PP Point Forward Offense

[rutzan]

Is it too late in the season for Doc to change the offense?

even when rondo and ray come back?

[Roy H.]

Pierce definitely needs the ball in his hands a little more.  The ball going through Pierce and KG seems to work.

[ManUp]

Get him more involved, but he can't be counted on to run everything. As good as he's looked he's still a turnover prone player. He's averaging 5.5 the last 3 games.

[European NBA fan]

Is it too late in the season for Doc to change the offense?

even when rondo and ray come back?

No, they have played that a lot before. It's more free flowing, when Pierce/KG gets the ball, and that is a good thing, especially if we have matchup advantages for Pierce and/or KG, because they both can put the ball on the floor.

That's also one of the reasons our offense seems so stagnant, when they don't have their legs and can't go to the hoop.

Whenever Rondo has the matchup advantage, give the ball to him.

[BballTim]

  Consider how Paul and KG and others looked tonight compared to how they all looked earlier in the year, yet we still had a worse offense tonight than we did earlier in the year. Even with everyone playing as poorly as they were our offense was more efficient with Rondo running it. Imagine how much better it would have looked with PP and KG hitting shots like they are now, instead of missing layups and open shots like they were.

[snively]

I prefer Rondo as a primary playmaker with the starters.  Paul's good at it, but Rondo's great at it.  Besides, Pierce is much more dangerous off the ball than Rondo.

I would like to see their minutes staggered more though.  Doc tends to keep Paul and Rondo together and use Ray with the bench.  That needs to stop.  One of Paul or Rondo should be on the floor at all times.

[pearljammer10]

Pierce definitely needs the ball in his hands a little more.  The ball going through Pierce and KG seems to work.

I agree with the ball going through Pierce... KG at this point in his career shouldnt be relied on as dominating the ball. He should be the guy who is receiving Pierce and Rondo's drive and dishes... He scares me in the post nowadays.

[j804]

  Consider how Paul and KG and others looked tonight compared to how they all looked earlier in the year, yet we still had a worse offense tonight than we did earlier in the year. Even with everyone playing as poorly as they were our offense was more efficient with Rondo running it. Imagine how much better it would have looked with PP and KG hitting shots like they are now, instead of missing layups and open shots like they were.

Agreed some peeps are forgetting when Rondo and Ray were the only ones playing with a fight and competitiveness Pierce and KG and most of the bench was nowhere to be found. If we can all click at the same time we can be dangerous.

[Celticjay]

I prefer Rondo as a primary playmaker with the starters.  Paul's good at it, but Rondo's great at it.  Besides, Pierce is much more dangerous off the ball than Rondo.

I would like to see their minutes staggered more though.  Doc tends to keep Paul and Rondo together and use Ray with the bench.  That needs to stop.  One of Paul or Rondo should be on the floor at all times.

I concur with this.  Ray can't create and is a turnover machine.  He needs Rondo to set him up.  Pierce is our new back up point...

[Celtics18]

The captain knows how to adjust.  That's one of the things that has really brought my admiration of him to a whole new level over the last few years. 

When Rondo and Ray come back, I think we'll start to look even better than we have over these last four games.

[Celtics4ever]

While he doesn't pass as good as Larry he does a good job drawing the double and dishing it.    Ray will be very helpful with driving and dishing for jumpers.

I think we rediscovered our toughness.  KG might have new life at the C position.  He plays better there than at PF at this stage.

[CelticsFanNC]

  While I believe the offense is far more efficient when Rondo is running it I do believe the ball needs to find Pierce a lot more then it was before he found his legs.  Earlier in the season Pierce seemed to be standing around and the offense seemed to be more directed at getting Allen shots.  It needs to go through Pierce more.

  Pierce out at the top is hit or miss and I think against higher quality defenses like Miami and Chicago it will be a whole lot tougher for him.  There were some really bright spots with him running the offense but also some really bad turnovers that reminded me of the Celtics pre-Big Three.

  As someone else said earlier in the season the offense was running very well considering Pierce and Garnett were shooting terribly by their own standards and everyone seemed to be missing lay ups pretty regularly.  

  The difference in this stretch to me has been the defense.  It has been stellar most of the time and I believe that is due to having some younger legs and more quickness on the floor.

  It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.  I still believe starting 4 guys who are in their mid-30's is a tough obstacle to over come against elite teams but now Doc has some interesting younger and more athletic options to add to the mix.

  Doc Rivers coaching over this past week has been as amazing as Pierce's rejuvenation.

[LB3533]

At this stage in PP career, we should limit PP as a point forward as much as we can. We only utilize it when we need to. And right now, we need to.

You can see the loss of athleticism has gotten Pierce into trouble with some turnovers.

If we continue to rely on PP to "do everything" he will wear down before he reclaims his sea legs.

For the next two games against the Cavs, I would force feed KG until he got sick and throws up.

KG against Jamison should be our main offense and we should run everything though that. We can save some of Paul's energies these next 2 games.



 

[dtrader]

At this stage in PP career, we should limit PP as a point forward as much as we can. We only utilize it when we need to. And right now, we need to.

You can see the loss of athleticism has gotten Pierce into trouble with some turnovers.

If we continue to rely on PP to "do everything" he will wear down before he reclaims his sea legs.

For the next two games against the Cavs, I would force feed KG until he got sick and throws up.

KG against Jamison should be our main offense and we should run everything though that. We can save some of Paul's energies these next 2 games.



 

I dont think Pierces turnovers have been from lost athleticism.  He has more turnovers because he's got the ball in his hands twice as much now, and turnovers happen more often when you try to pass than when you shoot.  Plus without rondo and ray, he's been seeing way more double teams. Last night he had 5 or 6 turnovers and from what I remember, most were the result of either being trapped by multiple defenders and turning the ball over trying to pass out of the trap, or making passes a little to fast or fancy, that the intended targets just didnt catch...not because he was too slow or something.

[snively]

At this stage in PP career, we should limit PP as a point forward as much as we can. We only utilize it when we need to. And right now, we need to.

You can see the loss of athleticism has gotten Pierce into trouble with some turnovers.

If we continue to rely on PP to "do everything" he will wear down before he reclaims his sea legs.

For the next two games against the Cavs, I would force feed KG until he got sick and throws up.

KG against Jamison should be our main offense and we should run everything though that. We can save some of Paul's energies these next 2 games.



 

I dont think Pierces turnovers have been from lost athleticism.  He has more turnovers because he's got the ball in his hands twice as much now, and turnovers happen more often when you try to pass than when you shoot.  Plus without rondo and ray, he's been seeing way more double teams. Last night he had 5 or 6 turnovers and from what I remember, most were the result of either being trapped by multiple defenders and turning the ball over trying to pass out of the trap, or making passes a little to fast or fancy, that the intended targets just didnt catch...not because he was too slow or something.

I agree with the idea that Pierce's turnovers have little to with athleticism (as a younger player he struggled more with turnovers when thrust into the sole playmaking role - anyone remember that first post-Toine year?  Pierce has actually improved as a playmaker since then). 

I do share LB3533's concern about wearing Paul down though.  Paul had to do virtually everything the team last night offensively.