Celtics -- Grizzles

[CaptChris]

What a JOKE! How to do quantify this one. Let's see, we can't even hit free throws. 3 -- 9 KTKhere have been UGLY stretches before but this is getting to the ridiculous. Ray hit a couple. Rondo hit a couple. Wallace hit a couple.

Watch how far away from the boards Rasheed is during the 2nd half.

[NorEaster]

We are very weak in the paint. Perk has been playin like garbage for the last few months. This team seems to have no sense of themselves. They also seem to be tuning Doc out. The C's show no hustle, no desire to get physical, and seem to be not geling at all. I'M starting to belive what Rondo said about some issues with players having their own agendas. I see a lot of standing around and watching by the C's. This team is sad to watch. Ainge has got a very big job to do after this season as the current line up ain't cutting it.

[TheTruthIsGreen]

Just close this thread - waste of the server space....

[CaptChris]

We let them shoot 55% FG -- 56.2% "3" 's and out-rebound us 48 - 29. Other than that it was a good night!!!

Sad when Tommy can't even alabi for what is happening to this team. PP is out in left field. Perk has gone to pot. The chemistry is blown.

A CYO team could outscore them in the 1st period.

[OB- wan]

The wheels are really starting to fly off now.

I've been in denial but this season looks like its certain to end badly and there's really no hope for things to be better next year or anytime soon.

Looks like it's back to the post Bird, pre-FaToine days.

[setshot33]

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n22/fourdots1962/grave.jpg

Time for us Celtics fans to do the honorable thing and bury our dead.

Everyone grab a shovel........

[hurdler]

This kind of play has been building basically since Christmas. There were distractions like KG's injury recovery, and pierce sitting out a few games, and Ray's fabulous february, but we all saw this posibility. Ainge decided not to move any players (except house). Doc decided that we never needed to make any lineup changes or adjustments. "It worked 2 years ago, why shouldn't it work now." Players are perplexed on why they are playing so badly and how they lose half the time. Perk has been absent, Daniels is disappointing. Bill walker looks like a missed opportunity. It smells like a first round exit.

[nighthob]

There's only one real lineup change to be made, namely benching Perkins for Wallace. Coming into the season everyone assumed that the owners were serious with their "in it to win it" talk and that Ray would be moved for additional help by the trading deadline. When that didn't happen they were screwed. This really isn't the coach's fault. Ultimately it's not even really Ainge's. You need to look higher up the food chain at the guys writing the checks that decided they were better off with a gentle decline than in keeping payroll at its present levels. That the decline is looking none too gentle is really their just desserts.

[Celtics17]

I thought it was Ainge's reluctance to pull the trigger on any deals that kept Ray in Boston. I haven't heard anyone else suggest stinginess on the part of ownership as the ultimate reason that no significant trade was made.

I kind of thought they were willing to support any move that Danny saw fit to make.

Do you have any evidence or support for this claim?

[meta4]

Like OB Wan and I'm sure many celtics fans around the world, I too was in denial, but I have opened my eyes, spring is in the air, the snow is melting and my head is clear, I have accpted the fact that we won't be making a serious run if any run this year in the PO's and now I can move on with my life. Let the healing begin.

[CaptChris]

Funny that people will say that not getting rid of Ray is the problem. Without Ray we would have crashed and burned a month ago. The problem is the "BLIND" faith of the fans in their Heroes. The make believe Perk is a Beast bit. Remember all the problems Perk has is because of the system. The alibi kthat he was doing his job. That he can play one-on-one with anyone in the league. Ask Bogut!!! Perk has talent, but is severely limited individual skills. He functioned well, when the stars were getting him bunnies. He can't get his own shot, or cover anyone away from the basket. His mouth and attitude with Wallaces guidence has gone to crap. Too bad.

Wallace has been a cancer. The tail has been wagging the dog. Doc should have told this clown to get down low and stay there. The team needed him down low. Not Sheed. The 6'11" bird who plays like a 5'11" guy 25 ft. from the basket. Just like in the schoolyard. 62 games and still not in shape.

PP has proved once and for all that the bull about being the best in the NBA was media hype. Boston Special. He is moving like a plow horse. Ekven his passes look slow and forced.

How much basketball IQ does it take to not set a "moving pick"???

[nighthob]

I thought it was Ainge's reluctance to pull the trigger on any deals that kept Ray in Boston. I haven't heard anyone else suggest stinginess on the part of ownership as the ultimate reason that no significant trade was made.

I kind of thought they were willing to support any move that Danny saw fit to make.

Do you have any evidence or support for this claim?

The news articles at the time of the discussed Ray/filler for Butler/Jamison/filler deal suggested that the Celtics owners shot the trade down because they didn't want Antawn's contract. Which scotched talks with the Wiz. That seems to be a pretty strong indication that the owners were getting cost-conscious again. The fact that the Wiz simply gave away both players for expiring deals is an indication that deals were there to be made.

[nighthob]

Funny that people will say that not getting rid of Ray is the problem. Without Ray we would have crashed and burned a month ago.

The problem is that the team signaled, with their failure to make a move, that they aren't interested in competing for a title anymore. The team, desperately, needed a shot of life and didn't get it. I hate to bang the drum here, but the team is aging and injured. We're the San Antonio Spurs- Eastern Division.


How much basketball IQ does it take to not set a "moving pick"???

How much basketball IQ does Yao Ming have? The next pick that Pau Gasol sets with his feet set will be his first. Thanks to setting them for one of the NBA's glamor boys they don't get whistled.

[hurdler]

I thought it was Ainge's reluctance to pull the trigger on any deals that kept Ray in Boston. I haven't heard anyone else suggest stinginess on the part of ownership as the ultimate reason that no significant trade was made.

I kind of thought they were willing to support any move that Danny saw fit to make.

Do you have any evidence or support for this claim?

$20 million in expiring salary, some gas left in the tank, played well leading up to trade deadline, teams desperate for free agency, teams dumping players. Sometimes things are the way they seem. To be fair, a lot of those deals make us better teams but not necessarily championship teams while still pushing us into the top 5 team salaries.

It won't take long to find out because if we pass on Ray, don't use the MLE, and sign cheap players we are really close to getting under the luxury tax.

[texascelticsfan]

Im still curious about the allegations that Grunfeld didn't want to screw up Arenas negotiations by leaving teams in the east pissed about setting up the C's.

Seeing the way the ex-Bullets are playing real D in Dallas makes it even harder to take.

[nighthob]

They didn't seem to be afraid of pissing off teams in the east by setting up the Cavs, so I'm not putting a lot of stock into that claim.

[RAH]

I just want to add that you can't judge all that much from a blow-out like this game. While blow-outs always look awful, they usually aren't all that meaningful. It is only because it is a continuation of the poor play lately that gives it any real significance. In other words, things could turn around. I find the prior game (Bucks) much more worrisome.

[texascelticsfan]

Cavs didnt get Butler/Haywood, they got Jamison.

[Spleen]

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n22/fourdots1962/grave.jpg

Time for us Celtics fans to do the honorable thing and bury our dead.

Everyone grab a shovel........

You're going to need a backhoe to dig a hole big enough to bury all of the dead on this club. Folks jumped my case when I was saying they looked done. Is there anyone left who still thinks there is any magical switch there that will be flipped by the Celtics' Fairy Godmother? There are 20 games left, and many of them are against tougher teams. When they had 25 games left I thought it would be a 13 - 12 run to finish out the season, now I'd like to update that for the remaining 20 games with 7 - 13 record, and that's being optimistic on a good day. Feeling so good about all of this that I think I'll lean over and start puking.

Next year will be another rebuilding cycle, as it looks like we're too far gone for a simple reload. Even Danny will recognize by then that this group is done. Maybe they're good enough to make the playoffs for a couple of more seasons, but you'd have to pretty drunk to believe they are championship caliber anymore. Hope it isn't another generation until we get back to the Finals.

Not trying to blame Wallace for everything going poorly, but he has sucked this season, and hasn't been anything close to what we thought he would provide when we signed him last summer.

[NorEaster]

Yee of lil faith take heed! Remba the '69 Celts? They creeped into the playoffs aftr being nagged by injuries all season and with grit they made their run and captured the title. Hmmmm then again Perk ain't no Russel....far from it......also the 69 C's knew that the secret to great basketball was unselfish play....I think this is what Rondo was hinting on in that rather interesting post game interview.......

[Spleen]

Yee of lil faith take heed! Remba the '69 Celts? They creeped into the playoffs aftr being nagged by injuries all season and with grit they made their run and captured the title. Hmmmm then again Perk ain't no Russel....far from it......also the 69 C's knew that the secret to great basketball was unselfish play....I think this is what Rondo was hinting on in that rather interesting post game interview.......

When someone doesn't believe in the sugar plum fairy does that make them of little faith or perhaps of wisdom? This team is a far cry from the '69 version. The things that Rondo and others have been saying all season sound all well and fine, yet little has come of any of it. Anyone can say anything, but not everyone can actually live up to their words. We've been hearing a lot this season from most of them, but without results on the court, that hot air has the same consistency as a stale fart.

I don't want to see them like this, but I realized some time ago that they just don't have it anymore. Some of it is due to players' losing a step in quickness or a foot in leaping ability, or just settling for an outside shot because it is easy out there and never gets you hurt. Add it up and you have a team that was 23 -5 and now are 40 - 23, that's 17 - 18 over the last 35 games. Maybe its just me, but I don't find that particularly inspiring and leading me to believe that they're really only playing "rope-a-dope" with their opponents now, and will come out during the playoffs and start playing championship level ball and will be hanging #18 from the rafters this summer.

[texascelticsfan]

I think the least inspiring thing about this team is their lack of concern, particularly from the big 3. If they didnt have their rings, the sense of urgency would be dramatically different and nothing would be taken lightly.

But I don't see the dominance from the Lakers/Cavs that the C's/Lakers had in 07. There are a handful of teams that could go all the way given the right matchups.

Are the Hawks an old/injury prone team that has no future? Or are they a team struggling through an extended slump just like the C's?