1/20/10: Celtics @ Pistons

[UConn Celtics Fan]

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@

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
7:30 PM Eastern

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Auburn Hills, Michigan

Rajon Rondo PG Rodney Stuckey
Ray Allen SG Richard Hamilton
Paul Pierce SF Jonas Jerebko
Rasheed Wallace PF Chris Wilcox
Kendrick Perkins C Ben Wallace

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[Kiss My Arse]

For someone who fancies himself as an outside shooter, you would expect Ray Allen would know how to create space for teammates. Miraculously, he doesn't. I hope Ainge moves that contract for value before the deadline. What a poor player. I never realized just how unintelligently he plays.

[Bogg]

Anybody else see the dual pick that Perk and Baby set on Atkins? I think they collapsed his rib cage.

[Kiss My Arse]

Anybody else see the dual pick that Perk and Baby set on Atkins? I think they collapsed his rib cage.

Si. Unfortunately for Chucky, it appears that Wanga Gut lactated on him.

[Kiss My Arse]

Ray Allen is not even a shadow of his former self. He is beyond toast. What a bum. Turning down open shots, poor passes into the post, unable to put the ball on the floor and consistently create and, even as a catch-and-shoot player, he is just ok. Don't even get me started on his "defense". What a freaking waste of space. Get rid of this clown already.

[apc]

i don't know what Doc is doing, but it doesn't look like our team is being coached.
we fail at exactly same places each time, and as a coach he need to make the adjustments to solve those problems.
maybe that's the change we need...a new coach

[CaptChris]

Gee, Ray had a bad night. Would you like to check the other Celtic Heroes?

Our wonderful bench was outscored 43 -- 12! that's right! outscored by 31 Points.

Paul Pierce had 2 Foul shots in the 2nd half. He didn't score a Field Goal. UGLY!

Rondo had 0 Points in the last 11 minutes. Stuckey ate his lunch.

Perk didn't score in the last 18 minutes of the game. Hello! Anybody home?

Please KG get back out there and kick some butt. See if we can play Basketball!

[apc]

i wish basketball was a 2 quarters game, we would be the champs for sure.

[Celtics17]

Ouch, Ray sure did have a terriblre night! Unfortunately, he's been having alot of bad night's lately.

Boy, do I want a good perimeter defender who can shoot for Ray Allen right now. One guy that I sort have a big basketball crush on is Thabo Sefolosha out in OKC. Someone mentioned J Childress recently. I'm not sure what his situation is right now, but he's another guy I'd love to see in the Green.

Another amphibious perimeter defender that the poster formerly known as KissMyANH had a thing for is Nicholas Batum. I always liked his game, as well. Yeah, Batum'd be a cool Celtic.

So if Danny won't get rid of Ray, hopefully, at least, he can work some kind of deal with any of the remaining expiring extras that sneaks in someone like one of the aforementioned guys.

[Celtics17]

Dang! After making that last post, I looked up Batum's injury situation. I read that they're planning Nic's come back game for January 25th. C'mon, Nate, push it up a game!

[Kiss My Arse]

Yo Chris, how is your boy doing? I can hear the USB version of my HD-3000 (Hypocrisy Detector 3000) violently alarming anyone who will listen that something just isn't right when you always lambaste the Rasheed's and Perkins' of the team for their inability to control their emotions to the detriment of the team yet Wanga Gut Davis in the past year has cried during a time-out, broke his thumb on the eve of the season and verbally berates a fan and nary a peep from you. Hmm, it appears you are applying two different sets of standards.

Remember how you admonished anyone who spoke in ill-will or even doubted Glen Davis? Remember how you have pu-pu plattered and trolled virtually every thread that spoke well of any player you didn't like? Yet when someone points out the obvious about a player you support, your views are so behind the times that you just can't seem to wrap your mind around the changes.

Admit you were and are wrong on your ability to judge character, there, guy. It appears that OB-Wan and yours truly correctly called Wanga Gut for what he was a long time ago. Admit you were had by the fink that is Glen Davis.

I can only imagine what you are feeling right now; you must be heartbroken, distraught and embarrassed by your man's actions. It is ok, that is a natural reaction, but, please, don't do anything stupid like tattoo over Olive Oyl's name and have it replaced with an agape Glen Davis caricature above your heart (or next to your "anchors aweigh" tattoo near your unmentionables), pick a fight with Brutus, stop eating your spinach or lace your Metamucil with arsenic.

Glen just wasn't and isn't worth it. Glen has been and forever will be an attention whore. You deserve better, there, guy. I know you don't like hearing it from others but at least OB-Wan and I attempted to warn you and everyone else a long time ago. You should have practiced due diligence. I know you can't choose who you love but all the signs were there. You just were too blind to see.

[BritCelticsFan]

You may have noticed but our bench is effectively losing its two main guys - Sheed has been 'lost' to the starting lineup and Daniels is out. I think we're really missing Quis.

[OB- wan]

What a silly game. Who was the team in green? They looked like a bunch of frat boys playing a pick-up game on a Saturday afternoon, half hung-over.

Rondo is not good enough to be a team carrier. This was a night when PP needed to do his thing and single-handedly burry a team. Actually even solid spacing and ball movement would have done the trick. Seems like Doc could have stepped in and done something other than watch Rondo tool around all game.

This game is an example of the kind of basketball we will all be looking forward to once Rondo is "da man". No solid offense, just Rondo free-wheeling and putting up numbers. He is good when he's a role player on a team loaded with vets playing in their prime but there is no way in hell the Celtics will win with him leading the way.

In fact the only shot the Celtics have of another title with this group is if KG, PP, Ray and to a lesser extent Sheed play rock solid in the playoffs. The main 3 will have to play similar to what they did during the title run and Sheed is going to have to fill a Posey role but most importantly Rondo is going to have to take a back seat once the playoffs start. Hopefully the old guys hold up for the whole run, otherwise there's no shot.

If they win a title and Rondo pads his stats, he should be traded at the end of the year (never would happen) at his peak value and the team should end this group because they will only flounder for the next 2-3 seasons while the old guys run out their contracts and clog the cap, Rondo surely is not the future of the team.

[hurdler]

OB, how can you recognize that rondo being "the man" being a bad formula, but think that Ray, P2, KG, and sheed can play like they did 2 years or 5 years ago? If ray scores when he is not guarded. The best pierce ever did carrying the team was 44 wins, and even then he had the luxury of one of his teammates scoring 20+ every night. We have been waiting for KG for 12 months now. And of all people, YOU suggest that sheed can play rock solid in the playoffs? The best we can hope for is 15 minutes where he is interested and engaged and another 10 minutes where he doesn't hurt you.

Rondo is best suited to be 3rd best player, Pierce the 2nd player veteran mentor to a young stud (who we don't have), Ray is a 6th man playing 38mpg, sheed is a lion in winter, Perk is a great 5th starter if he accepts that role. We should give dumars a mulligan, and trade ray's expiring deal for gordon (one dimensional scorer) and charlie eyebrows (young big off the bench who can play lotts of minutes when KG sits 20 games per season). Then dumars can go after bosh or boozer in the summer.

[OB- wan]

What is so grandiose about saying "rock solid" play for 3 hall of fame champions in their early to mid 30's?

None of the main 3 are far enough removed from their championship run to say that "rock solid" play out of them is impossible or not realistic. Ray put up 50 in the playoffs last year and PP's game has been the best of his career in my opinion over the past couple of years. They "x" factor at this point is KG's health. If KG is 90% it's all good, IMO.

Here is what needs to happen to win it this year, IMO:
1. KG gets healthy enough to make an impact on both ends of the floor.
2. Sheed plays well enough to pick up any slack KG has compared to 2 years ago and replaces what we got out of Posey
3. PP plays smart and stays healthy
4. Ray plays smart and stays healthy
*5. Rondo doesn't derail the top 4 with his play

Those things happen and I think we are golden.

I can't get on board with bashing or blaming Ray but I understand where people are coming from when they do it. He does make more and more bad plays as time goes by but I think:

His chemistry with this team is valuable and not something that should be tampered with lightly.

Ray and most of our veteran players are not showing the type of play during the regular season that you get out of them in the post season. It's almost like these guys should play 30-40% of the regular season games focusing on the last couple months of the season to get geared up for the playoffs and save some wear and tear during the less meaningful regular season.

The team is not looking as good as it did for the first season and a half after the KG trade but they are not very far removed from that type of output if they are all healthy. Daniels and Wallace should be enough of a bench to get it done, provided the rest of the role players live up to their potential, i.e. House, Sheldon, Scal and they don't need to bring much, which is also a good thing because we can tell they can't deliver if you are counting on substantial production out of them but they can be good in spots.

My main point is: Trading key players from this team as it stands at this point in time does not get them a better shot at a title. There might be combinations of young players and picks that a fortuneteller could play out right now that would show us a dynasty but no one can draw up a trade that we know will help win this team more titles, especially when they are sitting on a contender as we speak.

DA geared up with an excellent team that is capable of winning and now they just have to stay healthy. This team could win 70 games and a title if they were guaranteed good health. I understand that might not be realistic with their current age but how do you bust up a team with that kind of talent especially when none of these guys have a bad track record with injuries? And what outcome is better via trade?

I don’t think teams like Detroit and Sacramento are sitting around waiting for the C’s to give them Ray Allen so they can head into next season with cap room. It might sound good in some peoples head but the reality is that these teams don’t want to do a Pau Gasol trade for the Celtics no matter how many of you think that trade is waiting out there. Maybe as the deadline gets closer that will change but I doubt it. And if it does happen who is to say a Kevin Martin type of player would even fit in with this team as well as the ’09-’10 Ray Allen. A Ben Gordon, Charlie V and Rondo team doesn’t sound like a dynasty either.