Starting five: Cavs 88, Celtics 77

The best explanation I can come up with is this. The Celtics treated almost every game in the regular season like it was a playoff game. In the NBA, the good teams typically coast through stretches of the regular season and then step it up for the playoffs.

The Celtics seemed to go all out almost every night, so maybe that artificially inflated their win totals and scoring margin that had us so excited for the postseason.

Chad, I think you're guilty of doing what Bill Simmons always does - placing way too much value on the head coach in the NBA. As much as I think Rivers has made a lot of mistakes, I think this falls on the players more than anyone. They are the ones shrinking in the spotlight.

Leon Powe played 6 minutes. 6 minutes! It's hard to stomach these games when you know have the better bench---remember their 2nd quarter run in Game 1?---someone please take the clip board out of Glenn's hands. Keep up the great work Chad. I'm glad someone is here to talk about the C's playoffs since Simmons has apparently slipped into a coma.

I didn't even realize Powe played so little. That's inexcusable - he's one guy who might do some damage on the offensive boards.

Doc is a terrible in-game coach who gets a free pass around here because he's glib and friendly. Sure, the players deserve a ton of blame - Garnett had two points and two boards in the second half, for heaven's sake - but so much of what Rivers does makes NO sense.

couldn't agree more with you.... His use of the bench is maddening. My jaw was on the floor when I saw Davis on the floor in the 4th Q.

And as much experience Cassell brings to the team, he hurts them just as much with his chucking and slow play. He's clearly the slowest guard on the floor when he's out there and he seems to struggle running the offense. Bring back House!!!! At least he can change the flow of a game by dropping a couple treys.

and here are 2 words. FREE THROWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 more... HIT THEM!!!! I'm an average bball player and even I can drop 7 or 8 out of 10. Come on guys, you're paid to do this. There's a reason why it's called the Charity stripe.

I don't see how you can blame Doc's coaching for this mess. Is he coaching differently on the road than he is at home? I just don't see how coaching can cause such a wide disparity in how this team plays one night in Boston and the next in Atlanta/Cleveland.

Until the C's win one on the road you there is no way that #17 will be raised next fall...

McFilthy and McNasty were Ruland and Mahorn not Laimbeer

The Celtics are mediocre in the half court set, which is what the playoffs highlight. No true PG like Tony Parker or post presence like Tim Duncan. And the coaching has been erratic and directionless.

So what happens, then? Do we become the first team to win the title, losing ALL our road games? The Garden does seem to be Celtics' nirvana, and for whatever reason, they play relaxed, and up to their potential there. It can't all be the home crowd, and the "sleeping in your own bed" stuff. Something causes them to step up at home that isn't present on the road. As long as they hold home court, and keep winning, I don't really care if they lose on the road. Just because it hasn't happened yet (winning all the home games, losing all the road games), doesn't mean it can't happen. So Doc sucks as a coach - fine. So we don't step up on the road - OK. If every series goes 7, and they still end up with a banner, is anyone really going to care they didn't win a road game?

Pierce must have been channeling 'Toine when he jacked that 3-pointer with about 8 minutes left in the fourth. Terrible shot. There are times when his game reeks of immaturity. That's a great excuse for Rondo, but it doesn't play for a nine-year veteran.
Good point about no set plays for Ray-Ray.
Here's another: Posey may have played 19 minutes, but I barely remember them, which makes me think Doc is using him in the wrong spots. There's no excuse for that, either.

PJ had so many minutes, I thought Powe was injured. (Maybe he was, and they didn't say anything.) On the plus side, PJ played better than I ever recall seeing him play this year. I was also astounded by the decision to put in Davis with the game at a critical point.

Doc's main flaws are that he can't coach defense to save his life and his in game decisions and adjustments/subsitutions either make no sense or come about 20 minutes too late. Well this season they hired Tom Thibideau (sp?) to coach the defense so why couldn't they have thrown a ton of money at someone like Rick Carlisle to come in and be the in game assistant coach responsible for adjustments, etc? Then Doc could have focused on what he does best....smiling at press conferences, making jokes and uniting players.

The fact that Leon played so little last night was a travesty. I will admit PJ Brown was servicable but Leon's energy, rebounding skills and toughness were exactly what the C's needed on the court last night.

The worst part is that if the C's lose this series and Doc gets fired (which he should if they lose) Rick Carlisle, the best candidate for a new coach in my opinion, is already off the market. Carlisle is a great in game strategist and is exaclty what this team needs right now in the playoffs.

Speaking of Simmons does anyone know where he disappeared to? Is he locked away somewhere authoring a 5,000 work manifesto on why Doc should be fired before Game 5?

Chad you are the one person at the Globe who makes sense. How does boston.com have "five reasons why we're worried about the celtics" and Doc is not one of them?? I agree the players have looked awful, but that pales in comparison to the rotations and substitutions. What is wrong with Doc? He has no problem throwing the team under the bus and telling the media how bad their shot selection is, but it's been 5 games on the road, has he bothered to tell the team about what they are doing wrong? Give House some minutes back, and throw Allen in there for a bit...can't be worse than the rotations he uses during key moments!

"Well, as usual there's plenty to choose from - do they even have any offensive sets for Ray Allen?"

Took the words right outta my mouth, er, keyboard. I believe Ray took 1 shot, and missed, in the 4th last night. He's the best pure shooter on the team, period. I saw zero urgency to get him the ball, nevermind well designed plays that involved him getting an open look at the basket.
That is a glaring sign of coaching inefficiency, bordering on inept.

Lay off Doc people!!..Everyone loved him during the season..Assign blame where it should be..The Small Three.. I kringed when they were named the Big Three because I remember the real big three..and they were BIG!..Until this three wins #17 they don't deserve nicknames (nobody called Bird, Chief, McHale the Big Three in 1980..) So Pierce-Go to the hoop...Allen-Make a damn shot..and KG?-Play your D!

End of the first half Doc was overheard telling the team to go to basket as the Cavs had no fouls to give. They went once in three(?) minutes. Don't know enough about the game to comment on Doc's other decisions, but if the players aren't executing the gameplan.... Lost opportunities.

The biggest problem for the Celtics all year has been that their offense generally disappears as soon as anyone plays defense with the intensity that the Celtics do. The complete lack of in game adjustments kills me. Great call by Mike Brown for having Delonte West play roamer in the middle rather than guard Rondo. The Celtics adjustment to that approach has been what? It looks like they don't have a plan for when teams start to clamp down. They just keep running the same offense and hope for the best. It's maddening to watch. Maybe the lack of adjustments will work in the sixth road playoff game.

In response to Tom's post - are you kidding? The postseason is where a coach's strengths and liabilities come to the surface, in plain view for everyone to see. Doc has been exposed as a coach who can't manage a rotation. One who spent the entire season establishing the rotation, and then promptly blew it up once the playoffs started. Case in point: Sam Cassell. He may be "clutch", and have the necessary "experience", but guess what? He can't play defense, he treats the ball like a hot potato that he can't shoot fast enough, yet Doc continually plays him for inexplicably long stretches at a time when he's neither effective nor efficient.

It's painful to watch these games right now.

I think it's time to start Posey along side Pierce, with Ray Ray coming off the bench in more of a 6th man role. This way Posey guards Lebron and Pierce can save some energy for the offensive end by "guarding" Wally-world.

I believe that Rick Mahorn was McFilthy and Jeff Ruland was McNasty when they played for the Washington Bullets. I can still hear Johnny Most screaming,"...McHale swings into the lane and is DECKED! and Dick Bavetta calls the foul on Mahorn and McFilthy screams 'We are allowed to hurt people here in Washington!'"

Bench Piece if he takes another 3 point shot EVER!!!! This guy has single handedly destroyed early momentum and stifled key turnovers with these bricks he has been throwing up. Tell Doc to sit Pierce down, slap him upside the head, and inform him he is not a good 3 point shooter and if he does it again it's pine city!

I admit I haven't seen much of the Celtics this year (an out-of-towner). I have managed to catch the final quarters of Games 3 and 4, and based on what I saw I have this question: Does Kevin Garnett always play so far away from the post? Why is he taking jumpers when he can easily go over others?

I say this not as criticism, because you're not a knee-jerk jerk, and I also don't really know what the answer is. But if they go ahead and win Game 5 in Boston somewhat convincingly, where does that leave this topic?

BTW---Do you think Garnett's 20-minute all out 1st half killed him for the 2nd. Varaejo's one-on-one defense destroyed him. It just seems like some nights Garnett has the Antoine legs.

The C's have lost their identity. How many times did Rondo lead the team in shot taken this year? He has led the team in shots taken at the half 3 or 4 times in the playoffs. Like everyone else, I thought bringing in ET to back up Rondo was a great move. Well, we were all wrong. He is a 2 guard playing the point. He can't play D, he's painfully slow and he makes horrible decisions with the ball. Not what your looking for from your backup point guard. Futhermore, I think he has had an adverse affect on Rajon.Yaaaaa, I agree, Doc is terrible in-game. By the way, I totally disagree with Tom. Look at the adjustments Pop has made in the Spurs/Hornets series. Granted the Doc-M. Brown coaching battle is probably a wash, they're both below average tacticians. It's like watching two blind men throwing darts at a board. Here is my final comment with regards to the importance of coaching; Few coaches win games for their teams, but there are plenty of coaches that can lose a game for their team.

Maybe Bill Russell can come have a talk with the Celtics

P.J. Brown may have ended up with decent numbers, but every time I've seen him on the court he's looked a little bit lost, and a step behind. It's probably because he didn't get much of a chance to build a rhythm with the other players during the regular season.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Cassel and Brown being forced into the mix, when there were guys like Powe and House who were doing essentially the same thing. At the point, I think Posey is a must-play. He could give Pierce a break from guarding LeBron and allow him to focus a little more on his offensive play. I think the Celtics could afford to go small a little more without sacrificing much power in the lanes.

It would be interesting to compare the average minutes played per Celtic player over the course of their 66-16 season, and compare those numbers to their average minutes played per playoff game.

a discrepancy in numbers might prove that the reason for the C’s abysmal 4th quarter performances in the playoffs could be the fatigued caused by Doc’s departure from what got the team there – team basketball-measured in minutes distributed.

Just catching up on the comments now, thanks for your patience . . .

I think they win Game 5, though I'm scared to death of LeBron going off for 45 and winning it by himself. He was fierce down the stretch in Game 4, and that can't bode well.

Doc is getting outwitted by Mike Brown. Think about that for a sec.

Powe seems to find his way into Doc's doghouse way too often. I can't image why - a missed assigment somewhere or something? He seems pretty sharp and disciplined from what I see, and in a lot of cases I like him on the court better than I do Perk.

I like the Rick Carlisle idea. Too bad it's too late. He strikes me as a coach who's learned from his mistakes along the way, and obviously, anyone who spent time at UMaine is brilliant. I bet he does well in Dallas.

FWIW, I've heard Ainge, Doc and Sean Grande all individually allude to Powe not grasping the schemes.

if doc rivers consulted a spinwheel of choices for substitutions, the results would be better than him making his own decisions. rotate 8 like the cavs and leave pierce and garnett in until they are crying. orrrr let scalabrine coach. F Doc

The Celts have a few problems. The biggest problem is Paul Pierce: he has reverted to his old form of being a chucker. For the last few years that's what he's done, but I will grant that he had to because the team was so bad. His only real saving grace was his ability to get to the line 10+ times a game. Now that he's on a good team he has no excuse (or need!) to toss up some of the shots he does, and, to make things worse, he's not getting to the line anymore, either. He attempted zero free throws in game one, six in game two, six in game three, and two in game four. For his career he has averaged just under eight attempts per game. Maybe he is injured, but an injury doesn't excuse such poor shot selection. I also think that the Celtics need to put Garnett into more pick and rolls. I'm from Minnesota, and back in our one good year in '03-'04, Garnett and Cassell ran the pick and roll non-stop, especially in the fourth quarter, and it was immensely effective. Garnett got one open jump shot after another, and he is much more comfortable with a jump shot than playing on the block. Rondo probably isn't the right choice, but why not run it with Allen or Pierce? (Now, I hope they've not been running pick and rolls, thus making me look like an idiot, but I certainly can't recall seeing very many). Additionally, Cassell plays way too much. He simply has nothing left, and Rondo's confidence has been destroyed by seeing Cassell get so much time in the playoffs after so little during his Celtic tenure in the regular season. Finally, I've heard a lot about Andersen Varejao (Sideshow Bob, anyone?) giving Garnett fits defensively. My solution: put Garnett at the high post, similarly to what the Kings used to do with Webber. Not only can he take Varejao (and basically any other big in the game) off the dribble, but the Celts will be able to take advantage of his unselfishness and great passing ability. During the regular season I saw him make some fan fantastic interior and high-low passes to Perkins and Powe, so why not put him in a position to get some easy baskets for them?

John hits it!! Count It!!!

PP has had that 'Toine lurking deep inside him.. he has all year...it sucks to be second, or third fiddle to KG and RA.. but it was working, all season long so he sucked it up.

Now Mr. Hyde (Toine) has shown his face and wants to be LeBron/Kobe.. take a seat Paul.

.

More than anything else when your legs get tired, you lose your offense. The C's 4th quarter woes seem to be a combination of the defenses packing it in down low and their shooters not having the legs to be consistent from outside. This leads to the question, "If you have a fresh pair of legs on the bench in the person of Eddie House, why do you not bring him in at the 2-guard spot in the 4th quarter?" Push the ball up the court, and try to get an open drive before the defense has set up. If that option is not available, drive the lane to bring the defense toward you, then give House an open look. I'd bet on this resulting in more than a few clutch baskets late in the game.

Can we have Ted Kennedy drive Arlen Specter across an unrailed bridge over the Potomac? Please?