That title might sound like common sense, but that's what it all boils down to. No one person for any team will win or lose this series. Even if Carmelo should have the most unbelievably shooting performance throughout every single game, that alone won't allow the Knicks to beat the Celtics.
And the same is also true if any of the Celtics' players really go off. The Celtics, as a team, have to want it more than the Knicks, and actually show that. It will be the little things that decide if we win this series or not.
It will be that guy, no matter who it is, from the celtics hustling, or really going after that missed shot on offense, to get us another possession with a reset of the shot clock, and a reset and slowing down of the pace.
It will be that guy doing the little things that make that shot for that Knicks player just that much more difficult.
It will be the Celtics intelligently, after getting such offensive rebounds, slowing things down, and not being in too much of a rush to get rid of the ball, especially when we have leads, or are trying to gain ground, and need only valuable offensive possessions. The Celtics should not be playing at some break neck pace, like many think they should.
Rondo should try to penetrate, but only as it benefits the team overall. If Rondo manages to penetrate, that causes the Knicks' players on defense to contract a bit, and force them to pay attention to him, which opens up opportunities for us elsewhere.
They should take their time, and make the most of their possessions, while also ensuring that the other team doesn't get as many chances to close the gap. That's the benefit of a slower pace. That's the benefit of going after those rebounds and loose balls. It isn't just defense that causes other teams to generally score less against the Celtics.
It's the pace that the Celtics play at that causes that. I've been noticing that the Celtics, with all these sloppy thread the needle attempts, have been throwing away offensive possessions far too often. A championship team cannot so often throw away the ball, with next to no effort on the part of the defending team. They aren't forcing our turnovers, we are being sloppy and causing our own, and that needs to stop, or this Celtics team will not be making a finals appearance.
They should up the pace sparingly, and only ever to take advantage of a situation. Like if you're up by 13, there's nothing wrong with trying to get a quick basket to pad the mental edge that comes with such leads, or taking advantage of that open man, but please, please be smart about it. WE DO NOT NEED HIGHLIGHT PASS AFTER HIGHLIGHT PASS.
Get on EPSN for actually winning the game, not for getting a great pass, but still losing the game.
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That's how I'm mentally preparing for this upcoming series against the Knicks. There will be bad calls made against my preferred team, the Celtics, but that doesn't matter. It's to be expected. We can't have our team relying on being rescued by the referees, and we can't make excuses for our team because of referees. If we play right, and make the right decisions as a team, we can easily come out on top.
There's an edge to be had in the fact that, not many of these Knicks players have been in this kind of situation before. Their stars have been, but their stars alone won't win this game for them. The Celtics have many more stars that have been in this type of position. We have a few to the finals and have won it all, and this team is packed full of people who hate losing as much as anybody else in the league.
I won't sit around being angry if my Celtics lose or be nervous about the potential outcome because the better team should be able to win, and I believe that better team to be the Celtics. Our 14 game winning streak could have come earlier in the season like it did, or it could have just as easily come in our last 18 games. We are still very much that team, no matter how many changes have been made. I argue that we are a better team, especially with Jermaine and Green, and if West ends up being good to go.
Never forget also how good Shaq made us. That is what the Knicks are up against. And if they manage to somehow come out victorious, then they were simply the superior team, and I'd settle for that, but they are not the better team, so I expect I won't have to settle.
Miami better get ready, because we're coming to settle that score.
Something the Celtics should start taking advantage of more often, is letting our more dangerous offensive players, like Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Garnett, set more screens. If we do this more often, more times than not, whoever is guarding them has to follow them, which will prevent all those instances where we have teams simply denying the pass inside to our big men. EVERYBODY should be setting screens to help the team, even Rondo. If they don't follow those dangerous screen setters up to where they set the screen, then that's their mistake, because we can just hand the ball off to them for an open shot.
Topic: Celtics vs Knicks, the better team that wants it more will win this series. (Read 2799 times)