Doc Rivers furious after loss to Raptors
Doc Rivers could have used a bubble bath and a lemon spritzer on Friday night after he left the Air Canada Centre, or perhaps a Boy Meets World marathon and a full body massage. The Boston Celtics coach resembled a geyser the way steam erupted out of his head during the second quarter of Boston’s 86-74 loss to the Toronto Raptors, and matters didn’t improve much from there.
“I was really frustrated with our execution,” Rivers told reporters in Toronto. “We couldn’t run a play out of a timeout, so that’s just frustrating, [and] that’s focus or something. We have to fix that. Because we’ve been playing too well for this to go back down this road again.
“We’ve kind of worked out of all our kinks, then all of a sudden, the last couple games, it’s returned back out of nowhere. [Getting emotional is] part of coaching. It shouldn’t be, but it is. You just gotta keep finding the right button and it’s everybody — everybody gets frustrated with each other. I saw that today. Two guys knew the play, one guy didn’t — and just one guy didn’t. And everybody, it drains energy. Not being a professional drains energy. Being a professional is knowing every set you run, knowing your rotations, because it’s draining for the pros who know, who do the work.
“Mickael Pietrus, I’ll use him as an example. He’s been here the least amount of time, he knows every single rotation and every single set, because he’s a pro. [Not knowing the rotations and sets is] just unacceptable.” …
In a season in which Rivers has made it clear he won’t allow his team to lean on excuses, he was adamant that the Celtics could not blame Friday’s effort on Thursday’s overtime loss to the Lakers in Boston.
“If they want to use the overtime [Thursday] night, then we are not mentally tough enough to be a winner,” said Rivers. “If you’re tough, you come in and you grind this one out and win it, too. If you’re not, then you use [Thursday] night as an excuse.”
Does anybody have one of those Men In Black memory erasers? Cool. Let’s get jiggy with it. I mean, “Here come the Men In Black, they won’t let you remember.” I mean, sorry. Let’s hope the Celtics regain a sense of life tomorrow, or the meeting against the Bulls might get ugly.
Related posts:
Celtics Blog | Tommy King | February 11, 2012
At this point, I just tune Doc out. He says the same thing every time he talks. It’s always “execution”. It’s his mantra, his safety blanket. The reality is that there are problems with this team that he is simply ignoring. He is basically running the same offense he has been running for years now, EVEN THOUGH PERSONNEL HAVE CHANGED. The Big Three have aged. Young players are coming in. Most importantly Rondo is entering his prime, and this offense has NEVER been a good fit for him, and Doc knows that. Why won’t Doc open up the offense so there is more room for Rondo’s improvisatory attacking game? Why is it that every team in the league, from Chicago, to Minnesota, to the Clippers, to the Knicks is discovering the value of an attacking point guard, BUT WE STILL DON’T GET IT.
Times have changed. Personnel have changed. We are failing to take advantage of the talent we have, and in fact, when it comes to Rondo, currently our top talent, we are RUINING HIM. How obvious does it have to be that the frustration is killing him?
NO DOC, THIS IS ON YOU. Stop blaming your players. Look in the mirror. WHY DO YOU STUBBORNLY REFUSE TO ALTER YOUR SYSTEM? Is it a perfect system, Doc? Did God give it to you engraved on stone tablets? Or can it be altered to suit your actual personnel? Or must it be a strait jacket?
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He’s only now getting mad??? How about weeks ago when they were 0-4??? He is right about toughness and showing up but as the coach he should have showed up on Wednesday with a practice instead of being away watching his son. As paul said, this is on Doc, totally. When was the last time you ever heard him speak about rebounding? Or driving to the hoop? Or as paul explains about changing his ‘sets’??? Why does he us AB last night but not vs the Lakers? He uses JJ too and it still sitting GS and both can play defense and rebound. Doc falls back into his own patterns and those need changing just as the personnel changes. You have to adapt and keep saying the same old sh*t time after time in every interview. Guarantee he does nothing about this. The team will flip the light-switch tomorrow as it’s the Bulls but unless they rebound and push the ball then it’ll be loss #3 instead of win #8 in a row. Go Cs…
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Sorry…meant ‘not’ keep saying…etc. Go Cs…
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It’s weird how Doc only seems to care about rebounding, or attacking the basket, sporadically, just like he occasionally says he wants Rondo scoring, but then forgets about it. If anyone needs focus, it’s him.
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Yo you guys should chill. Doc is a great coach, and it’s true, execution is key for this team. And Rondo can drive to the basket yes, but you see how many times he’s hit the floor and been slow to get up? He’s not as durable as Rose. So yeah this is a tough season so far but we can only get better. The Lakers game was an ugly one Cus the C’s didn’t execute set plays. They stay with the same formula Cus guess what….IT WORKS. God the Internet seems void of common sense nowadays.
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You don’t get it do you? Execution is important, but if the scheme is wrong, it’s nothing but a mantra. I’m not even saying that the scheme is all wrong. Just that it BLATANTLY needs to be altered to suit changing personnel. WHAT IS SO HARD TO SEE ABOUT THAT?!
Why are all of you Doc Heads so damn stuck on the notion that it is still 2008 and the only fly in the ointment is that Rondo isn’t a good little pet? Rondo has grown up. He’s our best player now. We need to use him. We need to let him lead us.
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Btw the Lakers stayed with the triangle system for YEARS AND LOOK AT HOW GOOD IT WORKED. Personnel can change as long a the system works, which it obviously does.
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Well, I can’t argue with that. Yes, it is possible to either force a system onto your players no matter what, or to only have players who fit into the system. But if that’s the approach you want to take, then you have to ship out Rondo.
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And I don’t remember that ever being the Celtics way. The system over the player is the way they do football. Basketball is different. I’d like to think that it is still a game that respects a player’s creativity.
Anyway, both Chicago and LA changed their system eventually, didn’t they?
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Nor am I saying that the system has to be completely changed. I’m saying go for a blended system.
And again I say, HOW OBVIOUS DOES IT HAVE TO BE THAT POINT GUARDS LIKE RONDO ARE HAVING A HUGE EFFECT ON THE GAME TODAY AND IT’S CRAZY TO JUST SIT ON THEM?
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Finally someone who says something correct… Thumbs up GREG… i have been around on some different c’s blogs.. and it really disgust me to see people write: Fire Doc & Rondo plays like shit trade him bla bla bla… SUPPORT THE TEAM anyone heard this word before??
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I don’t see anyone saying fire Doc. I see people saying that Doc has to admit to fault.
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Dude it’s ironic your name is Allen and your supporting the C’s haha but yeah dude maybe it’s the media idk but I didn’t know the C’s had such bandwagon fans.
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Greg: The triangle offense didn’t work so hot against Dallas last year in the playoffs, did it? And we have every right to complain of the C’s offense b/c they don’t have one. It’s ugly, stalled, and Paul is correct: it doesn’t work for Rondo; however, everyone keeps making excuses for Rondo, when he’s not behaving like a professional, and still hasn’t developed a jump shot to become a real threat. Hence, the sag defense employed by the Lakers. The C’s started winning after Rondo went down. That is not a coincidence. I don’t want them to trade Rondo, but he needs to stop pouting and get his head in the game.
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I just think you are wrong to point the finger only at Rondo here. I think there is an awful lot of blame to go around. Rondo is the odd man out, so he feels the pressure the most.
Again, let me point out that Red understood that different players motivate differently. He didn’t treat them all the same, and the more creative a player was, the more leeway that player seemed to get.
As I recall from reading, he never raised his voice to Cousy, but he lambasted Heinsohn all the time. Was Cousy therefore an unprofessional louse because he required kid gloves, because he was high maintenance?
Rondo has been pretty shabbily treated in a lot of ways if you ask me. Ainge has constantly had his azz on the trading block. The Big Three condescend to him. Doc seems to use Rondo as his whipping boy- remember, it’s been reported that Doc has gone after Rondo pretty brutally verbally, but you can pretty much bet he doesn’t hassle the Big Three much. Most of all, Rondo has been stuck in a no win situation.
I don’t blame him for what you call his pouting. I blame everyone in the situation for not having the commonsense and decency to work this out. Why on earth would you waste such an obviously high talent?
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And yes, Paul and James are correct in their assments of Rivers. He never talks about rebounding. It’s always execution. He set the tone by watching his son play at Duke rather than have his team prepare for the Lakers. And now he’s pissed b/c his team is skidding downward. Go Duke.
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I love it that Doc is such a good Dad, but if Rondo asked leave to take off to see his brother play in a game, would Doc say yes? Surely not?
About the rebounding: I’ve given up on it. Doc talks rebounding after a particularly bad game, and then he seems to forget about it. And what about the offensive boards? For God’s sake, denying yourself EVER getting more than one shot at the basket only works when you have three of the best shooters in history at their absolute prime. We haven’t been at that place for a long time. Still great. They just need more help now.
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And Paul, you keep saying you want Rondo driving to the lane more, but until he is a threat to knock down a jump shot, teams will back off him and take away that drive. What is he doing in the offseason anyway? He’s not working on FTs or jumpers, that’s for sure.
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No, you are wrong there, Chris. first, you can drive even if they do back off. It’s harder, sure, but you can still do it. Or you can make them back all the way to the basket. Or you can drive around them. Or use screens. Having a player sag off you doesn’t mean you have lost the ability to move fast. It’s not paralysis, is it?
But yes, hitting over them is a classic way to make them pay, and Rondo clearly DID work on that this summer and has progressed. He shoots with much better motion and confidence. I don’t know if it is panning out numerically yet, but I do know that he has to keep taking that shot no matter what. And I think he also needs to take running shots. Go at the sagging player and then pull up for elbow js, which rondo seems to like, and so on. He actually seems to almost prefer shooting on the run.
The Kid has got to shoot. that’ s for sure. He’s been working hard on it and he has bring that to the games.
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No it didn’t. But what about the 3 back championships back to back? And what about the two after shaq left?! That’s not a good argument at all. Sorry.
Rondo is a top 5 point guard. Yes I’ll admit he’s inconsistent at times and his shot is not elit. But tell me one thing….when has Rondo eer been the first option offensively? When have we ever relied on him for points? Did you forget the players on our team with the names Allen, Pierce, KG, Bass, Pietrus, Wilcox? ALL of those guys can consistently score. We just need Rondo to assist and run the floor. Don’t think he can do that?
Wait how many assists does he average again?
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Right. You want Rondo to be a sweet lil role player, like Bradley. But he’s a lot more than than, and he won’t fit into that role anymore. And the fact that we don’t rely on him to score is precisely the problem. He is currently our best offensive player. to have him stand at the top of the circle passing off all the time marginalizes our key player. It’s mind numbingly stupid.
And surely you see that when rondo goes on the attack our offense comes to life?
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Oh yeah Rivers is such a horrible coach all he did was lead us to the FINALS TWICE, the ECF 3 TIMES, and oh yeah, we won the freaking championship. Where’s your logic?
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Don’t remember Doc playing and he only won when DA got him KG and RA. The 2008 team was 3rd in rebounding that season and 23rd in 2010 when we got killed on the boards…just like now as we’re 29th…or even worse than 2010 if you can grasp that and understand why this is one reason Doc SUCKS. Go Cs…
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I’m not debating the fact that KG and RA have changed this team. We performed the biggest turnaround in NBA history that year. SO you’re telling me that because we can’t rebound that’s Doc’s fault? That he’s supposed to go out there and rebound himself? Yeah…good theory. Doc sucks cus his team can’t rebound. Riiiiight.
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Ever hear Doc mention the fact that the rebounding sucks? Ever hear Riley’s mantra when he was winning championships with the Lakers – “no rebounds, no rings”? Do you understand the importance of controlling the boards? Isn’t it the coaches responsibility to prepare the team? If you understood basketball you might understand why rebounding is the single most important area that ALL players can affect because it is all about desire and effort. It doesn’t take any extra talent to box out your man. It’s part of playing defense. Talent is not a requirement to be good at rebounding. Smaller players can out rebound taller ones and thereby sometimes get fouls called on players coming over their backs. But you’re happy with them being 29th in rebounding? Genius, just like Doc. Congrats… Go Cs…
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Thankyou for focusing on the rebounding. Our lack of rebounding has been absolutely killing us.
go back to the 2010 lakes series, Greg. see how our lack of rebounding killed us
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Greg you are now 4/4
btw whats up with that doc went to see his son play?? of course he did it is his son after all… schould we blame Allen as well for missing a game because he stayed away to spend time with his new born son and family??
Rondooooooooo !!!
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Are you and Greg twins? Seeing his son play a day before such a critical game is a whole lot different than seeing your child born. This is about as dumb a comment ever on this blog. Doc’s son is in college and he could have watched on TV. Instead, he cancelled a practice that ended up costing the Cs big time vs the Lakers. Doc is paid extremely well to coach the Cs and not traveling to his son’s games, although I wish he’d attend every one as the ex-Celtic coach. Go Cs…
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So you’re telling me you wouldn’t watch your son, a freshman at one of the most prestigious basketball programs in the country, play his first game against his team’s most hated rival? Really? Is one measly regular season win that important to you? Maybe you expect the C’s to win every game? IDK. But to say that he sucks cus he wanted to watch his son play is retarded.
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No, not if I am being paid to prepare my team for their single most hated opponent, especially when the game is on TV. A practice to me is more important and the loss verifies that Doc made the wrong choice as his team was not prepared even though they lost by only 1 pt. It’s Doc’s responsibility to get them ready and ergo the loss falls on him. Same goes for the loss last night. Go Cs…
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James, you are again so right about this. Sure it was a big game. But Doc gives himself different rules. His mind certainly wasn’t on the Celtics.
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Haha thanks dude it’s funny Cus like people on these blogs have no knowledge of how the NBA is a season. There’s 66 games. There’s no need to panic and call for ridiculous things like the firing of Doc or trading Rondo. Do they not know what happened to team chemistry once Perk was traded?! Trading Rondo is a horrible idea.
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Reply to all your posts..
I’ve been watching the Celtics since 1960 when my father introduced me to them, as he followed Russell and Jones who graduated from USF. I still play hoops and believe I can still hold my own pretty well against most Y level players so I think I understand hoops pretty good. That said, my opinions are of no more value than yours, but while I tend to analyze things in-depth and give examples I don’t see any such thing from your generic “Doc’s a great coach” and your ‘support’ for this team. I love this team and probably more than you, as being a fan that got to enjoy and watch 7 straight thumpings of the Lakers for titles I understand what constitutes good to great coaching. So you think Doc is “great”. Well, have you ever seen him pull a player, much-less one of the starters, for crappy play? You mention the triangle system so I know, and have seen, Phil Jackson yank players for screwing up. Doc even mentions several players not knowing the play and or executing it properly so what does he do…he leaves them in. Doc’s got no cojones. Doc’s rotations suck and his use, until this year due to the schedule and injuries, of rookies and younger players has been historically horrendous. Why not use AB, GS or JJ vs the Lakers??? But he uses two of them vs Toronto? Yep, that’s f’in brilliant coaching. We were killed on the boards vs the Lakers (Gasol/Bynum 31 rebs) but Doc leaves a 7 footer and a 6’10’ PF on the bench. Again, not brilliant coaching by any stretch. Go ahead and continue to love Doc, but I suggest analyzing his strategies a lot closer by actually watching the games without focusing on who has the ball. As an example, just try following PP around (not hard as he doesn’t move much) when he’s on offense and doesn’t have the ball. He never rebounds as he’s trapped on the 3-line and he never follows his own shot (granted, hard to do taking fall-away jumpers). The team rebounding sucks and that gives more shots to the opposition and less 2nd chance opps. to the Cs. All these things are considered ‘coaching’ strategies. It’s one thing to be a fan and comment as such, but how about giving some analysis and examples to back up your ‘opinions’ like…you guys are wrong mantras. Go Cs…
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So you’ve been a fan for decades…good for you.
However, this is 2012, so all of the comments about being a fan longer than I’ve been alive, loving the team more, etc. is irrelevant bs.
Now on to the Lakers game. The reason Doc leaned on our vets so hard was because they have to most experience against the Lakers. Why would he depend on 7 new players to win a game against one of the top teams in the west? Let me tell you, it would have been a lot more ugly than it was. We lost that game by one point in over time because of our execution. Listen, We’ve never been a good rebounding team. Never stopped us from making the finals twice. Greg Steimsma? JJ? Those guys are ROOKIES. And last time I checked my friend, experience > Rookies.
You can’t realistically sit there and say that his rotations suck without offering better alternatives. You know why? Because he’s doing the best with what he has. Listen, I like JJ, GS, and MP as much as you do, but to say that they would have made a difference againsst the Lakers is ignorant.
Avery Bradely was hurt btw. That’s why Moore came in instead of him. But we lost that game because of lack of execution. The ball was either stuck or didn’t move enough to get open looks. That’s it. Next game. Geez.
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In 2008 the title year the Cs were #3 in rebounding. Being 29th now is akin to giving the other team (such as the Lakers with Gasol/Bynum getting 31 rebs) a ton of extra shots and costing us shots on our offensive end, as we suck at boxing out and offensive rebounding. So you think this team, yes 2012, can with their age afford to give up such an advantage to their playoff opponents? You’re right, sorry I am too stupid to understand that apparently it’s not an issue worth commenting on. And of course AB played the very next night but was ready for the Laker game and told Doc so. But with the Lakers old PG Fisher and just returned back-up, Blake the Cs could have used AB to harass them as that is his specialty. And of course he was needed more vs Toronto the next night. And we certainly couldn’t have used two young defensive-oriented front court players (rookies, yes) to rebound and give fouls instead of letting the Lakers score time and again on cheap buckets from controlling the boards as they did. My bad, again. Sitting them all on the bench certainly was brilliant as unless they play no one knows whether they would have helped or not. Great strategy by Doc. Again, my bad. Go Cs…
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P.S. Using AB, JJ, EM, and GS is all about rotations and Doc not using them is an example of his crap rotations, as you asked for. Go Cs…
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Again you treat this one game like it’s game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Lakers are one of only a handful of teams that have a dominant front court. NO TEAM IN THE EAST HAS ONE except for the magic, which pose no threat to us in the playoffs. The Hawks have Horford, but I doubt we’ll see them in the play offs either. Soooo basically we don’t need a dominant center in the Eastern Conference. But dude you’re acting like you could take Doc’s job, which is funny because you’re just another old dude who criticizes without understanding that we DIDN”T HAVE A F’Ing TRAINING CAMP. I’d like to see how you incorporate 7 new players and have good lineups day in and day out. The day YOU lead a team to the Finals not once, but twice? Then I’ll value your opinion.
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Don’t need you to value my opinion as that is all it is. Same as yours, worthless really all things considered. But when we lose to Toronto and are out rebounded by them then maybe there’s a problem? Guess you don’t see that or understand. Just study the box scores and watch the games and maybe you’ll learn someday how important rebounding and team depth are in getting a team ready for the playoffs and then actually winning it all. Like in 2008 and not since then. Go Cs…
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And what does training camp have to do with desire and effort in boxing out and rebounding better??? Enlighten me please. Go Cs…
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You are right on about Perk. Trading Perkins wrecked ubuntu.
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And please let’s not mention the Duke win okay? As a UNC fan, that’s still a sensitive topic lol
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James, I’m a Celtics fan from the same era. A couple of clarifications:
The Celtics beat the Fakers 8 consecutive times (’84 was the last in the streak). Doc has yanked players on numerous occasions – and on the biggest stage. Recall Rondo was yanked for Eddie House in the ’08 Semis & Finals. Likewise, Ray Allen sat when he went cold the same postseason in favor of other players.
This blog is not long enough to analyze who is to blame for the current state of affairs but I start at the very top – ownership.
Since the ’08 title the Celtics refused to re-sign, extend or even offer contracts to some of the KEY defensive players like Posey, Tony Allen and Perk. In Perk’s case they wouldn’t offer him a contract the Summer he got hurt…. and then used the excuse that he would walk at the end of the year anyway for blowing-up our team chemistry. Nobody talks about how the CBA PREVENTS offering more than a 10% increase to rstricted fa’s in their final contract year. The Fakers faced the EXACT same scenario with Bynum in the Summer of ’08 when he was hurt (after losing in the Finals) but they extended him 4 more years.
The biggest insult is Jeff Green was then given a 1yr $9Mil deal!!! Are you kidding me?
KG no longer plays Defense with his legs. He is all arms & upper body and he does not have the reflexes or explosiveness. When they took away Perk, they took away our last line of Defense. Need proof? Look how many times players catch the ball in the lane against us and shoot layups. That would NEVER happen under Perk’s watch. We no longer have the rotation on D. Our offense is stagnant partly because Rondo refuses to drive to the front of the rim and KG refuses to post-up with his back to the hoop. Instead he catches the ball 20 ft away and we watch the Celtics run thr freaking weave with NOBODY crashing the offensive glass! No 2nd shots, no spacing, and no weak side lanes for Ray and no big man to set hard screens and roll to the hoop. That sounds like a formula for scoring 80 pts/game and getting run out of the gym by the athletic clubs.
We have guys like JJJ, Wilcox and Air France who want to run with Rondo and play agressive in the lane but they sit on the bench.
I expect a trade or two by the deadline. If we find a team to take KG for picks & expiring contracts – do it. Right now the Celtics might not even make postseason play. Don’t forget 2/3 of the remaining games are on the road against good teams. Pathetic.
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To say that we won’t make the playoffs shows your lack of faith. The East is so top heavy this season that it would take a monumental collapse for that to happen. Look at 2010 when we had an even worse regular season. What happend as the season went on? Exactly.
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i agree with everything you said till the part about rondo.his reaction to the perk trade killed the chemistry and energy and now hes doin the same thing causde of trade rumors.his feelings are hurt and the damage is done.he is now a malignant tumor that needs removal before it hits stage 4 cancer.as soon as he returned from injury it was back to the same old bullsh!t.
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Perk was not the starting center when the trade was made. We were killing it with Shaq and JO and Perk wanted far too much money. I talked enough about this and am just glad he is gone. Green will either sign for less or be gone as his injury saved us the $9MM and helped improve our bench even more as DA did. Green’s got talent and still may be a very good player and he seems to want to stay in Boston. Our offense is also stagnant because PP camps at the 3-line and refuses to move. RR needs to push and we need to run but we can’t until they address the rebounding issues. I don’t think anyone will be traded and just hope they realize that efficient rebounding can improve all facets of their game; defense, offense, and most importantly racking up wins. Go Cs…
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Brilliant all the way, Jay. rondo and KG were better defenders with Perk back there. And what would have happened to Klieza if Perk had been around? Would he have mugged Rondo with utter impunity?
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The key is rebounding and the C’s have been horrible the past few years. How much is Doc to blame? Obviously it’s not a focus, since they continue to struggle, even against smaller teams. And to say that one regular season game doesn’t matter is ridiculous. Doc didn’t prepare them for the Lakers and that’s huge. Every game matters. To throw games away is not the mentality of a champion. Can you imagine Jordan saying a game didn’t matter? And Ray watching his baby being born is not a comparison to a coach abandoning his team and canceling practice to watch his son play. Besides, Ray was still nursing a sprained ankle. Let’s stick to logic folks. And using “Cus” looks very ghetto.
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Sooo you call making the finals horrible?
Dude you’re upset that this isn’t your dad’s Celtics. It’s okay. When decades pass, it tends to happen that way. Every game matters yes but you’re acting like this is the playoffs or something. Chill out. Oh and I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was getting graded on my grammar.
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Billy Bad Ass, I agree. Rondo may have the tools to be a great point guard, but he’s never going to have the mentality of a champion. He’s a head case, and doesn’t have a jump shot. I’m tired of making excuses for him.
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Rondo is one of the best players I’ve ever seen when he is on. So I say stop making excuses for him and lets figure out what is bothering him. No one can say that this kid doesn’t have guts or passion.
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Dude I get so frustrated with people when they say that. He is without a doubt a top 5 point guard in the NBA when he’s on his game.
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Prediction: Ainge trades Rondo this year.
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That’s a retarded guess. And if Ainge does that he’s not a good GM.
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Ainge is obviously going to get rid of Rondo, and soon. But he shouldn’t. He should commit publicly to building around Rondo.
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Idk if I’ll respect Ainge if he does. He’s made some incredible erratic moves.
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Doc has a great team this year and is not using his players properly. And to all out there, when grown folks is talkin, shut the f— up. Case in point, James following the Celtics since 1960. I agree Doc should be the first head to roll. Doc’s furious is he? He should be mad at his damn self.
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James, our team has one of the best benches in the NBA. Bass, MP, CW, AB, and maybe even Steimsma and JJ and EM can contribute ONCE DOC LEARNS HOW TO USE THEM. If you’re such a basketball guru, don’t you know how much the lockout has effected play? The Pacers and 76ers jumped out to early leads in terms of records, and when the playoffs start, they’ll fade. Yes our rebounding isn’t good but it will get better. But we aren’t gonma get out rebounded every night like we did vs the Lakers. Or maybe that doesn’t register with you.
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We’re 29th in rebounding. That means only 1 team is worse. We have won the rebounding stat 12 times in 26 games. What’s that tell you? Yes, they started rebounding better recently and won the majority of those games. The last two games we’ve been out rebounded by 8 (TOR) and 10 (Lakers)…both losses. I agree our bench is much better and my frustration is that Doc started using them and we were winning and then he stopped vs the Lakers. The lockout? What did/does it have to do with players not boxing out now and getting thumped on the boards…especially the way too many offensive boards we give up which is our defensive end (ergo we should have the advantage being between the rim and our opponents)??? We’ve been out rebounded 14-12 so far this season and have 12 losses. We got lucky twice and won even though out rebounded. Can you see the pattern? Let’s hope they rebound better or we will not be advancing as we all hope. Go Cs…
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Good points from everyone. Also, Blue Ivy has new pictures posted to http://www.wickedimproper.com
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I appreciate all of your passion.PP has still got “it”, Ray and Kevin are not bringing “it” on both ends for any length of time any more.They shouldn’t be starting together The C’s need a Perk presence on D with even a Wilcox presence on O. but that would be an all-star. Never give up!
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Doc’s gotta go. If heads should roll, they should start at the top, then he’s got all the time in the world to watch his son play and the Celtics can get back to business.
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Greg, you are correct; we are not being graded on spelling or grammar, but a guy who used to cheap shot me with elbows used to always use “Cus” so I associate it with Laker fans here in LA who play dirty in pick up games. My apologies. We’re all frustrated b/c we know the C’s are a much better team than their past two games. I hope they keep Rondo, yet I remain frustrated with him; and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ainge trades him soon. I just hope they get someone decent for him. Buzz has Rondo for Gasol. And whoever suggested KG and Allen coming off the bench is correct. We should be building this team like Dallas did last year. Veteran role players combined with fiesty young players, all playing together as a team. If they ever decide to rebound and stop making stupid turnovers, they can compete with anyone.
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Chris you’re right, everyone on this page is clearly frustrated because we know we’re better than this. I mean just earlier this season, Miami only beat us by 9 point and that was without Pierce who’s our top scorer. Honestly I think the rebuilding process would go a lot more smoothly of Ainge waits till the offseason because both Allen and Garnett have expiring contracts. We let them walk, we have more cap space to attract big name FA’s. So that’s a core of Rondo, Green, MP, GS, Bass, JJ. That’s still a decent core. And yes you’re right!! The turnovers are a HUGE detriment to this team. I was so frustrated with all the careless turnovers. But like I said before, execution can and will fix all that. When the C’s are on their game, they can definitely compete with anyone.
I recently heard Skip Bayless on ESPN predict that the C’s could “definitely” upset Chicago in the playoffs.
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Don’t be surprised when KG & RA are resigned. They can play a couple more years but they need to come off the bench and be used in spot situations. I believe both will still have the fire and they’ll sacrifice their pay to say $5MM each per season (2 yr deals for $10MM each is fair) thereby giving the Cs the needed salary relief to help sign other players. And yes, the frustration sucks!!! This team should be at least 20-6 right now. They have underachieved but show signs they can be very dangerous when the games really matter. Ergo, I think they’ve been coasting already, which is their single worst trait. Go Cs…please show some f’in fire and 100% effort today!
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James you’re right. Singe is really close to these guys, and its probably very hard for him to consider letting them just walk away. But yeah you’re right if they come back they shoul just be consultants to the team and not the face of the franchise. Hey I found this interesting stat: the C’s currently have the 3rd most productive bench in the NBA. The 1st in the East. That’s a very encouraging sign that this team is heading upward. And yes, I expect this game to be another bar fight haha
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*Ainge.
Btw James I apologize for disrespecting you.
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No problem. Even I get worked up and direct most of my frustration towards paul when he comments about the ‘trade’ or Perk, but his other posts are usually very good and on target (even though he gets real worked up when RR isn’t performing as he should). We all know this group has more talent than the 2008 team, but so far have only shown brief stints of showing they do. Hopefully, that will change and they wake up and figure it out and start giving the effort we expect. Can’t win them all, but they can give effort every-time. And if they win the rebounding stat each game then we’ll really see a top championship caliber team…to beat. Maybe it starts today? Go Cs..
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And Chris, here in the east coast we don’t say “Cus” the way they do out there. I was using cus as short hand for because. Wait a person from LA who’s a C’s fan??? Haha
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James. Yeah I think it’s pretty clear that this team can do some major major damage in the postseason. Just look at the 2008 team. Our main contributors off of the bench were House, Powe, and Posey. This year? We have Bradley, Dooling, Pietrus, Bass, Wilcox, Steimsma, Johnson. ALL those guys are better than our 08 bench. I think our biggest contributor could be Wilcox, as he’s a big body who can bang with the best of them as well as grab some rebounds. He can also run the floor when the big 3 are on the bench. And next year our main people will be Pierce, Rondo, Green, Bass, Johnson, Wilcox. That’s an amazing 5. I think every player today has one word in mind: Attack. If they attack early, get some rebounds and run set plays, I have no worries about them winning this game. Honestly. Our bench is sooo much better than Chicago and Miami that we could very well come out of the East.
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tommy with the post that gets the most action all year.. getting jiggy with it.
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Greg, yeah, Celtic fan in LA but didn’t grow up in Fakertown. here for work. Go C’s!!!! And there is a great Celtic bar in LA, believe it or not….
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James, it starts today!!! JJ NEEDS some more playing time. This kid can play. Did you see he and Wilcox go after those rebounds? AND we didn’t have Bass or Oneal.
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