Just wait until we start hitting our average on 3's

[Smitty77]

Here is a comparison of our reg. season stats first, followed by playoff averages from long range thus far:

Pierce - 36.6% -- 14.3%
Bradley - 40.7% -- 20%
Ray - 45.3% -- 0% (granted only 1 game and 4 attempts)
Pietrus - 33.5% -- 25%
Sasha - 29.3% -- 0% (granted only a couple of attempts)
Rondo - 23.8% -- 0% (only one attempt)

Only Dooling is hitting at a higher clip (42.9% compared to his reg. season average of 33.3%).

My point is, once we get back even CLOSE to the norm, we will blow someone out. 

Here is hoping that it is tomorrow:-))))

Peace,

Smitty77

[Celtics18]

Here is a comparison of our reg. season stats first, followed by playoff averages from long range thus far:

Pierce - 36.6% -- 14.3%
Bradley - 40.7% -- 20%
Ray - 45.3% -- 0% (granted only 1 game and 4 attempts)
Pietrus - 33.5% -- 25%
Sasha - 29.3% -- 0% (granted only a couple of attempts)
Rondo - 23.8% -- 0% (only one attempt)

Only Dooling is hitting at a higher clip (42.9% compared to his reg. season average of 33.3%).

My point is, once we get back even CLOSE to the norm, we will blow someone out. 

Here is hoping that it is tomorrow:-))))

Peace,

Smitty77

I agree that we are due a game where the long range shots start falling soon.  However, I've got to give the Hawks some credit.  It seems to me that good looks from 3 have been really few and far between in this series.

[SHAQATTACK]

yea, we are better team than we've been past few games shooting J's

When our jumpers are falling at the average clip , the Celtics are a tuff act to beat.

We been getting good open shots , just an't falling.

[Celtics4ever]

Aye, and it is puzzling.  It is us or Hawks D?   A lot of shots are not falling if they would we'd be killing them.  I am beginning to respect Larry Drew as a coach.

[mqtcelticsfan]

I'm actually slightly concerned that we won't get back to average on our 3s. Pierce is playing 40 minutes a night, Ray has a bad ankle, Bradley has a bad shoulder, Pietrus hasn't looked right since his injury and Sasha doesn't play. I think we'll do better than this, but not where we were in the regular season.

[Celtics18]

Aye, and it is puzzling.  It is us or Hawks D?   A lot of shots are not falling if they would we'd be killing them.  I am beginning to respect Larry Drew as a coach.

The Hawks have been a pretty good team at defending the three point line all season long.  I feel like they are doing a good job not giving us a lot of quality looks from deep.

Even so, we should be hitting them at a higher rate than we are currently. 

[RajonRondOWNED]

Atlanta was 10th in opponent 3pt% in the regular season, and are first in this postseason.

And who was first in opponent 3pt% in the regular season? Boston.

[blink]

I agree with the other posters, Atlanta's D has been better than expected.  We also have seemed to have a lot of mental errors on O the first few games as well.

I don't think we should expect the 3 point shooting %'s to jump back up to regular season numbers though.  We are playing better teams every game now, and much better defensive teams overall.  Hopefully they will go up and we can catch a break.  But the level of competition (defense) goes up dramatically in the playoffs. 

Hopefully with Ray getting some minutes that he can help in that area.  I hope to see AB knock some more down as well.

[LooseCannon]

Atlanta's D has been better than expected.

Their defense has been more or less what I expected.  I didn't expect them to score at least 80 points in all three games, though.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I've seen Pierce miss quite a few open looks from 3 in this series. I kind of took it as a bad sign when, on Boston's first possession of game 1, Pierce got an open look from the left wing and bricked it--sure enough, Atlanta got the rebound and chucked it the full length of the court for an open layup, and the Cs trailed the rest of the game.

[Smitty77]

Come on guys.  You are giving Atlanta's defense far too much credit.  We are simply out of sorts.

Pierce might not get back to 37%, but if we have a long playoff run, it will certainly get back to over 30%, not 14%.  Same with Bradley who is shooting half his season percentage.  Also, expect Ray to at least hit SOME three's and get off the 0 percentage mark.  I also expect Sasha to hit a three or two as well, as well as our triple double machine.

Smitty77

[clover]

I'm thinking today is the C's first, and maybe only, easy win of the series.

[get_banners]

Tired legs is my guess - that crazy stretch of games to end the season really hurt us. Our guys look like they just don't have their legs under them. Granted, the Hawks are a good opponent, but we've missed lots of good looks. Hope the day off yesterday helped because we really need to put Atlanta down 3-1 tonight.

[Smitty77]

Tired legs?  We rested our stars for about the last week.  If that is not enough rest, we are in serious trouble unfortunately!!

Smitty77

[clover]

I agree with the other posters, Atlanta's D has been better than expected.  We also have seemed to have a lot of mental errors on O the first few games as well.

I don't think we should expect the 3 point shooting %'s to jump back up to regular season numbers though.  We are playing better teams every game now, and much better defensive teams overall.  Hopefully they will go up and we can catch a break.  But the level of competition (defense) goes up dramatically in the playoffs. 

Hopefully with Ray getting some minutes that he can help in that area.  I hope to see AB knock some more down as well.

It's the mental errors that have me thinking it's not just a matter of legs worn down by the tough schedule.  All the other teams of course had similar demands on them through the season.  I think they've largely been playing tight, or 'unclutch', so far.  But they've certainly still a chance to get their bearings and tonight would be a good time for them to do so.