What did Greg do wrong tonight??

[saltlover]

I also think Rondo's absence had something to do with it.  Stiemsma can't create his own shot, and the ball movement wasn't good enough to get him (or anyone) open shots last night.  Combine that with the weird lineups both teams were playing, and his foot injury, and the general tendency of coaches to stick with the same lineup if it gets on a roll like we were on in the late 3rd to mid 4th quarter, and you have a number of reasons other than Doc doesn't trust rookies or any other conspiracy theory du jour.

[CelticG1]

I think the OP's main question is why did Hollins take some of Stiemsmas minutes or at least that's what I was wondering during the game.

Only thing I can think of is that when Jason Collins is in the game, whoever is matched up on him needs to help off him a ton and almost leave him alone. Hollins seems more mobile and able to recover quicker when helping than Stiemsma. I think Doc probably told Hollins to go in,  be active, be disruptive, and just play a ton of help D. I thought Hollins did a pretty good job and fits that role a little better than Steamer.

[Bankshot]

I wonder if Stiesma's foot was bothering him.  Otherwise, I have a problem with Doc changing in the playoffs what worked in the regular season.  Switching up like that is what ultimately cost us game 7 two years ago against the Lakers.  He totally went away in game 7 with what worked the previous games.  Baffling.

I understand we won the game, but only because of a heroic effort from Pierce. 

[crownsy]

It wasn't Greg it was Marvin Williams.  He played all his minutes at PF and Smith played the rest.  Stiemsma happens to be a center, not a SF.

Doc felt the need to play KG 40 minutes tonight so that limited Stiemsma to 8.

But why let a guy that's averaging 10.2 ppg on 43% shooting over the season, and 2.5 ppg on sub-20% shooting in the series, dictate the match-up?

Why let your personal like of a player invalidate what was clearly the right decision?

We won, good call. end of story. I don't care about greg's feelings, or his development of playoff experience. I like greg but this timeo fyear is about W's, not minutes.

We won, end of discussion.

[Celtics18]

I wonder if Stiesma's foot was bothering him.  Otherwise, I have a problem with Doc changing in the playoffs what worked in the regular season.  Switching up like that is what ultimately cost us game 7 two years ago against the Lakers.  He totally went away in game 7 with what worked the previous games.  Baffling.

I understand we won the game, but only because of a heroic effort from Pierce. 

I have no doubt that Greg's foot is bothering him.  It's been bothering him all season long. 

[MBunge]

Everyone talks about the Hawks being a bad match up for Steamer, but he was a +10 in Efficiency in game one and was NOT playing bad in game two.

Don't get me wrong.  I am THRILLED that we won!!! 

I just don't get why we didn't see us using KG and Steamer and Bass on the front line posting up a LOT with Atlanta's VERY THIN front line.

Doc always seems to react to the other team rather than making them react.  That frustrates me and might explain why Doc has a barely over .500 playoff winning percentage.

Smitty77

P.S.  I do appreciate Doc, but still have a right to question some of his decisions.

Doc played him less and the team won. Doesn't that mean he made the right decision?

If I shoot randomly into a crowd of people and the person I hit just happens to be a fugitive murderer, does that mean randomly shooting into crowds was "the right decision"?

Mike

[crownsy]

Everyone talks about the Hawks being a bad match up for Steamer, but he was a +10 in Efficiency in game one and was NOT playing bad in game two.

Don't get me wrong.  I am THRILLED that we won!!!  

I just don't get why we didn't see us using KG and Steamer and Bass on the front line posting up a LOT with Atlanta's VERY THIN front line.

Doc always seems to react to the other team rather than making them react.  That frustrates me and might explain why Doc has a barely over .500 playoff winning percentage.

Smitty77

P.S.  I do appreciate Doc, but still have a right to question some of his decisions.

Doc played him less and the team won. Doesn't that mean he made the right decision?

If I shoot randomly into a crowd of people and the person I hit just happens to be a fugitive murderer, does that mean randomly shooting into crowds was "the right decision"?

Mike

yes, because that's completely analogous to a coach's decision to play or not play someone's binky what the poster thinks is the "right" number of minutes in a playoff game  

doc's of course not above reproach, but forgive me not really caring about how much he plays our 9th man on the bench in a playoff win.

[theswitch]

It wasn't Greg it was Marvin Williams.  He played all his minutes at PF and Smith played the rest.  Stiemsma happens to be a center, not a SF.

Doc felt the need to play KG 40 minutes tonight so that limited Stiemsma to 8.

But why let a guy that's averaging 10.2 ppg on 43% shooting over the season, and 2.5 ppg on sub-20% shooting in the series, dictate the match-up?

Why let your personal like of a player invalidate what was clearly the right decision?

We won, good call. end of story. I don't care about greg's feelings, or his development of playoff experience. I like greg but this timeo fyear is about W's, not minutes.

We won, end of discussion.

Agreed. It's fairly obvious to see why Doc had to let Williams dictate the matchup - Marvin can guard Greg pretty easily (it's not that hard, let's be real), while Greg can't keep up with Marvin. Doc dictated the 4th when he went small early.

[MBunge]

doc's of course not above reproach, but forgive me not really caring about how much he plays our 9th man on the bench in a playoff win.

But it's the decision-making process, not any individual decision, that matters.  I'm not sure sitting Steamer against the Hawks is a bad thing, given the matchups.  On the other hand, Doc deciding that E'twaun Moore is going to star in "Nenad Krstic II: Playoff Boogaloo" and never get on the court, even though this team desperately needs someone who can shoot with Ray out and no matter how ineffective our other guards are, is beyond frustrating.

Mike

[Finkelskyhook]

Foot, my best guess.

Greg is a great mid range shooter. He's got a natural... knack for it unlike Bass who practiced into it. He probably said something to Doc and he decided it's for the best to keep him on the bench for Boston.

There's another thing. KG and Hollins high-fived after every call when together on the court. Maybe, and this is a really long shot, Doc's trying to see if he can rely on Ryan. Afterall he's the only player on this team who played a rebounder's role in his career.

I like to see that KG is devoted to both Stiemsma and Hollins, kind of says that he'll come back next year. ^^

It's a really long shot that Rivers would be experimenting at this time of year.  Brilliant coaching job pushing the right buttons last night.

[pearljammer10]

Maybe his foot was bothering him? maybe the match ups didnt work in our favor for him to play? regardless, as much as im not a hollins fan, he played fine in his minutes aside from the dumb follow on his ever ending need for a one man press. other than that hollins played fine mintes, we won, so i really dont care how many minutes greg got.

[nickagneta]

doc's of course not above reproach, but forgive me not really caring about how much he plays our 9th man on the bench in a playoff win.

But it's the decision-making process, not any individual decision, that matters.  I'm not sure sitting Steamer against the Hawks is a bad thing, given the matchups.  On the other hand, Doc deciding that E'twaun Moore is going to star in "Nenad Krstic II: Playoff Boogaloo" and never get on the court, even though this team desperately needs someone who can shoot with Ray out and no matter how ineffective our other guards are, is beyond frustrating.

Mike

And please, explain to us all about all the practices you have seen, all the shoot arounds you have seen, all the discussions you've had with E'twaun and Dooling, all the times you have been in the locker room that makes you such an expert on why Moore should be playing and why Doc is making the wrong decisions.

You've seen the kid make 17 three pointers and suddenly he's the answer to not having Ray Allen's three point shooting prowess in the game simply because the team went cold from outside for a game and a half?

PUH_LEASE!!!!

Doc's decision making got this team a win in Atlanta without Ray or Rondo playing and without Pietrus playing in the first half last night. Moore can't guard Teague, he just can't. And he can't guard the large 2's Atlanta has(Ninrich, Johnson McGrady). And Moore is the 14th player on the roster. He's exactly where he's supposed to be, on the bench watching.

[OsirusCeltics]

I thought this thread was for Greg Anthony
Now im beside myself

[BudweiserCeltic]

Well, KG played 40 minutes, Bass played 31, there goes a great bulk. Then you had Doc going small, in part to contain the Hawk's speed (which has been our biggest weakness against them) and in part to throw multiple bodies at Johnson so that Pierce could get a breather from guarding him. All this led to a dominating 4th quarter on both sides of the ball. Why are you guys complaining about this?

Doc's stays with the same, he's stubborn. He changes something, and it's idiotic to do something different. I mean, how about praising him for the adjustments made that led to the win, particularly how the tactic completely froze the wing players of Atlanta?

[Mr October]

Based on the outrage over Stiemsma, you would think we were sitting Alonzo Mourning in his prime.

He has bad feet right now. So bad he hasn't practiced in months. His minutes are limited and will continue to be limited.