Pacers 97, Celtics 83
Four straight losses. 4-7 for the season. 0-6 against winning teams.
At least E’Twaun Moore played a few minutes.
I’m covering the Patriots game right now, so I’d rather think about Gronk than bemoan whatever’s wrong with the goddamn Celtics.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | January 14, 2012
There’s no mystery to it. The Celtics have a clear best player, and it’s equally clear that they do not regard this guy as their best player and that they keep a tight chain on him and keep yanking it. Rondo is in an impossible situation. I predict that we will see national figures, perhaps explayers, maybe like Magic Johnson, commenting on this more and more openly. The situation with the Celtics used to be surreal. Now it’s perverse and it’s rapidly becoming tragic. A great young player is being hogtied and kept down so that selfish old players can still feel like they are what it’s all about. They and Doc are so freaking stupid to keep perpetuating this situation.
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Rondo cannot do anymore than he already is…if anymore is asked of him he will end up injured…it is a miracle that he hasn’t injured himself already. If PP doesn’t find his mojo this season is over.
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What are you talking about? I don’t want to see Rondo injured, but he’s a basketball player who is being asked to do what he does best to the best of his ability.
As for Pierce, his mojo is not coming back. He isn’t a great player in his prime anymore. That would be Rondo. He’s a player well past his prime now. There’s nothing wrong with that. There IS something wrong when a player not in his prime, and his fans, insist on being the center of the show.
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Gotta agree with you on that one Jay, would’nt be watching this pathetic ball the Celts are playing if i was you either……not with the Patriots on fire like this. I know it’s kinda early in the season, but something needs to get done before this whole thing gets any worse.
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Telling stat last 2 games…PP – 72 mins with a grand total of 4 rebs (3 today). In a game and a half (72 mins, etc.) that’s less than 1 rebound per quarter. Yes, he shot better, but the games are being lost on the boards (Cs gave up 15 offensive rebs or 15 extra shots). That ugly stat and our starting guards had ZERO FTs. That means everyone is standing around and taking jump shots unless of course the refs suck, which they do, but we can’t use that as an excuse for such uninspired effort. Glad I did not even know this game was being played today. So no anticipation and ergo just mild disappointment at finding out they lost. At least JO showed up on the boards today and EM got some meaningful minutes. Maybe the ‘captain’ can learn from their example??? Go Cs…ever hear of boxing out???
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I think the folks doing the halftime show on Friday night were succinct and pretty much right on the money: the Celtics now amount to Rajon Rondo plus four old guys. What they didn’t add, but one sensed that they wanted to add, is that the team is still trying to jam Rondo, who is turning into possibly the maddest (as in good) player in the league, into a supporting role for the Big Three, whom it is still trying to feature, especially Paul Pierce. The result is both ludicrous and perverse.
And you know, you people believe whatever the hell you want. You go ahead and tell yourself that Perkins didn’t matter. You go ahead and tell yourself that Paul Pierce is still The Man. You go ahead and tell yourself that a team’s chemistry and cohesion and EFFORT won’t suffer when it trades away a key player on the verge of the playoffs, and when it insists on featuring Three Old Guys while quashing a brilliant young player.
Like I said, I predict that this won’t go unnoticed around the league, and unmentioned. Right now maybe I’m the only one saying it. That won’t last for long, I predict.
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We are loosing because we dont have a good PF( KG is not the same, his getting blocked every single game!!!!!!!!) we need to trade him period!
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I guess you folks aren’t seeing the same games I am. Yes the cohesion and effort have been sub-par, at times terrible. But if you want to understand the Cs problems, rewatch the Chicago game. Notice how Chicago knows who their key guy is. Notice how they build their game around this guy. Now look at the Celtics. Notice how their best player is constantly forced into a supporting role. Notice how the gameplan is still designed to feature the Big Three, especially Pierce, with even Allen turning into an afterthought. Notice how this does no one any favors. Notice how Rondo has now returned to walking the ball up and then standing outside the three point line uselessly watching the play, which usually involves Paul Pierce ‘making something happen’.
It’s not even a joke anymore. It’s a travesty turning into a tragedy.
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Have to disagree with you on this after giving it a lot of thought. Here’s why RR is still the lead guy and why things aren’t working…and how they would work enabling your view of RR to be the same as it was the last 3 yrs. By not rebounding, or moving on offense (setting picks and flowing; not standing around [PP is the worst]) and playing with no sense of urgency or commitment the Cs look exactly as you opine. Now, if they did what they did just last year and the years before and actually hit the boards, set picks, cut and kept moving then everything would be working as it should. The fact is it appears they don’t want it bad enough (primarily PP) to make the necessary effort to do those things I’ve listed. Even if they just tried to do them I’d be less critical but when PP gets only 4 rebs in two games then he is not trying. paul…you talk about team “cohesiveness” and what Perk meant to the Cs and obviously I will FOREVER disagree about his value, which I still say was mediocre at best and declining, but the cohesiveness that is missing now is not due to RR not being seen as the leader it’s because the team, as a collective unit and responsible for ‘showing up’ nightly, is not fighting to win games. PP, as the captain, should be showing the way, but he looks as if he doesn’t care. If he cared, he would box out, and fight for defensive rebs so that teams would not consistently get 10-15 offensive rebs a night vs this group. KG needs to take the ball to the hoop and get fouled. Both guards, RR and RA, had ZERO FTs yesterday so that tells me they are not driving to the hoop. If the Cs decided to do only one thing and that is to rebound with all the fire and effort they can give then I guarantee this would all turnaround and RR would be getting 12+ assists per night and the team would be winning all these games. Go Cs…can you all just show up once all together????
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You don’t disagree about Perk’s value, James. You CHOOSE to dissemble about it, for unknown reasons. What losing Perk did to the team has been attested to by Shaq, by Rivers, by Garnett, by Rondo, etc., and it was obvious in any case, and has been proven out by what happened to the two teams’ records. Now if you want to continue to dissemble about it, that’s your business.
As for your other arguments, you are totally missing my point. Do you willfully choose not to see what is before your eyes? Yes, yes, yes, the team is unmotivated. Of course. Why are they unmotivated, James? Why have they lost the spark? Well, some of it goes back to the earlier point. When Danny traded Perkins the way he did, at the time he did it, he betrayed the team. He knew it, which is why he lied about it. The players knew it, which is why they were extremely upset. And you damn well know it.
Danny has never even made the slightest attempt to heal that wound.
But now, by selfishly refusing to follow the lead of their best player, Rondo, and to rework their game around him, the Big Three have chosen to throw away the only thing that could have lifted them. Do you seriously not get it that what your best player gives you isn’t just a set of skills? HE ALSO GIVES YOU A VISION, AND A PASSION FOR THE GAME, AND HE GIVES HIS TEAM ENERGY AND MOTIVATION. Do you not understand that? Larry wasn’t just the best player on his team. He motivated his team.
Rondo has a passion for the game that is fresh, and a vision that is bright, and a way of doing things that can work. The Old Ones need to hitch their wagons to his rising star.
AND THEY NEED TO DO IT NOW. It’s going to take some soul searching. But they can do it. Berating them for not being motivated is pointless. Pointing to the direction they need to go in to get inspired and thus get motivated makes more sense. And THAT is what I am doing, James.
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paul…why do you fall back on hindsight to fortify your arguments about Perk? Face it, as I can do the same but I CHOOSE to live in a world of reality, so here goes the what ifs that you also hang your arguments on…
1. If Shaq had not been injured would you think Perk was better? NO.
2. If JO had not been injured would you think Perk was better? NO.
The Cs were winning without Perk and doing better at it than when he was with them or have you forgotten how great Shaq and the team was playing early last season??? Injuries suck and using hindsight to justify a position that never would be used if those injuries never happened is pathetic. Get over the f’in trade and stop living in the world of ‘what ifs’. It’s 2012 and Perk’s ‘ghost’ has NOTHING to do with this team and how they are playing. But before I address that…chew on this.
Hindsight is a worthless commodity and you need to stop living in that world. If you think having a center who’s stats equated to a less than average center then you got a problem and you still refuse to ever acknowledge that THERE WAS NO F’IN BENCH last year and the goal of the trade was to get JG, not just dump Perk (although his exorbitant salary demands priced him out – and no negotiation was needed as the Cs were never going to pay what he wanted or what OKC gave him). The more you bitch about the trade the better I feel about it. Thanks!!!
Now to your asinine comments about motivation. The players are paid to play and have pride. they are not going to be motivated, nor should they be, by Rondo. Motivation should be pride in one’s effort and winning. RR can’t help PP get more than 4 rebs in the last 2 games…PP needs to hit the f’in boards and stop watching from the 3-line. And RR can’t ‘motivate’ KG to drive to the hoop. RR’s job is not to give “vision” to his teammates it’s to get them the ball where they best can utilize their skills. One problem with his inability to do so is that only RA ever moves around the court with any urgency or effort to get free. There are no picks being set, no movement, no dbl screens, nothing. So how can RR look good if the team is running Doc’s lame offensive sets? The players need to look inward and ask themselves ‘am I giving everything I can at all times’…the answer so far is no, including RR. It’s a team game and the collective needs to just start playing ball like they did in ’08, ’09, ’10′ and ’11 except not coasting but showing up each night with a resolve to give their best efforts. I’ve played enough ball in my life to know that no other player EVER motivated me but winning and getting to stay on the court did. Sitting, or losing, is a great motivator and hopefully soon the guys not pulling their weight will step up and start at least showing effort and caring about helping their teammates win. Go Cs…
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James, I stated publicly and loudly and over and over again as soon as The Trade happened that it was a disaster. I did that because I listened to my discernment, using my critical thinking. I didn’t buy into all the patently bs hype that was being rolled around.
In answer to your question about Shaq: had Shaq continued in his early season form, he would have started over Perkins. That was clear. When Shaq was relatively healthy, we were a juggernaut.
Perkins would have started over Jermaine, even had Jermaine been relatively healthy.
But understand, James, that to pretend that there was any realistic chance of Shaq and JO being young and strong when both were old and feeble is every bit as realistic as being in the trance that it’s still 2008 and the Big Three can still dominate the NBA.
Yes, we did well without Perk because we had TWO HOF level centers who tagteamed thier last decent playing days to cover for him. That is a tribute to how important Perkins was to us pal.
As you rightly say, James, the bench was a problem last year, and the loss of Daniels was a big one, but you also know that you don’t fix a hole in your bench by creating a huge gaping hole in your starting lineup, while wrecking your team’s cohesion, when cohesion is quite simply your team’s strongest quality.
As regards your remarks about motivation: you must know nothing about basketball and life if you don’t get it that it takes inspiration to have motivation. When you make a trade that shows that you care more about contracts than you do about winning, you kill the team’s motivation. When you sit on your best player in order to feature an overthehill star, that kills your team’s motivation. To go after the loose balls and rebounds and to do that extra rotation and all the rest, ONE NEEDS MOTIVATION. Pay doesn’t get you there by itself. You need inspiration. You need something that makes you feel the fire inside.
This team has totally lost its way. It started with Perk being traded, and its gotten worse with the best player being reduced to being a spectator while Paul Pierce goes ISO. This team is in crazy land and EVERYBODY AROUND THE LEAGUE KNOWS IT, JAMES.
Do you think the rest of the league didn’t understand what it meant when we traded Perkins (and most of the bench) away? Do you think they don’t see that Rondo is head and shoulders better than anyone else on the team and that the Big Three are not ever going to be the players they once were again, and yet Doc insists on running the team as if it was still 2008?
I have no respect for you, James. I know you aren’t stupid, so I think you are just a liar. Everything I’ve said is basic and obvious stuff. Now I’m done talking to you pal. You disgust me.
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Guys you are panicing. Why are you ahead of yourselves. Yes, things don’t look very bright, but you dont have to be so goddamned grim. Boston is probably going to lose again against the Thunder. But after that we have an easier stretch coming up with games against Toronto, Pheonix and Washington.
At least I saw something I haven’t seen all season long. Garnett was aggressive. He was scoring. And for some reason, when he was doing work down low, they were getting more offensive rebounds. They had 15 offensive rebounds tonight. That is 7 more than they had against Chicago. I am hoping to see KG keep posting up and shooting more. He can be an effective scoring option for us (10-19 – 21 points last night).
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I’m not a pessimist, Fisken. I think we can win a championship. But we have to unleash our best player, a guy who is head and shoulders the best player on our team now, and follow his lead.
That’s optimism. We can still be great. We just have to remember that part of Celtics Pride was always the willingness of waning older players to support rising younger players, and above all, NOT to quash them.
KG posting up IS something we need. I agree with that.
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The Old guys are trying to believe they are not old in the face of all the verbal and physical evidence to the contrary. Maybe all these teams running around the celts and snatching the balls away and pushing them under the baskets will get tired and the celts will learn to play within their skills and look crafty and smart again and rondo will set them up. Maybe.
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What bothers me isn’t that the old guys are old. I expected that. What bothers me is that they are SELFISH. We all hate to acknowledge age. Sometimes we even delude ourselves about it. But when that delusion leads to selfishly quashing the young, the way the Big Three, especially Pierce, are quashing Rondo, there’s no excuse for it. It’s ugly, it’s wrong and IT’S NOT THE CELTICS WAY.
Is it?
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