Memo to The Boston Celtics:
WIN A DAMN ROAD GAME.
For serious.
To be fair, due to scheduling and the minor obstacle of not having my own personal television set, I'm not seeing enough of these games to have a developed and intelligent opinion; for that I'm reliant on the pieces that I do watch being augmented by the collective wisdom of these here interwebs. But my gut and my pre-existing prejudices tell me that
(1) Doc Rivers really isn't a good coach. It might not be fair to lay this on him, but the guy can't manage his rotation and can't effectively micromanage specific in-game situations when they arise and beg for occasional micromanaging.
(2) Kevin Garnett is what he is and what he is not is a crunch-time go-to guy, whether crunch time be "the last two minutes" or "near-must-win Game 4 on the road".
It must be said that I'm a longtime Garnett skeptic; he's one of the most talented guys in the league, but I don't think he's remotely as good as he could or should be despite his also clearly being one of the best guys in the league. That he's disappointing me in a way I could've predicted six months ago - I'm not sure whether that reflects more on him or me. (Conversely, Objectivity notes that I'm in the tank for Paul Pierce. He's my favorite player on this team and while I'm not blind to his several flaws I'm more forgiving of them. I thought I'd write a bit more about why and what I like about Pierce and my mild irrationality when it comes to his career, but it'll have to wait for some other time.)
I did like, from the AP/espn.com recap, this: "When Garnett dropped his first jumper, former Celtics player and current broadcaster Cedric 'Cornbread' Maxwell removed his headphones, rose out of his seat and screamed, 'Get down in the box,' toward the floor below." Also, the recap describes a moment where Paul Pierce intentionally fouled LeBron James to stop him from dunking and their momentum carried them into the stands and onto LeBron's mother. Now, I should've snagged this last night when I could, but the original recap said something along the lines of: "Gloria James tried to pull [or hold, or something] Pierce while her son yelled at her to sit back down," whereas that's been scrubbed for: "The players' momentum carried them into a crowded front row, where Gloria James told Pierce to leave her baby alone.
'I told her to sit down, in some language I shouldn't have used,' James said. 'Thank God today wasn't Mother's Day. All I could think about is her. ... I know my mother. It's fine, we're good.'"
Look, I know LeBron is the best player in this series, and in my estimation it's not particularly close. And the Cavs had one of the best defenses in the league, and they have some guys who can make some shots, and the Detroit Pistons are actually the only team to win a road game so far in the second round. But the Celtics had THE best defense in the league, one of the best defenses of the post-ABA merger era, are the only team left in the playoffs that hasn't won a road game at all despite being the best road team in the regular season, have four of the five best players in the series not named LeBron, and UGH. At the beginning of the season I thought this team would need time to gel and learn together and predicted that they'd make to to about the second round and no further, but at the time I didn't think they were going to win 66 games, either; a second round exit at this point would be a serious disappointment, and I can't psych myself into thinking otherwise. The series isn't over, but I don't like what's going on AT ALL.
Sigh.
For serious.
To be fair, due to scheduling and the minor obstacle of not having my own personal television set, I'm not seeing enough of these games to have a developed and intelligent opinion; for that I'm reliant on the pieces that I do watch being augmented by the collective wisdom of these here interwebs. But my gut and my pre-existing prejudices tell me that
(1) Doc Rivers really isn't a good coach. It might not be fair to lay this on him, but the guy can't manage his rotation and can't effectively micromanage specific in-game situations when they arise and beg for occasional micromanaging.
(2) Kevin Garnett is what he is and what he is not is a crunch-time go-to guy, whether crunch time be "the last two minutes" or "near-must-win Game 4 on the road".
It must be said that I'm a longtime Garnett skeptic; he's one of the most talented guys in the league, but I don't think he's remotely as good as he could or should be despite his also clearly being one of the best guys in the league. That he's disappointing me in a way I could've predicted six months ago - I'm not sure whether that reflects more on him or me. (Conversely, Objectivity notes that I'm in the tank for Paul Pierce. He's my favorite player on this team and while I'm not blind to his several flaws I'm more forgiving of them. I thought I'd write a bit more about why and what I like about Pierce and my mild irrationality when it comes to his career, but it'll have to wait for some other time.)
I did like, from the AP/espn.com recap, this: "When Garnett dropped his first jumper, former Celtics player and current broadcaster Cedric 'Cornbread' Maxwell removed his headphones, rose out of his seat and screamed, 'Get down in the box,' toward the floor below." Also, the recap describes a moment where Paul Pierce intentionally fouled LeBron James to stop him from dunking and their momentum carried them into the stands and onto LeBron's mother. Now, I should've snagged this last night when I could, but the original recap said something along the lines of: "Gloria James tried to pull [or hold, or something] Pierce while her son yelled at her to sit back down," whereas that's been scrubbed for: "The players' momentum carried them into a crowded front row, where Gloria James told Pierce to leave her baby alone.
'I told her to sit down, in some language I shouldn't have used,' James said. 'Thank God today wasn't Mother's Day. All I could think about is her. ... I know my mother. It's fine, we're good.'"
Look, I know LeBron is the best player in this series, and in my estimation it's not particularly close. And the Cavs had one of the best defenses in the league, and they have some guys who can make some shots, and the Detroit Pistons are actually the only team to win a road game so far in the second round. But the Celtics had THE best defense in the league, one of the best defenses of the post-ABA merger era, are the only team left in the playoffs that hasn't won a road game at all despite being the best road team in the regular season, have four of the five best players in the series not named LeBron, and UGH. At the beginning of the season I thought this team would need time to gel and learn together and predicted that they'd make to to about the second round and no further, but at the time I didn't think they were going to win 66 games, either; a second round exit at this point would be a serious disappointment, and I can't psych myself into thinking otherwise. The series isn't over, but I don't like what's going on AT ALL.
Sigh.
Labels: Basketball
posted by medrawt at
06:44
<< Home