Five road games, five road losses for the Boston Celtics. This same Boston team had only ten road losses this season, the best in the NBA. In only eleven post-season games, they’ve already lost half that many.
Make no bones about it. Danny Ainge assembled this Celtic team with one intention and one intention only: to win an NBA title. We’ve heard Kevin Garnett say anything less would be a disappointment nearly as many times as we’ve seen his Gatorade commercial.
Lofty expectations for sure, and once thought to be realistic…. until we all saw the product they’ve put on the floor lately. After boasting the regular season’s best record, the C’s are now 6-5 on the road and yearn for the friendly confines of the Fleet Center after each loss.
After listening to Magic, Charles and Kenny on Monday night’s “Inside the NBA,” they all, without directly throwing Doc Rivers under the bus, claimed that this team is still searching for an identity, that they're not getting the shots they want. Magic aptly pointed out that Rajon Rondo cannot be taking more shots than both Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. And he’s right. While their presence on the floor might free Rondo up for shots, he should still be the facilitator, not the shot-taker for the “Charles told me not to call them the” Big Three. On the road, their offense is stagnant. They scored twelve points in last night’s fourth quarter. Perhaps it's time for Doc Rivers, a la Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers," to pull out his measuring tape and measure the free throw line to the basket and the height of the rim to the floor to show his team that courts away from the Fleet Center are the same size as at home.
Someone needs to be held accountable. Yes, Doc pulled Rondo off the floor after a late and ill-advised three-point attempt and told him not to take any more ‘hero shots.’ But it is ultimately the coach’s responsibility to direct this team and help them find that identity. How hard can that be? They’ve played 90+ games together and are all veterans and potential Hall-Of-Famers. Doc is a former point guard.
Personally, I think the fact that none of these three can handle the ball hurts their ability to run their offense. Kobe can bring the ball up the floor. LeBron always has the handle at the end of the game. The fact that those three can’t do that hurts their chances. Again, that’s just one man’s opinion.
Look, I’m no Celtics fan, but I do like the team they’ve assembled. That being said, they need to elevate their game. Like KG says “playoffs is playoffs!” While the Celtics may only need to hold serve throughout, I’m sure they and their fans would cherish a road victory like a newborn baby at this point. No Celtic fan in their right mind wants any part of LeBron, the Pistons or Kobe Bryant in a Game Seven no matter where they’re playing or how many clovers they have on their uniform. Anything can happen, and probably will to a Celtic team with shaken confidence.
Whatever the problem is, Doc better figure it out soon. While anything less than a title might be a disappointment, anything less than the Eastern Conference Finals might just get Doc fired.
LeBron is 7-of-54 (13%) shooting from mid-range and beyond over the course of the series and they've tied it up 2-2.
That's incredible.
I agree with Charles, Kenny, and Magic and while I picked Boston to represent the East in the Finals, this is exactly why I didn't pick them to win the NBA championship. I even questioned whether Doc could make the adjustments necessary when the playoffs began in my Championship Characteristics blog.
Ray Allen has been played to a standstill by 'Wally World' the past two games. How that happens is beyond me.
KG needs to get in the paint and go to work.
All one has to do is go to ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/sched ule
And look at KG's shot chart. Cleveland can't stop him on the block but he's content firing up mid-range jumpshots. He's hitting at a good percentage but he'd be even more deadly down low.
Rondo has disappeared for long stretches. Just because the Cavs are DARING him to shoot it doesn't mean he has to. Cassell hasn't shot well either.
Boston's bench, the one that everyone was raving about in the regular season is showing it's inexperience.
Imagine what they'd be like right now if they hadn't picked up P.J. Brown and Cassell. Those two are the only bench players who are producing.
It wasn't long ago that the Chargers had a highly successful regular season, only to lose early in the playoffs and see their coach fired.
While the NBA might not be QUITE as reactionary as the NFL, it's still a win now league. And with a limited window with aging veterans such as Garnett, Allen and Pierce, Celtics management might not feel they have the time to see if Doc can gel this team.
With that amount of talent on the floor, someone has to be held accountable if they fall drastically short of their goals.
I bet J-Dizzle a nickel that Boston would be in the finals and he took the Pistons. The Celtics are not making my nickel feel safe in my pocket. This a joke. How can Paul Pierce disappear completely for 4 games? Rondo might as well take the shots compared to Pierce.
Anyhow you're a really good writer and I enjoy your writings. I look for you everyday.
I like the "big three" as individual players,
but BUCK FOSTON I can't stand ANY team from Baahhhstun so, I hope they go down with a thud.
(btw - If I have to endure that KG commercial again, I'll put a beer bottle throught the big screen....Thank God for Tivo)
Why the Pistons will reach the Finals and the Celtic's won't:
1) Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace = Five straight East Finals appearances and One NBA Title, two trips to the NBA Finals in the last five years.
2) Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Keving Garnett = 0 FInals appearances in their entire NBA careers.
3) Doc Rivers = 0 NBA Finals appearances as a player and coach
4) Detroit knows how to defend and defeat Lebron James and the Cavs in a playoff series. The Celtics are still trying to figure it out.
Nique, I don't accept personal checks or cash but I do take Western Union.
The Celtics are in deep doo-doo and they deserve to lose this series.
Rev.
I've read plenty of your post since I've been here and other than the he/she said (of which I miss so dearly) post this was one of your best. Now on to what you did say.
I agree someone has to take not only the blame but the fall that comes with it if the C's lose this series. As we all know it'll not be the players who do so. I like Doc' Rivers but he always seems to only go so far and then...well as a Magic fan you know better than I. It will be interesting to see what transpires during the off-season if they are done in by these Cav's.
Last time I hung out with my buddy in Orlando, we kept chanting that KG Gatorade theme song in a drunken stupor. Needless to say, it became just as annoying.
Obviously your medical condition has affected your taste in sportsblogging, but I appreciate the compliment.
I'm trying to go back to the He Said/She Said where Bluegrass and I debate whether the Celtics will win the championship this year. In it, I dedicated a special section to Doc.
If Foxsports.com would let me get back there, I'll post it to my comments in a special "Hate to Say I Told You So" edition.
Ahhh.... I wrote this in August of last year. I love it when I'm right.
Coaching: Doc Rivers currently holds a 102-144 coaching record with the Celtics. While he has been saddled with mediocre teams in both Boston and Orlando, he is still under .500 for his career. The last 17 NBA championships have been commandeered by the coaching elite. During this period, only five men have led their teams to titles: Gregg Popovich, Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Phil Jackson and Rudy Tomjanovich. Can you really see Doc Rivers' name in this category? Ainge did the right thing by signing Rivers to a long-term extension to avoid any questions about his future with the team. However, expectations are extremely high. And if Doc cannot get the job done with these players, Celtic ownership can and will find someone who can. By that time, though, will it be too late?
Yes the Celtics have home court, but seriously
they had the best road record, best overall record
but they are worse than the Heat on the road.
Honestly, its just pathetic!
Good luck Boston if you survive LaBron, because he
is so overdue to explode and game 5 seems to be about the right time for it.
Has anyone EVER won the championship without winning on the road. That would take 28 games and you would have to win every home game, 16 of them. That would be an incrediable feat. I think that would be harder than sweeping through the playoffs.
Hoff, I'm not even sure Carlisle was an improvement over Johnson, or that Johnson is an improvement over Rivers.
I'm just saying an exit in THIS round would be underachieving.
Assume you're a Celtics fan. If the C's get bounced this early, or even to the Pistons after the regular season they had, do you want Doc back next year?
Jump shooting team. Defense can carry for long stretches at home. But on the road and in the playoffs need an inside-outside attack. Both Garnett and Pierce are physical enough to take it to the hole and get fouled. Tommy Heinsohn has been complaining all year about it on Celt's telecasts. I do buy into the theory by Magic and Kenny Smith that Pierce only has so much offensive energy while trying to guard Lebron all night.
Rev.
I hope you can get a he/she said post up again. I so miss BGL even more than I missed you my friend while in the hospital. I hope that doesn't upset you in anyway but she just looks so nice in a spring dress and I just couldn't (nor do I want to) picture you in one LOL!
I talk to Bluegrass every so often. She's been writing for a newspaper up in West Virginia and unfortunately doesn't have the time to lose any more debates to me.
Reverend Rhythm
At the start of the season once they had their triumvirate of players in place. Celtics' fans would have you believe that you'd be witnessing the second coming of Bird, Parish and McHale . Alas that's not been the case as they've been something akin to a caricature of that trio.
At this moment in time a roll of Charmin would be tougher than Garnett, Allen and Pierce.
Great teams can win at home and on the road in the postseason. I doubt if this team could win American Idol in its present format let alone close out this series considering their present form.
No, if I were a Celtics fan, I wouldn't want Doc to return as coach.
It's his responsibility to put Pierce, Allen, and KG in situations where they can score and I think he's done a TERRIBLE job of that.
Ray Allen is being defended by Wally Szczerbiak.
Since he's struggling with his outside shot, why not run a few isolation plays (instead of running him off of baseline screens for jumpshots) so he can take Wally off the dribble?
Give Pierce a few of those baseline screen opportunities so James has to chase him around on defense.
Get KG the ball in the paint. 'Sideshow Bob' and Wallace can't defend him.
I have no idea how Wally and Gibson have received so many good looks from outside. Neither player is a threat off the dribble.
I'd be extremely disappointed if I was a Celtics fan.
Rev: As always, you are spot on. Without some 'handle' the Celts are very average come playoff time. That is what makes Kobe and LeBron so influential come the playoffs. They may not be a PG, but they can and will have the ball in their hands to start any and every important possession. The Celts Big 3 don't have that luxury.
Reverend Rhythm
We all saw it come to fruition last night didn't we. As it was borne out in the Magic's loss to the Pistons. The team still has a great deal of growing pains to encompass. In time they'll become a force to be reckoned with. But as of now Smith's priorities are strengthening the roster and building around his core nucleus of players.
As to the Celtics if they can't get it done over the next three games. Then the experiment with their Big Three will be seen in some circles as something of a debacle. Not unlike when the Lakers had Bryant, Shaq, Malone and Payton. But in that context there weren't enough balls to go around for all of 'em to play alongside one another. In the case of this triumvirate they've yet to show that they've got the heart for a real fight !
Reverend Rhythm
The Magic's needs aren't plentiful other than the fact that they're in need of more experience as a postseason team. Having gone through that ritual as a rite of passage then they'll definitely learn from the experience . All the great teams had to go through their own real baptism of fire. Look at what it did for 'em in the end ?
As to the Celtics what they're really in need of is learning how to win on the road and stamping their authority on teams. If they're the presumptive Eastern Conference representative this season. Then they'll have to play like they are. Otherwise the west's representative will have a field day at their expense no matter who it is.
rampant' aka tophatal ........
Last edited by rampantfanatic on May 14th at 9:31 PM.
Turn-ons: Gator national championships ; Sushi; NBA Playoffs; A Tribe Called Quest; Women; Jack Daniels; Women who drink Jack Daniels; Women who drink Jack Daniels while eating sushi; Women who dream of more Gator national championships while eating sushi and drinking Jack Daniels during basketball season.
Turn-offs: Waking up early; The inevitable media coverage Bobby Bowden will get when he finally retires; Drama; Prejudice; Chicken liver; Work of any sort
