Celtics Vs. Sixers: Boston Suffers Worst Loss In Big 3 Era
103-71. The worst loss in the Big Three Era. Doc Rivers has to be completely disgusted with his team’s effort tonight. Just when you think the Celtics are turning a corner…
Boston is now 5-10 on the road. Not a good sign for a team that has an eight-game road trip coming up.
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Celtics Blog | Tommy King | March 7, 2012
God this was so frustrating. We were just exiscerated out there. I know it was th second night of a back to back on the road, I know that the starters plays heavy minutes in a grind it out win last night in overtime, but good lord! The bench should hav played more yesterday so the starters didn’t get trampled tonight. Friday could b more of the same because the Blazers are on the skids just as Philly was and have a very dominant front court. Where’s the playoffs when you need them?
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We have to press when we play teams with a lot of power down low, and we have to attack the basket. We settled for Js all night, and we took Rondo out of the offense, our best penetrator.
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It’s funny that Doc should be disgusted , when it appears to be his fault. What game plan was there, to compete against a powerful rebounding team, when we are both a weak rebounding team and an exhausted team? I would have started Bradley (thanks shawn), to try to fight their power with a press defense to extend the floor and take pressure off our bigs. I would have substituted more freely than usual. I would have attacked the basket to try to get their bigs distracted and, ideally, into foul trouble. And above all, I would have made damn sure to establish Rondo in the offense in the first quarter attacking the basket. What the hell is wrong with Doc? He constantly seems to devise a game plan that involves making sure everyone but Rondo gets lots of shots, WHEN RONDO IS OUR KEY GUY.
But yeah, I know you guys still don’t get it, do you? Our team is basically THREEE OLD GUYS PLUS RONDO. If we don’t establish Rondo as an aggressive force early, we have little chance. He remains the key to the lock that everyone thinks is just the afterthought.
Don’t blame him for this one. Don’t sing about his ‘inconsistency’. He was one of the few who showed up, but the game was takne out of his hands by good ole Doc.
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Why can’t Rondo establish himself? You honestly think he does whatever Doc tells him to do? Yeah…right. PP was the only one who showed up tonight. Period.
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No, Pierce played a lousy game. And yes, I think he basically does what Doc tells him to do. And if he takes himself out of the offense, it’s on Doc to do something about that. But it’s Doc, who, along with so many other people, seem to make a point of declaring that Rondo needs to cool his jets and focus on getting other people involved. What we need is balance, but that balance that we need has changed. It can’t still be Big Three first and then Rondo. We have to key off Rondo now.
So yeah, I think Rondo basically follows Doc’s game plan, such as it is. There’s no excuse for Rondo not attacking the basket in the first quarter of every single game.
Rondo drifting out of the offense was a big part of the reason for our losing streaks earlier in the season, after Pierce came back and before Rondo got injured.
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Uh, Pierce was the only one who attacked the rim at all and the only one who seemed to have any desire to want to make a comeback. Nobody played great, but Pierce (for what it’s worth) was the best Celtic on the floor.
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Paul isn’t a guy you can convince that Rondo could have done better. It’s always someone else’s fault we lost. It’s funny because he keeps on saying that Rondo is our best player, yet he NEVER holds him accountable for losing. Fanboy much?
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Yep, have to agree with paul…what f’in game plan? Oh, the one where E Moore never gets in the game and JJ only after we’re down 29 in the 4th Qtr. Brilliant Doc…this is why Doc is not a great coach. The team did not show up with any focus, energy or the will to give effort. Killed on the boards again and gave up 11 offensive rebs just in the 1st half. Who the f’ was guarding Turner? He had 16 pts/8 rebs in the first 16 mins of the game. Hey Doc if the guy is lighting up the team and single-handedly killing you (as a SG) on the boards – then f’in do something. Anything but leaving the starters in. Pathetic game, effort, loss and I hate this team right now as that should have been 3 losses in a row and somewhere in the last week they lost all the good ‘ubuntu’ they were building. Go Cs…learn how to play the game in ALL facets, not just missing jumpers!
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Why couldn’t we put Pietrus on Turner? At 6’7″, he’s too big for Rondo or Allen.
In fact, why not start Pietrus and go full court press to start the game? Why just walk into a situation that you know is pretty much certain to crush you? Why not throw a change at the situation? When will Doc get it through his head that the Big Three are not young anymore. They can still be great, but they can’t carry the load consistently that they once could. We have to show some flexibility.
I just feel like Doc keeps getting lost in a 2008 timewarp.
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Excellent point re MP and something I’ve been calling for – MP starting and RA off the bench. Doc coaches with a guard’s mentality and getting killed by 19 rebs each of the last two games speaks volumes about his focus and coaching qualities. Go Cs..
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Full court press to start the game? Yeah, that’s definitely possible and effective with tired legs on a second night of back to backs. You guys are a joke if you honestly think that would help. Tell me one game where the C’s have done that. One. Actually tell me one NBA game you’ve won with your NBA Championship-level “focus and coaching qualities”. Then you can play the role of Internet-blogger-coach.
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Actually Greg, using MP, Rondo and Bradley to press the guards is not a bad idea considering the frontline is always back to defend the rim (well maybe not as they sure can’t keep teams from offensive rebs). That could possibly force a more uptempo game which the Cs do very well at. AB needs to play more and maybe that means using him and RR at the same time. What Doc is doing, using his same old rotation strategies, is not working is it? A little experimentation would not hurt considering the play of the last 3 games. Go Cs…
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all season they have been streaky, but never anything more than 5 in a row. i was hoping they’d turned a corner as well, but in reality this result was completely predictable http://www.lucidsportsfan.com/2011_08_14_archive.html#3727703059138905787
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ainge has to do something.
what? I don’t know, I’m not on the Cs paybook.
but he’s the GM, and he has to act. I just hope he doesn’t screw up the way he did last year (or like kerr did with the shaq trade a couple of years ago).
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I think we mainly just need to get our heads out of the 2008 time warp.
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if you were ainge, what would you do? would you try something (without sacrificing cap flexibility) or sit and let the season slip away doing nothing? yesterday you mentioned 1969. it was the first time someone mentioned it. I could have hoped it made sense after 5 wins in a row, but after a 30+ point loss *against a direct competitor* I don’t think these celtics have anything in common with that 1969 team
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Screw 1969. The NBA was not even close to as competitive as it is now. This is…2012 if I’m not mistaken. Totally irrelevant point.
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Actually, the NBA was more competitive as there were less teams and each team had deeper talent and played the whole 48 mins compared to the coasting and not showing up that is prevalent these days of 2012. Go Cs…
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C’mon
The Lakers lost to the Wizards tonite
The Rockets got smashed by Toronto
The Bulls barely survived Milwaukee
This was so predictable. Relax
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What the hell are you talking about? We are just discussing it, and critiquing it. Do you have a problem with people exercising their power for thought?
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dude they overreact to every loss. You get used to it.
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Agree with the comments above re: Doc’s lack of game plan/use of players. Before the game, I was hoping he would bring in the youngsters early; in fact, I was hoping he would start them. I would’ve bet money before this game that the starters were going to come out flat. JJ and EM and Bradley could’ve started this game with some real energy while giving the old guys some rest. I’m getting tired of Doc making the same excuses after every game.
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Yeah, because playing our scrubs early would definitely have been a better game plan. You see how SA got raped earlier this year when they did that? That requires you to watch the games. Starting our benh against the starters of the other team. Now I’ve heard it all.
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How about EM not getting in the game and JJ not until the 4th QTR when we’re down 29 pts Greg? How about changing things up, especially on a back-to-back as you speak about the “tired legs”??? What the hell are the young guys for….practice only??? I am not advocating wholesale changes but MP should start in place of RA and JJ and EM need to get in much earlier. they have shown they can handle it. Go Cs…
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PS, Is this team capable of rebounding better? Or are they truly too small? This is two seasons in a row now that we are getting killed on the boards; and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better. They cannot contend in the playoffs without boards. As James like to quote Pat Riley on: No boards, no rings.
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Not too small, no team emphasis to make the necessary effort to collectively attack the boards after each shot. It’s not about talent it’s about heart and effort to box out. Doc talks about it once every season and is already done for the year based on past years. Pathetic -19 rebs each of last two games. Control the boards = wins. Ergo, we’re only 20-18 and should have lost to Houston which would have us as a .500 team. “No rebs, no rings” is a brilliant statement by Riley and ever so true. You all should be ashamed after that crap tonight. Go Cs…
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PS again, whenever I get drunk watching the games, the C’s look better and usually win. Is there such a thing as beer goggles for NBA fans?
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Unfortunately, I was completely sober today.
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Oh god Doc is such a bad coach blah blah blah yeah let’s run him out of town he sucks.
Except his players never complain. Ainge never complains. It’s funny how you guys ostracize him as if he’s the one one the floor not going for rebounds and attacking the basket. It’s rondo’s fault he didn’t attack the basket, and Rondo’s only. He didn’t even have 10 assists. That’s terrible. Pierce again was the only inspired one tonight, other than Doc himself. But again, we have a blog full of distinguished NBA coaches on here. I keep forgetting that for some reason.
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Great first sentence Greg! And when do you ever hear Doc speak about rebounding??? I’ve watched all the national games and saw a couple on NBA League Pass when it was free as a promotion early in the first week of the season and only ONCE have I heard Doc ever say anything about “hitting the boards”…it’s always we need to push it or some other crap about running the offense. Games are won on the defensive end and giving up -38 rebs in the last two games proves Doc SUCKS, because he does not focus on the most glaring issue facing this team. I generally like your posts but Doc is not the great coach you think he is. Go Cs…
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Michael Jordan > Larry Bird
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What the hell happened? I don’t know, the only advice I can offer is when they play a team like PHI or MIA or any of the fast running teams, they have to do whatever they can to slow them down. Which means keeping up with offending players on a race down the floor and DENY the f–king ball. Every time PHI threw the ball inbounds, it was off to the races. You can’t allow a team to be fast breaking all the the time. This loss reminds me of earlier this season when they couldn’t generate any offense. Not good enough. Championship teams have to be clicking on all cylinders. It’s a loss, a bad one but I don’t think this team is finished, just a little shell shocked. I’m pretty sure they have another chance to redeem themselves against PHI in the coming weeks. Doc has to get his players to watch the video and figure out what went wrong and some strategy to beat this team. It was a slapping but I still believe in the Celtics. Looking forward to next game.
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easy now fellas… we don’t have the players right now to outrebound our opponents… only the less good rebounding teams… philly is a great team.. they been last season and even better this one.. we have been crushing them for years now i think this game ment really much to them to “prove” they are real contenders so of course they came out with so much energy to beat us… we’ll be fine… btw doc is a great coach if he was using the “same” plays for years he woulden’t say: Rondo is a great player he knows plays from 3 years back… it’s just our style of play… good to be back here and see you guys fight as usual
i still think though that sasha pavlovic needs to be set on a plane back to serbia and let him play there… him in NBA is like a kid on a pro NFL team… i think we schould give A. Iverson a chance even thogh he is old and as many would say impossible to coach and so on… he would be great of the bench to put some speed and pressure on a team like for example philly he draws a lot of fouls…
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Bullshit on the rebounding comment. Rebounding is about EFFORT, which means boxing out, heading towards the carom and fighting for position…all of which are not about talent but about heart. This team could rebound if they wanted but nobody is preaching it. Why can RR get 10 rebs in a game and PP and RA together get 3 rebs??? Because he makes the effort. Good call on SP and AI might be worth a shot. He’d be better than Dooling. Go Cs…
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