Lack of Inside Option Shows Again

[PosImpos]

It's been talked about many times, but since it keeps happening and it's so glaring it bares repeating:

The Celtics, time and time again, give up late-game leads because they are forced to rely on jumpshots late in a game and they miss a lot of those shots due to tired legs.

The Celtics desperately, desperately need an honest to goodness inside option.  A guy who can post up and score 1-on-1 in the post, even when the opposing defense is clamping down. 

In the absence of a superstar 1-on-1 scorer (e.g. Melo), the Celtics need an offensive option like that if they want to be able to hold leads late in games against the best teams.

[Drucci]

I agree, although you have to consider they usually get wide open looks in crunch time when they are playing the Big Three (Pierce being out really didn't help in this game) so although they have a tendency to miss them because they are tired, it's hard to pass on shots that good.

Also, the problem is that Rondo still passes on shots in money time. This afternoon, he took only 2 shots in the 4th (an 18 jumper that he made and a desperate 3 at the end) while being super agressive in the 3 previous quarters.

Rondo is not the perfect solution for our lack of scoring in the 4th ; however if he is as agressive as he can be in the previous quarters our problems wouldn't be that bad in my opinion.

[Change]

Welcome to the 21st century. Big men shoot jumpers now. I can name maybe 3-5 prototypical post players. There's just aren't that many of them in this day and age. Knicks, Heat, Mavs, Thunder, Celtics, etc..... Are all in the same boat. None have post-players. Celtics lost a close without their best offensive option. C's will be fine.

[cman88]

brandon bass? I thought he was a nice inside option. problem is we veered away from that gameplan in the 4th

[greenpride32]

Put the blame on KG, he wouldn't even take Douglas on the block.

I don't mind the jump shots if they rebound.  But you can see everyone is standing on perimeter so it's 1 and done.  Look how different it is with Bass and Wilcox in the game.

[gar]

Rebounding still a concern

[BudweiserCeltic]

Rebounding still a concern

You're aware that we out-rebounded the Knicks by 10 though right?

[tenn_smoothie]

bad loss the way i see it because Celts had a solid 2nd half lead and then, as usual, the offense ground to a halt in the 4th quarter. 
 
best and worst of Rondo today - a fabulous performance that brought Boston all the way back from a huge deficit, followed by the aforementioned predictable offensive breakdown during crunch-time when games usually become half-court battles and Rondo's inability to score from outside allows the defense to play us 5-on-4 and clog everything up.

[revcummings]

Rebounding still a concern

You're aware that we out-rebounded the Knicks by 10 though right?

And I thought we did much better getting offensive rebounds, which is huge for us. If we get a few more second shots per game it will make a big difference in the number of wins we have.

[JoT]

Welcome to the 21st century. Big men shoot jumpers now. I can name maybe 3-5 prototypical post players. There's just aren't that many of them in this day and age. Knicks, Heat, Mavs, Thunder, Celtics, etc..... Are all in the same boat. None have post-players. Celtics lost a close without their best offensive option. C's will be fine.

I promise I was watching NBA tv and it was some show with Shaq, Charles, Reggie, Kenny, CWebber and some other players I forgot right now and they all said the first thing you brought up. Big men shoot jumpers now and the game has changed a lot.

[PosImpos]

Welcome to the 21st century. Big men shoot jumpers now. I can name maybe 3-5 prototypical post players. There's just aren't that many of them in this day and age. Knicks, Heat, Mavs, Thunder, Celtics, etc..... Are all in the same boat. None have post-players. Celtics lost a close without their best offensive option. C's will be fine.

The teams you mentioned can get by without an option like that because they have transcendent 1-on-1 scorers.  The Celtics don't have a guy like that -- Pierce doesn't count.  He's a good scorer, but he's no longer elite,.

[PosImpos]

Put the blame on KG, he wouldn't even take Douglas on the block.

I don't mind the jump shots if they rebound.  But you can see everyone is standing on perimeter so it's 1 and done.  Look how different it is with Bass and Wilcox in the game.

Can't blame KG.  He was exhausted, and it's really just not his game to take guys inside.

[BudweiserCeltic]

It's not a matter of inside presence, it's a matter of play calling. If all you're going to do is pick and pop with KG at the end, then at some point things are going to stagnate. You can post up KG, you can get bodies moving, instead of standing around watching the KG-Rondo two man show, etc.

[j804]

bad loss the way i see it because Celts had a solid 2nd half lead and then, as usual, the offense ground to a halt in the 4th quarter. 
 
best and worst of Rondo today - a fabulous performance that brought Boston all the way back from a huge deficit, followed by the aforementioned predictable offensive breakdown during crunch-time when games usually become half-court battles and Rondo's inability to score from outside allows the defense to play us 5-on-4 and clog everything up.

Nothing was clogged up KG had a easy close range shot over Walker he should have drained simple as that

[dmopower]

bad loss the way i see it because Celts had a solid 2nd half lead and then, as usual, the offense ground to a halt in the 4th quarter. 
 
best and worst of Rondo today - a fabulous performance that brought Boston all the way back from a huge deficit, followed by the aforementioned predictable offensive breakdown during crunch-time when games usually become half-court battles and Rondo's inability to score from outside allows the defense to play us 5-on-4 and clog everything up.

Very well said!