Time to get offensive

[jdz101]

It's been well-advertised that Boston leads the NBA in shooting percentage, and has for pretty much the whole season, so it's been puzzling to me exactly why they struggle so often to put up decent point totals. Then I heard an intriguing stat during last night's game: the Celtics are dead last in the NBA in field-goal attempts (I think it was 75 a game). It's great to have a high shooting percentage, but Boston's gotta find a way to kick the offense up a notch or two, because anytime the C's DON'T shoot well, it presents a double-whammy: low # of attempts plus a low shooting % ... which leads to those atrocious 70-to-80-point games we've seen far too often this season.

And this is why I like the additions of Green, Krstic and Murphy. I realize that this team prides itself on defense, but it seems to me that it often does so at the expense of a decent offense -- thus leading to the overall detriment of the team (not to mention making its fans watch some ugly basketball).\

Boston still has KG, and there's no reason they can't still have a great team defense, and mold the new guys into good defensive players -- remember, after all, that Ray wasn't known for his defense before coming to Boston, and Pierce turned into a solid defender only after the Big 3 came together.

I can see what you mean but 43-15 aint a bad record so I dont see the need to fix something that aint broke. With Perk gone and Rondo getting a better jumper this team has really added talent offensively, especially with the Green, Krstic, Murphy additions.

However less shots means less effort required offensively on the boards, which means fresher bigs day to day. Quality over quantity.

[LooseCannon]

We don't play at a slow pace by design. We play slow because Rondo doesn't run constantly among other things. Doc is always shouting to push the ball. When we do, we're awesome. Our best performances, and by extension also Rondo's, is when he's pushing the ball for easy buckets.

Actually, the Celtics do play at a slow pace by design.  Doc's preference to get back on defense instead of crashing the offensive boards is intended to make it a slower half-court game and prevent things from turning into an up-and-down transition game.  Boston is supposed to score quick, easy buckets off of turnovers forced by the defense, but otherwise, the game is supposed to be a grind.

[BudweiserCeltic]

We don't play at a slow pace by design. We play slow because Rondo doesn't run constantly among other things. Doc is always shouting to push the ball. When we do, we're awesome. Our best performances, and by extension also Rondo's, is when he's pushing the ball for easy buckets.

Actually, the Celtics do play at a slow pace by design.  Doc's preference to get back on defense instead of crashing the offensive boards is intended to make it a slower half-court game and prevent things from turning into an up-and-down transition game.  Boston is supposed to score quick, easy buckets off of turnovers forced by the defense, but otherwise, the game is supposed to be a grind.

It's one thing to play carelessly, make ill advised passes from one half of the court to another, and not get back on defense. It's another to have your point-guard push the ball everytime he has the ball on his hands to look for easy opportunities. And if it's not there, then slow it down and look for a good shot.

Let me put it this way, the reason we aren't running more or pushing the ball more has nothing to do with a desire to play at a slower pace. This only happens when the team is being careless and being out of control, but one thing doesn't equate the other.