pls can anyone explain like i'm a 6-year-old?
Our offense is built around jump shooters who can't create their own shot or penetrate inside for easy buckets. The only guy who can provide consistent offense is Paul Pierce and despite playing well tonight he's not 100%.
Ray mainly is there to spread the floor and hit threes, but he has been dreadful because of his ankle (and his legs aren't "there", I imagine).
Beyond that it's basically mid-range shots from Bass and KG. Rondo himself is a limited offensive player... moreso than any of the other "elite" point guards. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Rose, Westbrook... they can all score consistently and at will. Rondo's shooting is borderline inept. Luckily for Rondo our two big men (KG and Bass) are usually not operating around the paint (since they are primarily mid-range shooters)... so our opponents usually have to defend them away from the paint... which means Rondo can often penetrate in for layups without hitting a road block. Beyond those layups, you really can't count on Rondo for much offensively. He's a brilliant passer, but if our guys (Pietrus, Bass, KG, Ray) aren't hitting their shots... you have games like tonight where Rondo only gets 6 assists.
In other words... we have pretty much one guy who can create his own shot (Paul Pierce) and aside from when KG is feeling up to it... we have no consistent low post scorer to dump the ball off to. That might make our offense a little predictable. I imagine if I'm Philly, I'm pretty pleased if the Celtics are living and dying with Brandon Bass and Rajon Rondo jump shots. In game 5 Bass was 9-13 and Rondo was 6-10. Tonight Bass was 2-12 and Rondo was 4-14.
KG is the MVP of this team for a multitude of reasons, but beyond that I still say Paul Pierce is the 2nd most important player on the team. When he's hurt and averaging 17 points on 39% shooting like he is in this series... our offense is gonna have a bad time. Unless everyone is shooting lights out (like Bass in game 5), it's exceptionally hard to put up points in the playoffs without a reliable scorer who can create his own shot.