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Way to draw one up there. Worst possession in history.

Great decision not to foul Howard down the stretch. I mean, he looks so damn good at the line.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Way to draw one up there. Worst possession in history.

You wrote too soon. Big Baby's fall-away three when down by four at the end of overtime is exactly how you draw it up.

UNFUCKING REAL....Celts had like 2 TO's and they need a rest and an inside play??

WTF????

Doc////??????????????

BCMcG {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Way to draw one up there. Worst possession in history.

You wrote too soon. Big Baby's fall-away three when down by four at the end of overtime is exactly how you draw it up.

You can tell the team is tired. You need the rest. Rondo didn't show tonight, Garnett can barely walk in the second half, and Pierce is short on every jumper after getting tired from scoring so much (he still looked good going to the rack). The only reason you are even in the game is Ray Allen hitting threes and Big Baby hustling. You call a damn time out and you run a play for Ray. Once that game went to OT, the Celtics were not winning.

At least on the Big Baby play, they had no timeouts left, so even though they ran a set play (and Rondo ran the clock down), it wasn't drawn up by Doc.

Celts need a no pratcice day.

The Pierce Iso play works about 0.0001% of the time. These Celtics really suck at possessions at the end of quarters/games. It's either Rondo or Pierce dribbling the ball for 15 seconds before losing the ball or forcing up a terrible shot. Celtics blew a golden opportunity to get some rest. Orlando will smoke them in Game 5.

Ugh that was so Al Skinner-esque last night it isn't even funny. Not using timeouts, awful plays out of TO's. Goes to my theory that the only good head coaches in the NBA are Sloan, Popovich and Jackson. Maybe Scott Skiles on a good night.

Anyone that thought Doc Rivers was a good Xs and Os guy is a clown.

He's a "player's coach." And he has a great team of veterans with the best defensive coach in the league. An inanimate object could coach the Celtics.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Anyone that thought Doc Rivers was a good Xs and Os guy is a clown.

I actually disagree, to an extent. The Celtics play quite well coming out of time outs (easy baskets off inbound plays, defensive stops/adjustments, etc), although this admittedly may be in some part due to their excellent assistant coach staff. This makes it all the more inexplicable that they didn't call a time out. Doc must have liked the match-up of Pierce versus Carter, but Vince actually isn't a terrible defender when he tries, as he did for the only time in the game with about 10 seconds left. The triple-team with the clock running down did not help either, and it was one of the few times in the series in which Orlando looked more well-prepared than the Cs.

I don't mind the not calling the timeout thing. What I do mind is Doc not calling a timeout with about 8 seconds left when it was obvious that Pierce was going nowhere. The Magic had a triangle of players going after Pierce. Even if he gets a shot off, it would have been a 22 foot fadeaway that had no chance of going in. That mistake will now cost the Celtics at least 1 more game and probably 2 of wear and tear.

branchinator {l Wrote}:I don't mind the not calling the timeout thing. What I do mind is Doc not calling a timeout with about 8 seconds left when it was obvious that Pierce was going nowhere. The Magic had a triangle of players going after Pierce. Even if he gets a shot off, it would have been a 22 foot fadeaway that had no chance of going in. That mistake will now cost the Celtics at least 1 more game and probably 2 of wear and tear.

Pierce stopped hitting jump shots mid way through the fourth. He was woefully short - if he hits a couple of the bombs he chucked at the end, they win. But it is what it is, so be it.

But don't just let him ad lib at the top of the key. He has Rakim Sanders handles to begin with. He prefers the fadeaway to going strong to the rack. And he was visibly tired, like Garnett.

With 12 seconds, you call timeout, and you run an inside out play with options for Garnett or Allen. Pierce is the decoy. Rondo takes it out, and Perkins or Baby gets out of the way so that they can't double.

Which reminds me, when perk is on the floor, he crashes the boards before the shot goes up. This merely allows Howard to get close enough to the guy taking a layup or post move to block the shot. I think Big Baby has to play a lot more for Perkins, even is you sacrifice some post defense.

Agreed. Pierce was too tired to even be pissed when he screwed up. His legs were dying and this was painfully evident when he front-rimmed those 2 open three's in OT.

I'm sorry, but exhaustion I think is a poor excuse...I'm fairly sure Jameer Nelson played 50 minutes in that game and it certainly didn't stop him from bombing 3's and he's probably a shade over 5'7. Orlando was begging for the Celtics to take that game, they just didn't execute on the offensive end (or the defensive end for long stretches) when the game was on the table, particularly in the overtime, when NOBODY wanted that ball for Orlando until that banker by Nelson.

On the subject of not wanting the ball. At what point do you stop trying to get cross matches and trying to out-think Stan Van Gundy and just go at Vince Carter? The guy did not want to be anywhere near the court late in that game and in overtime (read: 2 turnovers, and allowing the blow-by for Pierce for the tie). The guy was HIDING on the court. Force him to make a play. If I'm Pierce I back off him on defense and let the ball find him and make him do something, and on the other end I go at him on the offensive end.

PS- Vince Carter sucks

EagleDave {l Wrote}:I'm sorry, but exhaustion I think is a poor excuse...I'm fairly sure Jameer Nelson played 50 minutes in that game and it certainly didn't stop him from bombing 3's and he's probably a shade over 5'7. Orlando was begging for the Celtics to take that game, they just didn't execute on the offensive end (or the defensive end for long stretches) when the game was on the table, particularly in the overtime, when NOBODY wanted that ball for Orlando until that banker by Nelson.

On the subject of not wanting the ball. At what point do you stop trying to get cross matches and trying to out-think Stan Van Gundy and just go at Vince Carter? The guy did not want to be anywhere near the court late in that game and in overtime (read: 2 turnovers, and allowing the blow-by for Pierce for the tie). The guy was HIDING on the court. Force him to make a play. If I'm Pierce I back off him on defense and let the ball find him and make him do something, and on the other end I go at him on the offensive end.

PS- Vince Carter sucks

I didn't say it was an excuse. I said it was a reason not to have the ball in Pierce's hands at the end. That's called "coaching". Excuse or no excuse, Pierce, Garnett and Carter were visibly tired down the stretch, and Allen and Nelson were not. Allen should have taken the last shot of regulation, period.

And yes, Carter is terrible.

KG should always been an option at the end of games. At the very least, he can create a jumper against any big man that guards him, even Howard. Unfortunately, he sometimes lacks balls in these situations and plays hot potato with the ball. Or he throws it 10 rows up into the stands.

Pierce was visibly tired down the stretch. No doubt. And I don't know why Vince is getting any minutes at all in this series, and especially at the end of games.

But here's what I kept shouting at the TV: "KEEP A BODY ON RAY ALLEN!" How do you ever let that guy get lost. Out of anyone on the court getting an open look in the 2nd half, that is the last guy you want. But he kept getting good looks at 3's!

This is a bizzarro-epic when it comes to coaching.

If Pierce was so tired...what about that explosive drive and slam at the end of regulation? Just saying.

bignick33 {l Wrote}:If Pierce was so tired...what about that explosive drive and slam at the end of regulation? Just saying.

I am not sure how explosive it was. That said, these guys can dunk when they are absolutely exhausted. Lack of legs shows first in the jump shot, and Pierce was woefully short on the last 5-6 jumpers he took last night, including the back to back threes he jacked in OT.

This may go down as the worts blunder in NBA history.

2 timeouts and one to see the defense,-- since Doc said he used the no TO to have the magic not set their defense -- and his team was tired too and needed a full TO and a set play or fresher legs.

WOW....

They had like +15 seconds, I can't remember.

One Ray Allen dagger and it was rest time and watch the lakers get run down.

Now you got issues.

WOW!