I Believe!
Even against long odds, I think the Celtics can still beat the Heat: they need only get back to playing Celtic Basketball to give themselves a chance.
But so far . . . no good!
It’s not going to show up so much in the BoxScore, nor in the post game interviews, but the Celtics have not just lost to the Heat in the first two games of the 2nd round, they have been soundly beaten down in every aspect of the game. Dominated.
What the hell the refs are doing is anyone’s guess.
Let’s establish several “givens’ that we can take for granted: It's a given that . . .
The Heat
The Heat outplayed the Celtics, bringing a superior brand of basketball to the court. Their stars shone bright and their supporting cast members played their roles to perfection. The Heat even look better prepared from a coaching standpoint. So far, they have dominated the series in a most startling manner for Celtic fans. Are the Heat really that superior a basketball team?
The Celtics
The Celtics look like a team that has lost its “Mojo”. They can’t win an athletic contest with the heat, the heat are too athletic. They can’t win a track meet with the Heat, the Heat are too fast, too quick. But the Celtics can play “Celtic Basketball”, the brand of ball that gives them the best chance of winning, but playing “Celtic Basketball” is not what the team is doing.
Celtic Basketball
Playing Celtic Basketball means pushing the ball up the court before opponent’s defense gets set: this leads to easy baskets for Rondo or an outlet pass to a shooter like Ray, Paul, or KG. We have seen it . . . occasionally. Not enough.
Running off picks and making the Heat play defense
Celtic Basketball means running Ray and Paul off picks to get open looks, at three’s for Ray or Paul, or a weak-side isolation for Paul, or a jumper for KG from the elbows or the baseline. Ray and Paul running around picks makes their defender run with them, makes Wade and LeBron play defense which should, in theory, somewhat diminish their energy and effectiveness on offense.
Force feeding KG
Where was this brand of Celtic Basketball on Tuesday night? Nowhere to be found. Doc must have decided that he needed to establish an inside game by force-feeding Kg. Great, if KG was a face-up low-post player. But KG looked uncomfortable with the strategy and immediately began forcing shots, ultimately going 8 – 20 from the floor for 16 points.
In force-feeding a discombobulated KG, Ray and Paul became The Men that Time Forgot, and Celtic Basketball went right out the window.
Ray Allen had a total of 7 shots. Paul Pierce, 11. Does Doc really want Rondo and KG to combine for 36 shots while Ray and Paul combine for 18? It’s Ray’s seven attempts that really stands out: how can Ray get on track with 7 attempts? KG and Rondo shot a paltry 41% combined while Ray and Paul combined for an even more paltry 38%, mostly a product of Ray not getting enough touches in the right spots.
The Celtics cannot win without playing Celtic Basketball: what I just described above is not Celtic Basketball, and if they continue to play this inferior brand of ball they will get swept, no doubt about it.
Turnovers
Celtic Basketball also means protecting the rock – avoiding costly turnovers because against the Heat turnovers really cost you . . . almost an automatic two points. Some turnovers are unavoidable but turnovers caused by sloppy ball-handling, dribbling off your feet, or getting caught mid-air and throwing the ball away, or simply not putting enough gas on a pass, or telegraphing a pass are grossly amateurish and are simply in-x-scuse-able!
The Celtics can hardly afford to have their point guards and their power forward turn the ball over a combined seven times.
Defensive rotations
The Celtics are slow in getting to the ball, late closing out on 3-point shooters, leaving men open down under, and giving up a lot of 2nd chance points. Part of this is good ball movement by the Heat, part of it is just un-inspired, lack-luster defense, and poor communication among Celtic players.
Com’on guys, you can do much better.
The Bench, D-West, Big Baby and Kristic
The bench seemed to perform admirably in Game 2, giving the team 27 points, and holding the lead before the starting 5, with and without Davis, gave it up again and again.
But this bench seems to be a shot in the dark, maybe not as good as the numbers look. Glen Davis has been mostly abysmal in this series. He suddenly can’t finish, suddenly, and he seems to have forgotten how to rebound by getting position and putting a man on his back – he’s no leaper and he keeps getting out-leaped and having rebounds stolen from him by more athletic jumpers.
D-West remains a shooting guard at heart, a Two, and asking him to distribute the ball is akin to asking Ray to play the point. . . at this point, it is a pointless exercise in futility. Give Delonte the ball and tell him to look for his shot: he’s one of the few guys off the bench who can create their own shot.
With Davis playing so ineffectively where is Nenad Kristic? He’s a perfectly serviceable, professional NBA center who has played well for the C’s and can do so again if he ever gets the chance. Kristic needs more minutes and Davis needs fewer minutes. Doc, wake up and smell the coffee.
Team chemistry and on-court chemistry
No doubt that since the Big Trade team chemistry took a hit and has never recovered. We got perfectly capable NBA players in exchange for Perk and Nate, Semi and Luke. Marquis was unlikely to return from his neck injury. Yet this was a very tight-knit group of friends from top to bottom, from what I understand, and the disruption the trade caused, it seems, was of such a disruptive nature that the team never recovered.
It’s obvious that the on-court chemistry is not there in the 2nd unit. Green is slow in getting it, and he still looks tentative even as he’s been playing better. Doc, for some reason, does not want to give Kristic minutes, though he had great chemistry with the starters when he first came over. Delonte is playing out of position. Big Baby Davis, playing with both the starters and the bench looks lost out there against the Heat: although he’s been playing with great heart, he’s just not getting the job done.
A lone bright spot
The play of Jermaine O’Neal has been inspiring. When was the last time a Celtic center gathered five offensive rebounds? JO has not even been incorporated into the offense yet he has been a major bright spot, yea, the lone bright spot for the Celtics. If the entire team had brought what Jo brought to the games we’d not be down 0 – 2.
What’s to be done?
It’s really simple, if they want to have a chance then they had better start playing Celtic Basketball. And they have to match intensity with intensity.
It’s time to man-up, Celtics, get yourselves off cruise-control and kick it up a notch. Did the C’s lull themselves into thinking they were better than they are? Into thinking that they could walk all over the Heat like they did the Knicks?
I really thought that after a week off and time to practice the chemistry would have been better and that Kristic and Green would be more incorporated into the flow of the offense and defense. That’s not been the case.
Individually, two players, Rondo and KG, have to look at what the Heat are doing to take them (and thus the whole team) out of their game.
The Celtics need the entire team playing Celtic Basketball to overcome the Heat.
I Believe!
Even against long odds, I think the Celtics can still beat the Heat: they need only get back to playing Celtic Basketball to give themselves a chance.
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