Ray's ankle may be an issue this season

[BballTim]

PLEASE stop with some of these posts on here - celebrating Ray's injury?

Seriously?

After Feb 19, 2009 and June 15, 2010 - I don't think we should be celebrating ANYONE's injuries....

Perk and KG going down probably cost BOS AT LEAST two rings.

Sorry but some of us aren't that "nice" and shouldn't be.  Nobody here is wishing him a serious injury but anything to make this guy realize he left a knife in our backs.  I really hope his run on the Heat is one big FAIL.  Call me heartless but that's the way it is

But it makes us look petty when we stoop to the level of wishing bad on another player - especially regarding his health.

Maybe we are petty.

I like Ray Allen a lot. Yet, I was happy to hear the ankle issue news. The reality is that Ray is old. His body might not recover from some ailments. I want to beat the Heat and Ray being over the hill would help that. It would also make losing him a great move for us.

I think there is a difference between hoping someone gets injured and feeling relief over hearing someone will continue to have a nagging injury in their old age. I am not one for pretending that we don't react that way, especially when these players make the choice to sacrifice their bodies to play longer. Similarly, I don't feel sorry when extreme sports lovers lose limbs or die while risking their lives for a rush.

I still like Ray but I will be happy to see him ineffective all season due to failing ankles. Let's be real about this. We aren't talking about someone who won't be able to walk normal for the rest of his life. We are just talking about someone whose ankles can't handle the intense strain of professional basketball. It might be no worse in the long run than the aches some of us have in our joints from playing basketball for free.

You DO realize that we as BOS fans are depending upon KG and Paul Pierce, both of whom are OLD, too - right?

We lose either of them, and Rajon Rondo can average a triple double this season and we aren't getting out of the 1st round.

2008-09 all over again.

  We *did* get out of the first round in 2009. That's with a bigs rotation of Perk, Baby and Scal and all of the backup 1-2-3 minutes going to House and Marbury. If Powe hadn't hurt his knee we'd have probably gone to the conference final.

Thanks for the correction - memory failed me a bit, there.

But even with the standards we've come to expect from BOS lately, even getting to "Just" the conference finals would've eventually been considered a bust, unfortunately.

This is Title Town.

  Calling it title town doesn't change the fact that the Celts have done better than the conference finals twice in the last 25 or so years.

[Celtics17]

Wow, this one has really stirred up a lot of emotion. As a human I dont wish injury on anyone but really as a Celtics fan it's not going to upset me any if a player on a competitor is hurt. Ray seems to have been a real class act in the NBA but I can certainly understand how a lot of celts fans take exception to him. I will say that there is too much censorship on this site in my opinion. Treat your blog like a business and treat ALL of your 'customers' with respect and your business will flourish. I worked for a company called MCI and they were huge but forgot how to treat their customers.

[GreenFaith1819]

I think we should all HOPE that MIA is healthy, to be honest.

What greater joy will it be to humiliate them next May-June and they have NO excuses?

That is just a sidebar for me as to why anyone would like to see Ray Allen in the state he's in.

Beat MIA healthy, BOS. Shut em' up - for good.

We have the weapons.

Go out and prove that we have the better team.

[Interceptor]

Wow - TP for your optimism about Jeff Green. I love the guy too, and I'm glad that he's finally healthy, but for him to "fake" Paul Pierce, like you said - means (IMO) that he will have to be more aggressive, average 10-12 pts off the bench, 4-5 rebs, 3-4 assists, perhaps 0.6 blocks and roughly a steal.

Plus, I'd be happy with about 45% FG% and 36-38% from deep.

If Jeff Green can do THAT, then IMO he could fake Paul Pierce.

But even with that, I'd STILL be hard-pressed to see us getting far without Paul Pierce. That's just me.

I mean - this is The Truth we're talking about. Jeff Green will REALLY have to step up his game....I am optimistic that he CAN do it.

But WILL he?

He has the opportunity, I think.

EDIT: Jeff Green would also have to become a defensive pest, too - using that length and athleticism to bother our opponents.

Jeff Green is never going to be Paul Pierce, but even 70-80% of Pierce is still pretty good. I mean, that's the Pierce that we had in the playoffs last year, and we still almost beat Miami.

My point is this: KG and probably Rondo are the only two truly irreplaceable pieces of this team. Nobody else can even come close to those two in terms of what they bring to the table. Pierce is a seriously good basketball player, but Green can be a poor man's version of PP's game. That's the only reason that I feel like we could survive it if we lost him. Wouldn't be pretty, but the team would at least have a puncher's chance.