waddya say we stop blaming Sheed for last years lack of effort now.

[moiso]

What worries me is the early injuries. Being older means you are just not as tough as you used to be and more easily injured. What is the solution? I sure don't know. I think Doc wants to win a championship again and this is what he thinks about. They may very well cruise a lot for the regular season to save the old people from injuries. They were pretty beat up on last game.

Taking it easy seems counterproductive to avoiding injuries.  To me it seems better to go all out, get a huge lead, then watch from the bench.  Not only does it give the starters more rest, but some of the bench guys like Semih, Bradley, and Harangody would get some extra minutes to develop.

[Chris]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard. 

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track. 

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

[wahz]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard.  

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track.  

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

The Lakers are 12-2 so they are doing a better job playing on cruise control than the Celtics.
Let me put it a different way: the Celtics aren't making the connection between half hearted regular season efforts and losing a title. Id make them watch the 7th game of the Lakers series every day and the Lakers celebration until they showed more consistent effort. But any way the coach can communicate the idea that half efforts = no title is good by me.

[Chris]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard.  

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track.  

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

The Lakers are 12-2 so they are doing a better job playing on cruise control than the Celtics.
Let me put it a different way: the Celtics aren't making the connection between half hearted regular season efforts and losing a title. Id make them watch the 7th game of the Lakers series every day and the Lakers celebration until they showed more consistent effort. But any way the coach can communicate the idea that half efforts = no title is good by me.

The Lakers also have had an easier road so far than the C's, so I am not going to put that much stock in them being 2 games up on them. 

The C's were doing just fine until Rondo went down with a minor injury.  Not blowing teams out, but they were winning.  I am sure the Lakers will have a stretch or two when Kobe or Pau miss a few games, and they drop a couple gimmes as well. 

I think they connection they are failing to make is what it takes to win games in the regular season, rather than how important the wins are...because I think they have every desire to win these games.  So perhaps they should be watching film on all of the games they lost last year during the regular season to be reminded that they can't cruise and still win every game.

[PosImpos]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard.  

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track.  

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

The Lakers are 12-2 so they are doing a better job playing on cruise control than the Celtics.
Let me put it a different way: the Celtics aren't making the connection between half hearted regular season efforts and losing a title. Id make them watch the 7th game of the Lakers series every day and the Lakers celebration until they showed more consistent effort. But any way the coach can communicate the idea that half efforts = no title is good by me.

The Lakers are able to win regular season games more easily because of their combination of front court talent (Pau, Odom, Artest, and Bynum when healthy).  Their front court is relatively young and in their prime, which means they have more energy and effort available for the lesser squads.  

In other words, the Lakers don't have to rely heavily on Kobe in order to be a dominant regular season team.  If they had to rely on Kobe in order to win every night, they'd probably face similar struggles.  

But they don't.  They have an All-Star front court with superior size, length, and relative youth (compared to the Celtics).

It also helps that two of the current leading MVP candidates are on the Lakers.  That plus the strong play they're getting from Barnes and Brown off the bench, and it's easy to see that the Lakers are clearly the more talented team - at least right now.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

Agreed.

It's clear this team doesn't care to get up for lesser talented opponents. Oh well.

[vinnie]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard.  

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track.  

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

The Lakers are 12-2 so they are doing a better job playing on cruise control than the Celtics.
Let me put it a different way: the Celtics aren't making the connection between half hearted regular season efforts and losing a title. Id make them watch the 7th game of the Lakers series every day and the Lakers celebration until they showed more consistent effort. But any way the coach can communicate the idea that half efforts = no title is good by me.

The Lakers also have had an easier road so far than the C's, so I am not going to put that much stock in them being 2 games up on them. 

The C's were doing just fine until Rondo went down with a minor injury.  Not blowing teams out, but they were winning.  I am sure the Lakers will have a stretch or two when Kobe or Pau miss a few games, and they drop a couple gimmes as well. 

I think they connection they are failing to make is what it takes to win games in the regular season, rather than how important the wins are...because I think they have every desire to win these games.  So perhaps they should be watching film on all of the games they lost last year during the regular season to be reminded that they can't cruise and still win every game.

Lakers have not had Bynum at all this year and Kobe is still recovering from offseason knee surgery and they still are 12-2. They demolished Golden State last night while the Celts were unable to beat the lowly Raptors. Not saying this will have any bearing on who wins the championship, but I just wish the Celts put a little more effort into the regular season.

[j804]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard.  

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track.  

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

The Lakers are 12-2 so they are doing a better job playing on cruise control than the Celtics.
Let me put it a different way: the Celtics aren't making the connection between half hearted regular season efforts and losing a title. Id make them watch the 7th game of the Lakers series every day and the Lakers celebration until they showed more consistent effort. But any way the coach can communicate the idea that half efforts = no title is good by me.

The Lakers also have had an easier road so far than the C's, so I am not going to put that much stock in them being 2 games up on them. 

The C's were doing just fine until Rondo went down with a minor injury.  Not blowing teams out, but they were winning.  I am sure the Lakers will have a stretch or two when Kobe or Pau miss a few games, and they drop a couple gimmes as well. 

I think they connection they are failing to make is what it takes to win games in the regular season, rather than how important the wins are...because I think they have every desire to win these games.  So perhaps they should be watching film on all of the games they lost last year during the regular season to be reminded that they can't cruise and still win every game.

Lakers have not had Bynum at all this year and Kobe is still recovering from offseason knee surgery and they still are 12-2. They demolished Golden State last night while the Celts were unable to beat the lowly Raptors. Not saying this will have any bearing on who wins the championship, but I just wish the Celts put a little more effort into the regular season.

Agreed as much as I cant stand them right now the Lakers are playing great and makings things look easy. They put away teams they are supposed to, play inside out basketball. Something we dont do, why we stopped going to KG in the post and only Shaq to start games off boggles me.

[housecall]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Two things.

First, I agree that Sheed has gotten unfairly blamed for this stuff...but he is just such an easy target!

Second, I don't think they don't care about the wins.  I think they just feel like they can cruise through 3+ quarters, keep it close, and then turn it on at the end and win.  They want to win these games, but they have convinced themselves that they can win them without working all that hard.  

Honestly, I am not that concerned, because I think if Rondo is healthy, they will win more of these games than they did last year, simply because they are a deeper and better team overall.  The last couple games, losing Rondo really hurt them down the stretch, but once he is back, I think they will be back on track.  

They are still not going to be blowing a lot of teams out, but since the other top teams have a similar cruise control thing going at the moment, they should remain in the race for top record.

The Lakers are 12-2 so they are doing a better job playing on cruise control than the Celtics.
Let me put it a different way: the Celtics aren't making the connection between half hearted regular season efforts and losing a title. Id make them watch the 7th game of the Lakers series every day and the Lakers celebration until they showed more consistent effort. But any way the coach can communicate the idea that half efforts = no title is good by me.

The Lakers also have had an easier road so far than the C's, so I am not going to put that much stock in them being 2 games up on them. 

The C's were doing just fine until Rondo went down with a minor injury.  Not blowing teams out, but they were winning.  I am sure the Lakers will have a stretch or two when Kobe or Pau miss a few games, and they drop a couple gimmes as well. 

I think they connection they are failing to make is what it takes to win games in the regular season, rather than how important the wins are...because I think they have every desire to win these games.  So perhaps they should be watching film on all of the games they lost last year during the regular season to be reminded that they can't cruise and still win every game.

Lakers have not had Bynum at all this year and Kobe is still recovering from offseason knee surgery and they still are 12-2. They demolished Golden State last night while the Celts were unable to beat the lowly Raptors. Not saying this will have any bearing on who wins the championship, but I just wish the Celts put a little more effort into the regular season.

Agreed as much as I cant stand them right now the Lakers are playing great and makings things look easy. They put away teams they are supposed to, play inside out basketball. Something we dont do, why we stopped going to KG in the post and only Shaq to start games off boggles me.

I agree...very inconsistent to this point.tp

[CelticSooner]

Just give it time and the Lakers will start losing games similar to how the C's are right now. Thing is they may be too far ahead in the standings for it to matter. C's need to put these teams away early and stop trying to win them late. It's just too dangerous, as we've already seen with the no call against Ray.

[kg is king]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Well surprise surprise LA is not undefeated. Please, there has been a connection on this board that whenever the Celtics lose, it is due to a lack of effort. I do not know if this is stemmed from the perception that if you have more talent than other teams, then you must win every single game. If you don't win, then it's due to a lack of effort. Off nights can happen, and this is also why playoffs are formated in series, not single game elimination. The reason being the more talented team "should" win, but even then there are numerous other factors. This pattern of cheering and praising this team's awesomeness when they win (particularly when they blow teams out), and lauding them and blaming the efforts issue when they lose is starting to get annoying...

Just my two cents

[vinnie]

Which leaves us with little other choice to blame Ray(joking).
I don't know what to think, frankly. They have it in their heads that these games don't matter but the margin of error in a short series at the end of the season is so close that without home court you have enough of a disadvantage that blowing these games is more likely than not to cost you a title. LA seems to get it don't they?

Well surprise surprise LA is not undefeated. Please, there has been a connection on this board that whenever the Celtics lose, it is due to a lack of effort. I do not know if this is stemmed from the perception that if you have more talent than other teams, then you must win every single game. If you don't win, then it's due to a lack of effort. Off nights can happen, and this is also why playoffs are formated in series, not single game elimination. The reason being the more talented team "should" win, but even then there are numerous other factors. This pattern of cheering and praising this team's awesomeness when they win (particularly when they blow teams out), and lauding them and blaming the efforts issue when they lose is starting to get annoying...

Just my two cents

In my opinion, lack of effort = poor defense, which is why they lost the last two games. They played defense in only two of the eight quarters.

[NoraG1]

whadya say we all overreact to 2 losses? Wait that has already happened

[fairweatherfan]

whadya say we all overreact to 2 losses? Wait that has already happened

You think that's bad?  I have it on good authority that we've already lost by 30 tonight.  And that we've lost the next 2 after that too.

[tenn_smoothie]

I dont think it was Sheed, it was simply that this group of players is extremely arrogant and cocky. Rondo is one of the cockiest people ive ever seen, Pierce is cocky enough to tweet taunts after games including all of last years playoffs, Ray Allen, as profesional as he may seem is cocky in his own right. Garnett is probably the cockiest and most arrogant person in the NBA.

This group knows they are good enough to win when it matters, and they couldnt care less about what the fans think.

It sucks, but we just have to deal with it. Our team is a bunch of cocky, arrogant NBA veterans and they have decided to give half-ass effort during the regular season.

yeah, they are cocky ............ and after two losses they go down to atlanta and make up their minds to play and blow the hawks out of the water shorthanded two starters and one key bench player.


no wonder they are cocky.

problem being, when they have to play a team close to their level in the playoffs without home court advantage, these losses can end up costing ............ and as strong as this Celtics team is, they have always had a tendency to struggle at times offensively. i remember evn during the title year talking about how painful they were to watch on offense. they still are at times.