why are we starting ray?

[cman88]

Doc said he wanted to put ray to the bench before bradley stepped up

Wouldn't pietrus or pavs be a better option defennsively? Idont get putting ray back with the starters

[snowball]

I agree and would start Pietrus over
the hobbled Ray Allen. It's painful to watch him.

[StartOrien]

I thought Tommy Heinsohn made a rare great point before last game - it might be in this team's best interest to pull Pierce early and sub Pietrus in, then bring Pierce back in when Iguodala goes to the bench.

[mctyson]

There is no reason to start Pietrus since Ray is going to get the majority of the minutes anyways.  You may think he is done, but Doc doesn't, and Doc is prepared to lose with Ray on the court, and I don't blame him.

[Who]

Tried and trusted (both player and lineup) in big situations

[rickyfan3.0...]

Say we win tonight... we can't start Ray and put him on Wade, right? We have to start Pietrus.

[cman88]

There is no reason to start Pietrus since Ray is going to get the majority of the minutes anyways.  You may think he is done, but Doc doesn't, and Doc is prepared to lose with Ray on the court, and I don't blame him.

Ray still got more minutes than bradley...its all about setting a tone defensively to start the game

Pietrus and pavs are better defenders

[StartOrien]

Say we win tonight... we can't start Ray and put him on Wade, right? We have to start Pietrus.

I'd guess that you'll see the C's in a 2-3 zone whenever KG is on the floor.

[Mike]

I don't understand why Pavlovic is stuck at the end of the bench.  He's bigger than Ray and at this point plays better defense.  He can knock down the open 3 and is a solid finisher.  I was astonished in game 6 when Doc went with Marquis over Sasha.  From what I've seen since April, Sasha, when he plays, does almost as good a job as Pietrus.

[CelticG1]

I don't understand why Pavlovic is stuck at the end of the bench.  He's bigger than Ray and at this point plays better defense.  He can knock down the open 3 and is a solid finisher.  I was astonished in game 6 when Doc went with Marquis over Sasha.  From what I've seen since April, Sasha, when he plays, does almost as good a job as Pietrus.

Sasha is too big and slow for those guys (as is Pietrus). They are playing 4 guards pretty much huge minutes, Holiday, Williams, Turner, Igloudala. That's why Bradley was so huge. At this point if Holiday and Williams are on the floor together the 2 guard has to be Dooling or IMO Moore should get burn.

Everyone else is a disaster marking one of Williams or Holidat

[rayallen1934]

Hopefully the Celtics lose and Ray is to blame so all of you can be right

[CapnDunks]

I was just talking to someone about this yesterday. While I admit that Sasha and Pietrus aren't ideal to guard turner and williams, ray is clearly not able to move his feet to stop penetration on D.

I think the reason this became so obvious last game was because Rondo was having a lot of trouble with Holiday and the bigs couldn't help both guards. Also part of why Hawes saw so many open shots. KG had to sag off him because Rondo and Ray couldn't keep their men out of the paint.

I love Ray, but he's visibly hurting. He's missing open 3s. I'd limit his minutes in favor of Sasha playing some behind Pietrus. Hope Ray proves me wrong though.

[kozlodoev]

Ray still got more minutes than bradley...

No, he didn't.

Also, Pietrus is not the difference maker defensively that Bradley was.

[Tai]

I was just talking to someone about this yesterday. While I admit that Sasha and Pietrus aren't ideal to guard turner and williams, ray is clearly not able to move his feet to stop penetration on D.

I think the reason this became so obvious last game was because Rondo was having a lot of trouble with Holiday and the bigs couldn't help both guards. Also part of why Hawes saw so many open shots. KG had to sag off him because Rondo and Ray couldn't keep their men out of the paint.

I love Ray, but he's visibly hurting. He's missing open 3s. I'd limit his minutes in favor of Sasha playing some behind Pietrus. Hope Ray proves me wrong though.

I don't think he got that many in Game 6. The wide open 3 that coulda cut it to 3 in the final minute of the game (and probably the one I would have taken him getting) is probably as wide open as he got all game, but I don't think he ever got that many other shots that good.

I'm hoping this two day rest will help him with that.

I do think it's worth noting that Ray only had 26 minutes this game.

[cman88]

The celtics play team defense and it all revolves around the guards stopping penetration..pietrus isn't the defender that bradley is but he can do a better job than ray at stopping his man from driving