On Ray Allen’s battle with time, injury and a new role
Ray Allen returned to the starting lineup last night for the first time since losing his spot, but again struggled.
Afterward, I wrote far too many words at SB Nation about Allen’s battle with time, injury and his new role on a team that’s evolving without him. A brief excerpt follows, or read the whole thing. (SB Nation)
Ray Allen sat in the same seat he had used in pregame introductions for most of his five years in Boston, his perfectly smooth bald head lowered, his leg bouncing slightly up and down, likely with anticipation, as he waited for the TD Garden PA announcer to shout his name.
“Raayyy Allllennnn” came the call through the Garden speakers. The most prolific three-point maker in NBA history rose from his seat to chest bump Paul Pierce, and ran through the two lines of teammates which had formed as part of a long-standing pregame tradition shared by almost every basketball team, at any level. After slapping high fives with most of his teammates, Allen hopped on one leg and pretended to shoot a jumper, always his signature in pregame introductions.
This is what he did prior to every home game he played with the Celtics before April 4. This is what he had not done since then, until Monday.
After scoring five points on 2-7 shooting in the Celtics’ 101-85 Game 5 victory, Allen was asked whether his first start in more than a month felt different than any other. He normally responds to even the dumbest questions with a thoroughly-contemplated and articulate answer, but he was uncharacteristically short this time.
“Nope,” he replied.
Maybe he was telling the truth. But never before had he begun a game as an outsider within his own starting five.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | May 22, 2012
The secret about the Celtics is that each player has weaknesses in his game. How they interweave is how they become strong.
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Great analysis point. See, we can agree on somethings. Go Cs…
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Jay, i read the whole article. Well written, but depressing as hell. I think the movie Bambi had a happier ending. The C’s are a walking infirmary right now. Assuming we finish off Philly, how competitive can we be in the next round? I wish Doc would play Moore, but don’t we all? I feel bad for Ray Allen; you know it’s killing him to be hobbled like this.
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Right on point Jay. Sad isn’t it? Is it just me thinking this or Ray is actually passing up 3 point shots that he normally would take in the past?
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Well I assumed that Rondo’s assists would only get mentioned twice and guess what…it got mentioned once. By Chris Webber. During the middle of the day when everyone’s at work. Fuck fair-weather myopic fans that fail to recognize the fact that there are players in the NBA who’s name isn’t LeBron James.
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It’s alright Greg let it go. RR is flying under the radar and so be it. I believe that adds to the chip on his shoulder and that he plays even better to shove it back to all that dis him or worse…ignore him. Looking like Cs & Heat and we play them very well, especially at the PG and C spots. Can’t wait. Go Cs…end it!
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True. Rondo has always been internally motivated so how much credit he gets outside of his team and fans probably doesn’t mean much to him. And the Heat don’t really have an answer for Rondo except for when they put James on him. But when they do that, PP has shown that he is more than capable of playing the point-forward spot for a minute or so until James switches back to guarding PP.
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Good point, James, but you’
re right Greg; he doesn’t get the credit he deserves by nat’l media. But then again, the Cs aren’t even getting respect from the officials. KG is being treated like Steimsma; he can’t set a pick or swipe at a ball or push off on a dunk without getting whistled. Other all star players get by with that crap all the time. To hell with ‘em all. Let the C’s play with a chip.
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