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“I was able to make it through the game, but I obviously hurt us tonight. Especially on the defensive end.”

- Paul Pierce, following the Celtics 113-104 loss to the Pacers.

Once again, the Celtics starters could not keep pace with the youth, hustle and stamina of a younger and more athletic team. The Indiana Pacers, in what has become a nightly routine, held tight with the Celtics throughout the first quarter.

Early on, the Celtics corrected their deficiencies from a night earlier, rebounding the ball well and defending the basket. They had extended a one point first quarter lead to a nine point halftime lead as the Celtics seemed to be returning to their normal form.

The second half was like an episode of the twilight zone for Celtics fans. It was like a bad dream you wake up from, thinking it was real, thanking god it wasn’t. Fact is, it was real. We did lose for the second straight night to teams that are, not only sub-par but have zero chance of winning a championship in the distant future.

More disturbing was the Celtics lack of mental toughness. Missing clutch free-throws, taking ill-advised shots and complaining at every whistle.

Who are these imposter’s?

In the second half of last night’s disaster, we saw a completely different Celtic team. Unfortunately, due to the recent losses to Atlanta and Phoenix, the Celtics that showed up in the second half last night, were a team that we are beginning to get familiar with and it has to stop here.

The Pacers out-scored the Celtics (113-104), out-assisted the Celtics (31-18) and shot nearly 53 percent from the field– 60 percent in the second half. Danny Granger led the attack with 29 points as he made good on his promise to beat the Celtics. Dahntay Jones chipped in with 25 points after going 1-6 in the first half. Paul Pierce, ailing with a sore knee, guarded Jones most of the night and took Jones’, lights out, second half scoring personally,

“I was a step slow pretty much all night and it really hurt us. I pretty much told the fellas, I really take a lot of the blame. Dahntay Jones goes out and has one of his best nights, with me guarding him most of the night. I am really going to take that one on the chin right there.’’

The C’s continue to struggle in making all cylinders click simultaneously. In the second half of last night’s contest nothing was clicking. The Celtics were so off point defensively that I held my breath every time Jones or Granger had the ball. This is a feeling that would normally consume me when Kobe or LeBron had the ball. Granger and Jones? Purely humiliating and humbling. Doc Rivers said after the game,

“I thought we were awful defensively, give them credit, they ran an awful lot of nice stuff,’’ Rivers said. “We were awful. I don’t think we respected some of their guys and some of their guys made shots. I thought it was more us than our legs.’’

Doc should get a raise as he has doubled his efforts, now taking on the role of the spokesperson for the Celtics veteran legs. Doc seems to be scrambling to come up with any excuse, other then age, for why the Celtics are struggling this early in the season.

One week ago, we were reading articles littered with 72-10 predictions and descriptions of bench depth unmatched in the NBA.

The Honeymoon is Over…

These losses are reminiscent some of the embarrassing losses of last season. The Clippers and Warriors quickly come to mind. The Pacers also embarressed the Celtics is Conseco Fieldhouse by 16 points last November. The Celtics then ripped off 6 straight victories en-route to a 27-2 start.

Do the Celtics have the stamina to pull off such a feat this season?

Boston started the 2009-10 season with 4 straight wins over decent teams. So, it is possible for the guys in green to recreate their winning ways. Fortunately, bad defense, poor shot selection, poor foul shooting and lack of intensity can all be corrected through practice and mental refocusing. The scary part is, players age and fragility are not changeable. The Celtics have to find a way to win while preserving the legs of their veterans while pulling out victories.

In my opinion, the C’s are relying too much on the perimeter shot. When defenses close out on our snipers and when we are forced to play transition defense, we seem to sputter out fast. Garnett needs to post up more. KG is an excellent shooter outside of 15 feet and he needs to use that weapon to break down defenses when swinging the ball to the off-side. Garnett, however, needs to impose his will with his back to the basket. In the last two losses, I have seen Garnett pass out of mismatches several times. The two man game between Ray or Paul and Garnett is seldom used. Instead, we are using Garnett as a spot up shooter and Perk becomes our only low post presence. Allen, Garnett and Pierce waiting on the perimeter while Perk posts up and Rondo hides on the off-side of the ball is not a healthy offense and it’s showing.

We have all heard people say for years that Rasheed needs to get in the paint. I agree that Sheed needs to post up more but he is also doing his job as a three-point threat. I don’t mind Sheed launching off three-point bombs as long as they are within the offensive structure. He needs to shoot (and occasionally hit) from downtown to adequately spread the court. When the court is enlarged and the defense is spread, the Celtics need to use that to their benefit by using Rondo, Allen and Pierce to drive the open lanes. When the game tightens up, we seem to use the three as our only weapon instead of using it to create better options.

This year’s team has relied too much on the three-point shot as an anchor of the offense. The three pointer should be the shot that breaks apart defenses and opens better shots inside of the paint. Instead, the Celtics are basing their offensive success on it. For the second straight game we witnessed a team effectively defend the Celtics 3-point shot (3-12) and knock our entire offensive structure off point. The Celtics looked dazed in the second half. They fell back into the last resort strategy of isolating Paul Pierce on the elbow and hoping he draws a foul and when he does– PRAYING  he makes the shots. On a team with all-star prospects at every position, I am not comfortable with (resorting to) isolating an injured player and hoping/praying our hearts away. It’s just not necessary. We have FIVEoptions on offense, each bringing separate skills capable of hurting our opponent. Why do we continue to use the Pierce isolation play of pre-2007 to try to get back into games? Did anyone else notice that when Pierce became our only offensive option in the closing moments last night, the court got very small? The spacing was terrible. No one (including Pierce) seemed to have any rhythm.

If we are going to run isolation’s, The Celtics need to start running more for Ray Allen.

Ray Allen, at 34 years old?

Yes– the man is in great shape and benefiting (more then anyone) from the court length Rasheed is creating. Ray’s outside shooting is off thus far but he is attacking the basket unlike anything we have seen since he joined in 2007. Why aren’t we using the one option that is working? The few shots Ray was able to throw off in the fourth last night, were spot ups from the perimeter– under pressure. One shot, in particular, by Ray summed up the night’s foul play. Late in the fourth, with the Celtics in need of a bucket, Ray launched off a brick that stuck between the backboard and the rim like a magnet. This was the culmination of two night’s of frustration for the players, coaches and fans.

We need to stop setting the record straight, stop trying to prove that we are not too old, stop blaming everything on the referees (I am trying to ignore Joey Crawford’s impact on last night’s game) and start playing Celtics basketball again. The “work in progress” has become just plain “work”recently with progress coming to a screeching halt.

There is not one point in the last twenty years that I have not looked forward to a Celtics game. Even in the lean years, I got entertainment from Tommy Heinsohn’s blaming everyone else for the Celtics failures. Tonight, I am glad there is no game. The last two night’s have been too stressful and frustrating. Tomorrow I can look forward to starting to anticipate seeing the REAL Celtics show up to play the Warriors.

(Quotes courtesy of boston.com)

HackingEthics

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