Sunday, May 4, 2008

Rundown of Celtic Flaws

I had the Celtics blowing out the Hawks today, but I think they're issues have already been revealed, and good coaches will eventually exploit their major weaknesses. If there was anything about them I was most surprised about, it was their failures on the road, especially in front of an Atlanta crowd that didn't seem that overwhelming. I want to run down their main issues:
1. Lack of Playoff Experience/Chemistry
What the Spurs and the early-90s Lakers teams have shown us is chemistry come playoff time is paramount to playoff success. Sometimes great teams can overcome chemistry issues, but the Celtics appear to not be one of those teams. We saw very similar problems with the Suns in their 1st Round series; they botched multiple huge, late-game plays, and one of the reasons had to be they had trouble playing with new teammates. It is rare for teams to make a leap from the lottery to instance playoff success, and the teams that do usually have a point guard or key player to hold the team together (think Steve Nash and Chris Paul). There have also been countless examples of teams failing when doing what the Celtics did (think the Lakers after adding Gary Payton and Karl Malone).
2. Lack of a Clear Cut Rotation
I don't know if Danny Ainge or Doc Rivers deserves more of the blame here, but the Celtics continued adding veteran players throughout the season to a point where they are now experiencing diminishing returns. The more veterans you have, the more playing time is expected, the more the coach feels obligated to find them minutes, and the more the coach ignores the younger players on the bench. This does not sound like a formula for success. The entire year the Celtics relied on key contributions from guys like Big Baby and Eddie House; now, Sam Cassell is playing huge minutes. There is something to be said for experience; but there is also something to be said about how the Celtics actually got to where they are.
3. The "Big Shot Allergy" Afflicting KG
No need to discuss. Just a mesmorizing flaw of one of the best players of all time.
4. Doc Rivers
I was not alone in being very impressed with Doc Rivers' regular season. He did alot of things right, but his most important qualities were taking a step back and letting his team grow on the court. He rarely overcoached which really helped guys like Rondo and Perkins develop confidence. But in Game 6, Rivers made an inexplicable and possibly unfixable move: after Rondo missed a tough layup (in which he tried taking the ball to the rim for the first time in about 6 Celtics possessions), Rivers yanked Rondo. This would not have happened during the regular season; but Rivers is becoming a little too impatient and reluctant to let his youngsters rebound from mistakes when he can substitute in a veteran. This is an offshoot of Ainge's veteran-signing spree - the oversight I discussed on the part of Steve Kerr and Donn Nelson has plagued Ainge too; he has a history of struggling to control rotations and right now, for a coach with those problems, his bench is a nightmare. But Rivers also has to believe more in his players and give them a chance to develop that thick shell characteristic of any big-time player.

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