Jekyll and Hyde
In the regular season they were untouchable (unless you were the Washington Wizards). In the playoffs, however, they've become two-faced. They're still the Celtics we know and love at home, but we've been exposed to the pseudo-Celtics on the road. I've never gotten sick on a roller coaster ride before, but this playoff turmoil isn't sitting too well right now.
There wasn't really a lot of good to take out of Game 4. In the Hawks' series I was never nervous. I mean, come on, it was the Atlanta Hawks. Even as we went into Game 7 I was pretty confident the Celtics would pull through. Unfortunately, LeBron James' dunk in the final moments of last night's contest shattered my confidence for this series. It wasn't that it was over the Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett. Or the fact that it put a colossal exclamation point on the Cavs' victory. It was that after that dunk, LeBron got that look on his face. The same look that ended Detroit's season last year. He knew the series was his for the taking.
 LeBron made sure this series was tied on its way back to Boston with authority.
(Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
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After a successful tightrope-walk in the first game and a knockout punch in the second, it looked like Boston had gotten it's swagger back. Two road games later and the pseudo-Celtics have gone and shown their ugly head again.
I've heard the facts so I know the road teams are a dreadful 1-15 so far in the second round; but it doesn't make me feel any better. Remember when you were little and you'd see if you could stay out later by informing your mother that your friend's mother allows a later curfew? I finally understand the customary reply now - "Well I'm not (insert friend's name here)'s mother, I'm your mother!" I don't care if the Lakers, Jazz, Spurs, Hornets and Magic have lost all their road games. I'm not their mother - I'm the Celtics' mother! I swear if they keep playing like this I'll turn this car right around!
All jokes aside I'm petrified now. All of a sudden we're in a battle against the league's premier threat, LeBron James. There are three things that scared me the most out of last night's game. Let's take a look at them in reverse order.
The Big Three
3) Apparently Kevin Garnett can't do squat in the paint against Anderson Varejao. There has been a ton of talk about how good the Cavs are defensively. I still don't really see it. The Celtics have been getting opportunities, they just haven't been capitalizing. They had plenty of good looks last night in the fourth quarter during Cleveland's scoring drought, but they failed to put the ball in the basket. KG got the ball in one-on-one coverage against Varejao during numerous pivotal possessions in the second half but couldn't score. I know Varejao brings hustle and takes a charge better than most, but is he really a great one-on-one defender? KG should've owned this match-up, but instead it ended up being a big part of why we continued our road woes.
2) Eh, what's up Doc? That's right, our head coach is showing his inability to shuffle lineups at the worst possible time. Cassell was downright awful last night. It was pretty evident once he stepped foot on the court but Doc decided to keep him out there for the first five minutes of a deadlocked fourth quarter. What happened? He threw the entire team out of rhythm. The Boston Celtics looked like the Cleveland LeBrons where one player would run the ball up the court and shoot while everyone else stood around and watched. I'm not really sure why this didn't work but perhaps it's because CASSELL IS NOT LEBRON!
Big Baby saw five minutes of action. They weren't garbage minutes either. They came in the fourth quarter…about the same time when the Celtics lost pace with the Cavs. Don't get me wrong I like Big Baby, but what good is he possibly going to do in a back-and-forth playoff game after sitting out the entire game? The answer - take and miss a 15-footer to ruin a crucial Celtics' possession.
Leon Powe played six minutes…SIX MINUTES! I'm not even going to elaborate on this because it's just ridiculous.
1) King James is back. The Celtics have done a phenomenal job on him so far in the series. His shooting percentage in the first four games of the series is a lowly 25.6%. He's averaging less than 20 points a game, which is about 10 less than his season average. However, in the end of Game 4, he came through. It seemed like the score was 76-73 for an eternity before LeBron nailed a three-pointer to double the lead. Shortly thereafter he found Gibson for another three and then finished off the game with his emphatic dunk. An immediate timeout was called and LeBron's smirk was instantly recognizable. He knew he finally came through when his team needed him most. This was a series again and LeBron was back in full force.
The Celtics escaped Game 1 with a victory but they really need to jump on the Cavaliers quickly. LeBron proved last year against the Pistons and again last night that when a playoff game hangs in the balance and is there for the taking, he'll take it.
Home Sweet Home
Luckily, the Celtics are back home for the all-important Game 5. This is a must-win game and the biggest Celtics' game over the past six years (Eastern Conference Finals vs. New Jersey). I'm just praying the pseudo-Celtics don't find their way onto the court. Every Celtic should be counting down the minutes to get back on the court and erase the memories of Games 3 and 4. It's the playoffs and time for the Celtics to step up and take the momentum back in this series.
I'm lucky enough to have tickets to Game 5 (and, if necessary, Game 7). I'll be the guy on the edge of his seat…along with the rest of the Celtics' faithful. I've been bleeding green for quite some time now, but this blood is starting to become a little painful. As always - GO CELTS!
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Pierce needs to step up and take over this series. Cavs have nobody that can guard him once he's made his mind up to go to the basket. Keep Cassell out of the game unless you really need him. Rondo needs to attack the basket and find a open KG / Perkins for dunks. Keep PJ and Big Baby on the bench and bring in Powe, T. Allen, House to add some spark off the bench. Ray Allen looks like he is falling asleep. Someone please wake him up and set some screens for him to hit open shots. 4th Quarter...Keep the starters in the game!!! Don't take them out!!! KEEP ATTACKING ATTACKING ATTACKING!!! I've never yelled at my own TV so loud before in my life.
GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!
COME ON C's!!!!
Put Tony Allen and Leon Poe in !!
After watching last night's game, I have all most lost all hopes for the Celtics to win it all. I have seen Cassell completely mess up the game. I have seen KG scoring only 2 points in the 4th quarter and Pierce and Ray Allen barely contributing to try to win the game (come on Paul and Ray, you need to step up and attack and score and help win the game for us!!!!!!!!). I have not seen Powe in the game (He only play a little over 6 minutes!!!) Put Powe in there Doc!!! He does the hard work inside the paint and SCORES!!!! That being said, my hopes of the Green winning the Championship is almost lost. No matter how good we are at home, we cannot win if we cannot win one single game on the road!!!!!!!
when did cassell forget there are three other people out there wearing the same color. if he's gonna play 2 on 5 with KG lets get EHouse and TA some quality time. the benefit of having a deep bench is you can make changes based on who you are playing.
PJ can't out quick varajao for boards, but Powe and Davis can. PJ should be our emergency 5 when they get in foul trouble for this series.
and the PGA tour better start maintaining the effort through 4 quarters because with them on all cylinders no team can compete.
i hope bonbons mom was yelling at him for elbowing Paul for trying to keep him from slamming his moneymaker into the ground. lets hope the oedipal complex effects his play in games 5 & 6.
While I'm sure there are many subtleties that we are missing, I really believe our Jekyll and Hyde home/away personality comes down to one simple explanation- back-up point guard play. I'm not going to blame it all on Cassell, because without him, we wouldn't have won game 1 and we'd be in real trouble right now!
The problem is that when Cassell is running the team, the whole flow of the offense is a function of whether he's hitting his shots. Think about it- Games #1 and #2 - the guy couldn't miss! Games #3 and #4 - he couldn't hit the side of a barn! And when Cassell isn't shooting well, our offense is in trouble when he's on the floor because the ball "sticks."
And, if you've noticed thus far in the playoffs, Cassell is lights out at home and a bigger mess than Countrywide's subprime loans in away games.
Solution? Cassell should be the first off the bench to back-up Rondo, but if he's stinking up the joint, give Eddie a try! I really, really think we need to use Eddie more on the road! I can't tell you how many times during the regular season when our second unit was in there, how Eddie would hit a key three or run an effective pick and roll to get our offense going. THE BALL DOES NOT STICK WHEN EDDIE IS RUNNING THE POINT!!
I just don't get it. Listen, I am a big Doc Rivers fan. I think people underappreciate the human element of coaching, and Doc's one of the best at that. However, I do think our coaching staff is approaching this series like the last one- we're the better team, so if we just run our "stuff," we should win. OK, I will grant you this at home, but c'mon! You gotta adjust especially on the road, and especially when opportunities present itself or when things aren't working!
So like I mentioned in my prior post-
1. give Eddie a chance!!
and
2. when Cleveland plays two midgets at guard, put Pierce at the 2 and camp him out down low. Run that same play Walker and Pierce ran EVERY TIME that got the prior Celts team to the Eastern Conference championship, with PP down on the blocks- you can use Allen as the passer. When PP has a mismatch, that one play is COMPLETELY UNSTOPPABLE!
0-5 on the road - certainly there's enough blame to go all the way around with this team. But let's focus on two individuals who seem to be getting undeserved free passes thus far: Rajon Rondo and Doc Rivers. Is there really any doubt left that Rondo is not yet ready for this level of challenge? He's a net liability so far, and Cleveland is doing a marvelous job of exploiting that basic fact. As for Rivers, what has been his answer to our offensive woes? Why are we not screening more away from the ball, and seeking to get the ball to our scorers on the block or on the wing where they are more in a comfort zone? And why is Powe sitting on the bench when he has proven time and again that he can score consistently against pretty much anyone? Defense is fine. Offense and coaching need help!
The media is making too big a deal out of the road losses. Yes, it'd be better if they'd wrap up the series' sooner, but the teams the C's are playing now are better than those thru the regular season. The C's didn't win in Cleveland all year -- why should we expect it'd be easier now? No one's touched them at home. Bring on game 5!
1. Somebody--maybe KG, maybe Ray Allen, most likely Paul Pierce--MUST take over in the final quarter, like the way Joe Johnson dropped 20 against us in the 4th last series. It seems every other team have this "I'll cary y'all on my back" guy--Kobe with the Lakers; Duncan with the Spurs; CP3 with the Hornets; LeBron with the Cavs; and Detroit is so good that they don't need any one guy. The Celtics seem to sputter in the 4th quarter--are they just out of gas? I don't know. I wouldn't have Pierce guard LeBron. Pierce is a slasher and needs to drive the ball more and take fewer 3s unless he's wide open or the shot clock is expiring. LeBron had something like 3 or 4 fouls in the third quarter--Pierce and the Celtics should have kept driving against LeBron and put him into foul trouble. With LeBron on the bench, the Cavs aren't going to win.
2. If Sam Cassell misses his first few shots, take him out. Try House.
3. Rondo needs to get more assists. Shoot a little bit less, create more opportunities for guys like Allen and KG.
4. KG should get more easy buckets near the basket.
5. No Big Baby unless it's a complete blowout and there are two minutes left in the period.
6. Get Allen more open looks.
7. Celtics and Pierce should dunk more and layup less. I remember seeing a shot that Pierce tried to lay up and it didn't go in. Dunks are more likely to actually go in.
The bench has lost its spark since we got Cassell and PJ. If I were House, Powe, Big Baby, Tony A., etc; I wouldn't feel as motivated either. The "new kids" just haven't paid their dues with this team. I've got nothing against them, especially when Cassell hits five in a row to bring us back into a game. However, it's not what got us here and it would burn the splinters in my butt if I were losing my playing time. We did just fine with the team that got us the best record in the NBA. Let's get that team back on the floor.
Enough is Enough!
It is elementary my dear Watson as Sherlock Holmes would say.
Doc Rivers what are you doing?
It is two teams I am seeing as I watch the Green jerseys. As Tommy H. says RUN... Two styles of play??? Please! Why is Eddie House out? He and Rondo won a lot of games. Why? Because the game was the same- they had a confidence in each other and Doc's coaching.
Now, too many choices for Doc.?
We are not seeing team continuity and confidence.
The mind set needs to be addressed. That is up to the coach.
Doc set the pace this season now he has taken them out of ot when they need it most.
Paul looked intimidated his eyes were not focused as usual his face read 'Oh my God I don't beleive this is happening. ' Please! Doc needs to play the game that got them here.
Sam is good .... but ....the C 's won without him all season. He needs to be played as needed.
As too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup, Chef Doc Rivers needs to leave out ingredients that will not make it good enough for leftovers.
The NBA Champions
PLEASE put in Powe, Tony Allen and Eddie. Where is Eddie, Doc???????
yes i believe the ball needs to be run a bit more thru paul pierce.. hes not a ball stopper like he was in his previous years.. he has passing skills and has no problems giving it up.. I think pierce needs to come out and show lebron a thing or two.. paul is a prolific scorer and a veteran... he can take lebron one-on-one anyday and we've seen that.. i look for a big game out of pierce tonight.. 30 points should shut the cavs down.. GO CELTICS
The truth is, Paul Pierce won't be a factor because the League's most underated defender is on him...Lebron. Think back to the LA - Cav's game when LBJ and Kobe were guarding each other. Kobe is supposed to be the greatest perimeter defender in the league, and clearly the best offensive player. Lebron shut him down and scored 12 on him in the 4th. Paul Pierce is being guarded by a guy that is bigger than Big Baby and quicker and faster than Rondo. Good luck Pierce. That leaves Ray Allen and KG to win this thing. As much as KG is going to scream and yell every time he gets a board, he disappears in clutch situations. He's won nothing in the post season yet and this is a big reason why. He should be able to take any of the CAVS bigs to school...but hasn't. So, Ray Ray...where are you...you with your busted up ankles...spot up shooter...you and Wally. Things don't look good for the C's.
Everyone dogging Rondo take notice of how he can take over a game. That kid busts his butt everynight. i don't expect him to shoot lights out like that every time, but god can he play defense. he is the real deal and he will go down as one of the best as he matures. if you question his readiness you obviously haven't been paying attention.
What were the Celtics and their fans doing this time last year? The year before?!
We're in the playoffs for goodness sakes!! Every team and every player has elevated their game! Enjoy it while it's here!! Get ready for game 6 in Cleveland. Rondo, Powe, Perkins, Davis?? Which "young" Celtic is going to step up and get us out of this road jinx we're in?? We'll find out Friday night!
Cassel should only play garbage minutes. He throws the entire team off. He can't pass. Bring back da House, he was hitting big time shots all year long. And what about Tony Allen on James occasionally, or harassing their perimeter shooters for a few minutes a game?
Rivers is ridiculous. It would have been an embarrasment and crime if he won COTY. Who puts in their scrubs during a three point game at the start of the fourth quarter when your team has zero momentum? You'd never see Jackson do that (Or mike brown, for that matter).
I am really tired of Doc Rivers' very inconsistent substitution pattern. I think he could get away with it during the regular season because of the "big three", but once Cassell and Brown came, down went the minutes of Eddie House and Glen Davis. House hardly saw the light of day in the first series, and tonight he's going to do great things? Davis, too? He did not deserve all that playing time. Davis was obviously overmatched on the offensive end, getting easy inside passes from KG, and winding up turning the ball over without even hitting the rim at least twice. Powe would have finished those with authority,
Doc waits to long to pull guys. A streak shooter like House, if he missed two in a row, get him out of there! I don't like Cassell at all, but he goes from playing major minutes to playing none. Inconsistent subbing does not help any ballplayer, I do not care how good they are.
If they lose this series, Doc's got to go. His game plan tonight was what? Outside shots. And if the players were doing it on their own (not driving to the hoop), sit them (Pierce) down until he gets it. If he doesn't get it now, he's not going to in game 7, either. Make the point in game 6, when you've got less to lose.
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