Ray Allen will make you guys eat your words in Game 7. Remember I said this.

[FreeGreen]

No disrespect to Ray Allen, who is a class act and one of the great players of all time, but with his current injury he's killing us out there.

Philly attacks him on offense and his man either gets an easy bucket or we have to rotate and someone else get's an easy bucket.

On our end of the court, he can't hit anything.  He's missing WIDE open 3s, WIDE open jumpers, he can't finish his drives.  Teams would never have the audacity to trap Pierce on every possession like the Sixers are doing if Ray was healthy.

I'm not dissing Ray.  I'm not saying he can't get healthy this off-season and come back and contribute for a team next season.

I'm saying, right now, for this Game 7, he's done.  

Doc's problem is that there is NO ONE to replace him with.  

Pietrus has been just as bad on both ends of the court ... he's looking completely lost on defense which boggles my mind.

Dooling is a layup train on the defensive end and shooting just as terrible as Ray/Pietrus.

Moore hasn't played all year (typical Doc) and it's too late to try to baptize him by fire.

Should Doc go big?  Rondo, Pierce, Bass, Garnett, Steimsma/Hollins?  Depends how healthy Pierce is because the leaves him checking 2 guard.  Should Doc see if Marquis/Sasha has a random quality game in them?  Marquis kills your court spacing, and neither guy has seen much burn in weeks.

The bench is depleted.  This team has lost it's starting C, it's backup C, it's 6th man, it's starting SG, and it's backup SG is so injured that he can barely contribute.  It's not surprising we're in dire straits here.

How ironic is it that on a team where everyone's worried about 36 year old KG and 34 year old Pierce, it's the 20ish year old Avery Bradley whose injury is going to cost us a title shot.

[33-00-32]

Doc's problem is that there is NO ONE to replace him with.  

I strongly agree with almost everything you have said Free. TP for the good points.

I disagree with Doc's problem. I think his problem is that he's too loyal to the vets. To the point that he's killing any chance we have of winning. We can all see that Ray is absolutly killing us on both ends of the court and this has been going on the whole series. Our bench may be thin but if Ray says he can't go (he might as well because he's doing more harm than good) what does Doc do then? Start 4 guys? No, he finds someone on the bench and gives them a chance. Sasha is better suited as a SF but no way he's not better at SG than Ray right now. E'Twuan may not have any experience but there's only one way to get it. I find Marquis' offensive game to be offensive but can it be worse than Ray's now? I know his D is better.

Please Doc do something different!! This isn't working!

[pearljammer10]

This has been said before every game this series by someone...Each game he has played terribly. Like other people said he is killing us out there. With his injury, he cant get open, he can create his own shot, and he is atrocious from the three line. I would much rather have pietrus' defense out there than ray taking up space. The worst that could have happened to this team was Bradley being out for the rest of the year.

[CDawg834]

A lot of people are being particularly harsh on the guy, not realizing that he's important to have out there, even if he isn't 100%, because he provides us with much needed space. But, beyond that, a lot of people aren't crediting this guy's toughness enough.

He knows his shot isn't where it needs to be, and with 3 days rest heading into game 7, I fully expect him to have a huge Game 7, effectively silencing a lot of his current critics. Called it.

If you're right, then fair enough.  But win or lose on Saturday, if Ray is as immobile and useless in Game 7 as he was in Game 6, I would hope you would be willing to come out and eat your words.

[Donoghus]

This isn't like past stretchs of seasons past where it was just a cold streak and you could point to the streakiness of pure shooters and say, with relative certainly, that Ray would bounce back.

Ray's body is letting him down this time around.  Its different and I fear its something that he's not going to be able to work through the remainder of these playoffs.

[rayallen1934]

LOL you would think Ray Allen shot 4-25, and let his man score 30 points on him the way some of you posters are throwing him under the bus.

Losing Bradley is the biggest loss we can have but he was averaging 6 points a game and was part of the collapses and slow starts

Pietrus got destroyed even more so than Ray did. 3 consecutive easy baskets by holiday. But hey no mention of that, Pietrus is the almighty defender of the year.

Bass shots 2-12, but hey no he didnt cost us the game either...

Rondo was 4-14 , got to the line twice, missed countless shots at the rim, and had a costly turnover at the end, but no way, rondo had nothing to do with losing by 7 points and letting Holiday and Lou blow by him 90% of the time


I understand Ray is and always will be the scapegoat for this team. Since day 1, he is the easiest guy to blame since he SHOOTS the ball and if he's not shooting well hes relegated to an average and sometimes below average player...

but its sad how much he is put to blame when others also are a huge part of the losing.

[CelticHooligan3]

Man these Ray Allen apologists are amusing. Pretty sad you all have to come out of the wood work to critisize the realists on this board. Just too funny.. 

[mctyson]

Sorry, Ray Allen is not coming through for us in these playoffs.  We need huge play from Pietrus.

[rayallen1934]

Man these Ray Allen apologists are amusing. Pretty sad you all have to come out of the wood work to critisize the realists on this board. Just too funny.. 

lol realists? realists are suppossed to support the opinion with some facts, and facts that actually make sense.

[Donoghus]

Let's settle down with the "calling outs" and name-calling, shall we?

[indeedproceed]

(People) are suppossed to support the opinion with some facts, and facts that actually make sense.

Ray Allen's 2012 playoff performances are:

- His statistically worst overall playoff performance of his career (PER)

- A continuation of his worst year ever at getting to the line (career low 2.4 FTA's per 36 minutes)

- His worst post-season shooting display of his career (TS%, eFG%)

- His worst offensive postseason of his career (worst playoff ORTG)

Ray Allen is hurting the Celtics right now.

[indeedproceed]

Often it comes down to how teams defend him.  Philly is actively attempting to take Ray out of the game.  It's working.  I'm sure the ankle is part of it as well, but Ray isn't getting the same kind of looks he gets against other teams.

This has a lot of merit. Watching the game last night and the game Monday, Ray is just being HOUNDED out there, to the point where KG/PP are getting more open catch+shoot opportunities cuz Iggy or Young will slide off to shadow Ray while Turner/Holiday/whoever recovers.

[TheReaLPuba]

Ray is hurting big time.

He can't even make foul shots.

He can't get open.

He can't defend without fouling or making it look like a foul.

And he can't make open shots when the ball magically finds him open.

The only way I see a Ray Allen performance is on the break or a semi-fast break.

Our defense needs to be stellar in Game 7 so we can get out and run.