How is this different from last year?

[Chris]

While the competition does look a little stronger this year, I would argue that if lighting does strike twice (which they are clearly counting on) and this team does get healthy just in time for the playoffs, then this team is significantly better than last years.

While we certainly miss Perkins, a big rotation of Shaq/JO/Krstic is at least as strong as Perkins/Sheed/Williams, and could even be stronger, depending on how Shaq and JO look.  And the backcourt depth is not even comparable.  West/Green/Arroyo is miles ahead of Allen/Daniels (who looked horrible after his wrist injury)/Nate.  

Again, none of this matters, if they don't get healthy, and things don't click again.  But I just don't think the differences are there.

[wahz]

I get what your saying but it is different:

1. Garnett looks better. The blocked dunks the last two nights notwithstanding. He "passes the eye test" and his stats tell us he is rebounding better.

2. Ray looked better until after the all star break.

3. Rondo looks worse but only lately.
4. Baby is much better and has a new spin move, but shoots too much and is a black hole.
5. We have a much deeper but quite fragile all new bench beyond Baby who we will enter into the playoffs with and all of them haven't played a ton this year: Delonte, Shaq, JO, Green Murphy Arroyo.
6. We have outplayed the better teams by more this year.
7. We have shown signs of the "switch" this year during the regular season.
8. Doc is more annoyed and imho its because this team was constructed for hc, but disruptions of all kinds have screwed that vision up.

[angryguy77]

I get what your saying but it is different:

1. Garnett looks better. The blocked dunks the last two nights notwithstanding. He "passes the eye test" and his stats tell us he is rebounding better.

2. Ray looked better until after the all star break.

3. Rondo looks worse but only lately.
4. Baby is much better and has a new spin move, but shoots too much and is a black hole.
5. We have a much deeper but quite fragile all new bench beyond Baby who we will enter into the playoffs with and all of them haven't played a ton this year: Delonte, Shaq, JO, Green Murphy Arroyo.
6. We have outplayed the better teams by more this year.
7. We have shown signs of the "switch" this year during the regular season.
8. Doc is more annoyed and imho its because this team was constructed for hc, but disruptions of all kinds have screwed that vision up.

Two huge things being overlooked by the fans.

[Chris]

Not sure about Doc being more annoyed.  He looked like he was ready to shoot Sheed and others at some points last season.  I think there is a little revisionist history going on there.

[chambers]

I agree 100%.
KG is so much better this year.
We've been without shaq for over 2 months.
what irks me the most is that people forget we are the number 1 defensive team this year- perkins has had nothing to do with that.
Even if he were out the entire season we'd still be number 1.
We are also the number 1 field goal percentage team.
People say our defense has gone to dust because of Krstic and no Perkins when I think it has much more to do with the new guys trying to adjust to the system whilst not having Shaq replacing Perkins as the enforcer.

2 most important things to me:
1) Rondo getting back to form- I have 100% faith this will happen when the time comes.
2)Shaq playing the entire playoffs at least 20 mins a game with JO backing him up with similar minutes.

[wahz]

Not sure about Doc being more annoyed.  He looked like he was ready to shoot Sheed and others at some points last season.  I think there is a little revisionist history going on there.

I couldn't disagree more. Even Doc says this isn't like last year and last year behavior was a planned event.

[Drucci]

Great post Chris, I don't understand the panic either because to me this is 99% like last year. Of course past success doesn't necessarily repeat itself and you could argue that the competition got better but I'm not sure it's true.

I think the biggest difference between this year's cruising and last year's is that last year was kind of legitimate because we never were totally healthy or full. This time we are missing the O'Neal brothers  (which is big) but it shocked many people (including me) to see that we went from having the #1 seed to being on the verge of slipping to 3rd place in... what? a week? Contrary to last season where we were pretty much set record-wise after February.

This is frustrating since we really are playing badly while there are still big things at stake but I'm not worried for the playoffs, I think Shaq and JO will be back in time to be productive during for the games that count.

[fairweatherfan]

Honestly, I've been anticipating a slump like this one since December or so.  I really hate watching the team play like this but it's been pleasantly surprising that it took this long to slump in the first place.

The big difference between this year and last year is that the trade gives people something to hang their hat on as the cause of the slump.   But, of course, even if no trade had been made people would be Chicken Little'ing like crazy right now (and probably blaming Danny's lack of moves for the slump).  It's mostly just human nature though - people care a lot about the Celtics, but they have no control over how they do, so they try to feel in control and protect against disappointment by predicting the worst. 

[PosImpos]

But can Rondo get to where he was last year? We need him to play like he did last year to win a title this year.

That has to be the most concerning thing aside from conceding HCA.  Hard to imagine Rondo turning it on like he did last season.

[kozlodoev]

Not sure about Doc being more annoyed.  He looked like he was ready to shoot Sheed and others at some points last season.  I think there is a little revisionist history going on there.

I couldn't disagree more. Even Doc says this isn't like last year and last year behavior was a planned event.

Yep. I think Doc has looked irked to livid to just plain incredulous about some of the stuff the team has done over the last couple of games. And while there have been one or two coaching bleeps on the radar, the problems have mostly been poor execution and "hero" basketball.

[Roy H.]

Last year, the team looked like they weren't even trying. This year, the team simply looks like they can't make it happen even when they do try.

That has been my observation, too.  Also, even if this is a repeat of last year, it doesn't make it a good thing; there's no guarantee that we're going to be able to recreate the magic of last year while continuing to integrate 5 or 6 injured / new guys into the system.

I also agree that Doc seems more upset this year.  Last year, it seemed to be the team strategy to take it easy.  This year, both Doc and individual players seem to be taking this seriously, while the team struggles.

[kozlodoev]

I also agree that Doc seems more upset this year.  Last year, it seemed to be the team strategy to take it easy.  This year, both Doc and individual players seem to be taking this seriously, while the team struggles.

He yelled quite hard and long at Krstic on Sunday. I haven't seen him be in a player's face like that since Rondo was a rookie -- and I don't think this is necessarily good.

[Chris]

Last year, the team looked like they weren't even trying. This year, the team simply looks like they can't make it happen even when they do try.

That has been my observation, too.  Also, even if this is a repeat of last year, it doesn't make it a good thing; there's no guarantee that we're going to be able to recreate the magic of last year while continuing to integrate 5 or 6 injured / new guys into the system.

I also agree that Doc seems more upset this year.  Last year, it seemed to be the team strategy to take it easy.  This year, both Doc and individual players seem to be taking this seriously, while the team struggles.

See, I remember thinking the exact same thing last year.  I did not feel like they weren't trying, I felt like they were not focused enough to finish off plays.  There was plenty of hustle, it just was not paying off.  

I do agree that this is not necessarily a bad thing.  I think the reintegrating thing is overrated a bit, since last year, we were also trying to integrate a new backup PG, which is harder to integrate than a backup wing or big man (I think Shaq will integrate just fine, as he had plenty of time to integrate early in the season).  

[Drucci]

But can Rondo get to where he was last year? We need him to play like he did last year to win a title this year.

That has to be the most concerning thing aside from conceding HCA.  Hard to imagine Rondo turning it on like he did last season.

What makes you think Rondo will have a hard time turning it around?

I think that of all players Rondo is definitely the one who is pacing right now and waiting for the playoffs to play at 100%.

[Roy H.]

 I think the reintegrating thing is overrated a bit, since last year, we were also trying to integrate a new backup PG, which is harder to integrate than a backup wing or big man (I think Shaq will integrate just fine, as he had plenty of time to integrate early in the season).  

I disagree, Chris.  Integrating a backup PG who will see maybe 10 minutes per game in the playoffs is not more difficult than integrating:

* an injured starting center (Shaq);
* a backup small forward (Green);
* a backup center (Krstic);
* an injured backup center (JO); and
* an injured backup combo guard (Delonte).

Last year, the team was basically intact, with Nate struggling a bit to take over for Eddie.  This year, literally half the rotation will be turned over.