guarding Odom down the stretch? 

[Chief]

I've gained a lot of respect for Doc's coaching during these playoffs. However, last night he gambled a few times and it may have cost the Celtics the game and perhaps the series. You can't continue to go with a guy who is 0-11 and you can't have Big Baby guarding Gasol down the stretch. Rasheed has proven to be the best Gasol stopper and Tony the best Kobe stopper. With Rondo, Pierce, and KG playing well on offense in the 4th, Doc should have went with the safer rotation.

Wasn't Baby guarding Odom down the stretch? 

Most of the time. I do remember a key moment in the 4th when Gasol shot right over Baby.  Must have been a switch. I'd prefered KG to guard Odom and Rasheed on Gasol.

[angryguy77]

I've gained a lot of respect for Doc's coaching during these playoffs. However, last night he gambled a few times and it may have cost the Celtics the game and perhaps the series. You can't continue to go with a guy who is 0-11 and you can't have Big Baby guarding Gasol down the stretch. Rasheed has proven to be the best Gasol stopper and Tony the best Kobe stopper. With Rondo, Pierce, and KG playing well on offense in the 4th, Doc should have went with the safer rotation.

TP-my thoughts exactly.

[Chris]

While I was frustrated last night as well, the fact is, what has gotten Doc where is today has a lot to do with never losing confidence in his stars.  It has worked many times before that no matter how bad they were earlier in the game, they come up big in the biggest moments.  Last night it didn't happen, and it is easy to second guess, however, given the amount of success he has had by playing it the same way he did last night, I am giving Doc a Mulligan. 

[guava_wrench]

The 2nd quarter was terrible, posting up big baby against bynum, and Nate just dribbling around. No offense at all.

I didnt understand his strategy there.

That wasn't Doc's strategy.

Doc chose the line up. Doc chose to pull KG, Paul and Rondo a little early. With that set on the floor, there really wasnt much else they could do.

He was getting guys rest. If Ray wasn't so off, we would have tied the game. The problem was missed shots, not any one lineup.

If you want to get Rondo rest, you will have to try some suboptimal lineups that will work with a lower frequency than sticking with starters for long minutes.

When Jackson puts in his bench players and we outscore them, is he handing us the game? Of course not. He is giving his starters rest so that they have something left at the end. Do you want to play Rondo 48 minutes every game?

And what is new about BBD's approach? Didn't the same BBD aggressiveness actually work in the second half?