It's the little things that makes the 2005-06 Celtics so frustrating to follow. Like Rip Hamilton getting a wide-open look with 0.8 seconds remaining to sink a buzzer-beater. Like nobody calling a timeout with six seconds to play in Golden State, trailing by two, leading to an out-of-control Pierce turnover to end the game. Like my buddy House calling me after attending the Wiz-Celtics game on Saturday night just to ask me, "Why didn't Doc go offense-defense with Delonte West and Marcus Banks down the stretch when Delonte had five fouls and you needed to foul?" ... followed by me answering, "Um, Doc doesn't understand the concept of offense-defense." Like the fact that the Celtics are so consistently atrocious at defending pick-and-rolls, opposing teams don't even bother running other plays anymore. Like a set offense revolving around uncoordinated big men (Blount, LaFrentz, Kendrick Perkins) perched on the high post and looking to find cutters near the basket. Like all of the botched two-for-one possessions at the end of quarters, or the predictable offense down the stretch that basically consists of "Post Paul up 20 feet from the basket and let him create." Like my Dad calling me just to say, "Yup, that was another Doc Rivers Special."Oh yes. Simmons brings up last week's Atlanta game, the one the C's lost in Boston, switching to a zone in the 4th quarter, against a team that consists, if I'm not mistaken, of Zaza Pachulia, a 4 foot point guard, and 10 2 guards - who happen to lead the NBA in 3-point percentage. I do not know much of anything about basketball strategy, but I do know that the easiest way to beat a zone is to shoot over it - shoot 11-19 from 3-point land, for instance.
The Truth (not Paul Pierce - rather, the fact that Rivers is a dreadful coach) came to me a month or so ago, in the midst of the Celtics' Texas trip. They had managed to beat the Knicks for their first road win, then gotten hammered by Houston, then played a decent game against NO/OKC for a win - but had to finish up against San Antonio and Dallas. Steal one of those - a long shot obviously - and that's a darned good trip. Well - they went to San Antonio - got slapped around a bit early, but then started to get it together - and went into the locker room down 5, 6, something like that. Dare I dream? I thought to myself - this is a test here. We know that the Spurs will adjust in the second half, we know they will find and fix whatever they were doing wrong - this is a test, of whether the C's coaches can come up with anything to do against them. If they cancome out of the locker room strong - ....
Fool! They came out, missed a couple shots, the Spurs made a couple shots - and that was that. The Spurs ran 'em off the court... Game. So the next night - into Dallas - and the same thing happens - Big Al plays well - they hang around, they're down a bucket or two at the half. And you know Avery Johnson is going to figure out what went wrong, make adjustments, get onhis players, not to give this away at home - can Rivers do the same? Anticipate changes? keep them playing hard and smart? Or will the Mavs come out and blow them away?
What do you think? It took Dallas a couple minutes to put them away, unlike the Spurs who did it right from the buzzer - but it was over in short order.
That crap happens all the time, and variations - things that coaching is supposed to directly affect. Coming out of time outs - the C's are worse than on their own. They can't score coming off timeouts - they can't stop anyone - disasters like that Rip Hamilton shot, or the Jerry Stackhouse buzzer beater that beat them this Monday, are an absolute given. Sometimes they deserve better (the Wizards game last week ended on a bad call) - but they can't seem to win those games no matter what happens.
It is time for Rivers to go. It is time for someone to make a decision - either, "we are going to the playoffs - so find the 9 guys who can play and play them" - or "we are going to be a better than mediocre team next year, no matter what happens this year - so Jefferson and Perkins and Orien Green, get out there and figure it out, cause next year, we expect second round." The current little of this, little of that ain't going anywhere.
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