Ray Allen not traveling to Toronto; should we be worried?
Ray Allen has been shelved during a few recent games for an injury that seems relatively minor, at least on the surface. Nobody seems overly worried about it.
EXCEPT ME, DAMN IT!
Allen has a history of ankle issues. He’s 36 years old. Said ankles are swelling up after he plays games. Jackie MacMullan, one of the finest Celtics reporters ever, said she’s heard grumblings that Allen will require surgery at some point. Doc Rivers noted he wasn’t sure whether Allen would need surgery, which is probably code for, “Yeah, that might be an option at some point.” Allen injured the ankle on March 12 against the Clippers, played five more games with it, had to shut it down temporarily because the ankle just wasn’t responding, played five games after returning from his absence, and then had to shut it down again, missing the Hawks game last night and at least one more in the Toronto game.
Do we see a pattern here? THE ANKLE ISN’T HEALING! THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE GET OLD! EVEN FOR ROBOTS LIKE RAY ALLEN!
If the Celtics had to lose one of their most important players, I would honestly nominate Allen, because A) secondary pieces of his game have declined, even while his shooting remains top-notch, and B) the Celtics have a number of other options at his position, including Avery Bradley, Mickael Pietrus and the suddenly-effective Sasha Pavlovic. But it’s still not a good sign that Allen’s ankle refuses to heal, even if he played reasonably well during the five games for which he returned. If I had to guess, I would imagine the injury will impact him for the remainder of the season, but he’ll be just healthy enough to tough it out for the playoffs.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | April 12, 2012
Here’s further reason why the likes of RA, BB, MP should all play limited minutes if any in the next 3 games. You have players who can step in who are in good health and more than ready. I bet if put EM, JJ, MD and RH on the floor, all would produce and give quality minutes. Rondo will still be running the offense and you would still have key guys out there like KG, PP, GS, and AB. Don’t make the mistake of wearing down these guys. A couple of days rest should be good all round.
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No. And I second C-Pride on advocating time for EM/JJ/RH as these should be relatively easy wins, even with the back-to-back-to-back scenario. Go Cs…
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And I’d really like to see EM get RA’s minutes with MP getting his usual minutes. EM is going to be a very good player and he needs some more time with the starters. Go Cs…
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Rest is key, but so is the forth seed. and to say that the celtics would win without playing PP KG RR BB is just hopeful wishing. even against “easy wins”. the reason the celts are rolling is because they are all playing together gettting the chemistry down….sitting them all at once can not happen so maybe KG and PP get a night off then RR and BB the next night? is one night of rest even that valuable?
I pray every night that the celts go into the playoffs healthy. Watching BB go down last night , my heart stopped…we loose any of the starters even bradley the slim chance we have at the making a run goes out the window…. Not having Ray would also make a chance at making the finals nearly impossible. Ray stretches the floor so much and gives them a huge threat late in games when 3 balls are needed. Get well Ray, even if it takes till the second round.
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Does this mean Ray misses all 4 games of the trip? Or does he join them in NJ or Charlotte? We’re going to need a lot of bodies for the back to back to back
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Miami is not as good as they were last year. Did anyone else see the game tonight? They suffered in the half court offense, got out rebounded, and their bench was absent. I still think we have a better cohesion than they do with Rose as their starting PG. I think that we match up WAYY better with the Heat, and I think we have a chance against the Bulls. The only thing in worried about is rebounding (of course) and our bench. With Doc’s 10 man rotation (the starters plus RA, GS, MP, SP, and idk maybe Hollins?) idk how well they’d do against the likes of Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, and Kyle Korver (if Thibs brings him off the bench). I honestly think that the Bulls are a better matchup with Rose because I personally believe that the Bulls are a worse team with him in the lineup. He’s not a true PG and therefore is essentially a Monte Ellis who plays defense. He’s a high volume shooter who thrives on ISO plays. If we can force him into that, and lock down EVERYONE ELSE, especially Korver, Watson, and Gibson, we can beat them.
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We can handle the Bulls, as AB will lock down Rose. It’ll be a defensive struggle and rebounding will be key, but I like our chances. And yes, the Heat have no bench and are playing worse this year. Celtics vs Thunder in the Finals. Go Cs…
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What do you think of my opinion of Rose? And you think the Tgubder are better than the Spurs?? I absolutely love Kevin Durant, but he defers entirely too much to Westvrook and that will be their demise in OKC.
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I agree to a point about your take on Rose as when he is in they play a lot less team ball. but the question is, how will his missing all these games affect the team in the playoffs? Will he shoot less and keep everyone involved, as it’s a winning formula, or will he shoot like he did before and have the team less involved? I think, as I mentioned, the big advantage for us vs them is that we have AB who can harass and really take rose out of his game and that will greatly even the playing field for us. Defense wins championships, especially in hoops, and while Thibs has the top defensive team (until the Cs took over lately) the Cs learned from Thibs (Doc too) as so if we meet the bulls the games are going to be ugly, half-court defensive struggles and I like our chances a lot as we have more experience than the Bulls do. that and our bench is stronger with RA coming in to keep the 2nd unit stronger than the Bull’s 2nd unit. Would be a war for sure. Go Cs…
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Chicago’s b ch scores about 29 ppg. Ours scores 23.4. We need Pietrus and RA to step up if we face Chicago. That’s where RA coming off the bench can be absolutely vital to our success. Put Bradley at the 1, RA at the 2, and a combo of Pavlovic and Pietrus at the 3.
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Here’s a stat for you James…post Allstar break, the C’s average 44.9 rebounds a game. Chicago averages 39.6 and Cryami (Miami…excuse me) averages 41. I recall you bringing up a concept called..effort?
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Yep, the rebounding effort has been really solid. At 44.9 they would be 3rd in the league in rebs; behind chicago 46.3, Lakers 46.2 and ahead of OKC who are tied for 6th. That is 6 rebs better than our 30th standing which is only 1 reb more for each of our core 6 players. Actually, PP has been much better as has BB and KG. If MP can get 6 rebs per like he did the other night then we’ll be just fine. I am most impressed with PP as we are 14-4 when he gets at least 7 rebs per game. Obviously, doc and the team has discussed this and the effort is paying off. We still give up way too many offensive rebs (when we’re on defense) which has to be the next issue they work on. All in all, as I bitched all season about this, I am ecstatic about their commitment to winning the boards; ergo, more games are being won. Go Cs…
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As am I. Pietrus came back and chipped in 8 pts and 6 rebs which is remarkable considering his speedy recovery. A potential Chicago series would be a war without a doubt, and I agree, experience trumps talent. Pietrus can shut down Korver, RA would shut down Watson, and Bradley will contain (not shut down) Rose IF Rose is 100 %. And when he gets back the Bulls are going to revert back to their old ways, just as they did against the Knicks the other day. If Avery can do what Shumpert did that day, then we will win the East.
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