Re: The Golden State win

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank goodness. I was beginning to think I was missing something obvious that Obie and everyone else was seeing. I'm glad I'm not the only one baffled by what's going on. 

The frustrating thing on Mihm is I don't think there's a single team in the NBA that would have that guy on the roster and yet give him a DNP-CD. Not one. He'd be in anyone's rotation. Yet the Celtics, with their stellar big man corps of Blount, Baker, McCarty and Jones (combined 15 rebounds in 95 minutes-and that's with a career night of 7 for Walter), have no room for him. He's only sixth in the league in rebounds per minute. Meanwhile, Welsch, Pierce and Davis combine for 23 rebounds and the guards get blamed for the rebounding problems. It's madness... Madness, I say!

The crazy thing is, as much of a stat freak as Obie is, you'd think he'd notice the obvious problem here. The Celts' offense is top-10 across the board. Scoring, field goal percentage, points per shot, adjusted field goal percentage, three-point percentage. Really, the transformation from last year to this has been amazing, even with the occasional relapses. And make no mistake about it - that's Ainge's doing. Great job in reshaping this team's offensive personnel. PLUS, the defense is top-10 across the board as well. Scoring, opponent's field goal percentage... Those numbers continue to be good. So why the 15-15 record? Because the Celts are among the five worst teams in the league in terms of rebounding. It's the one glaring team statistic that explains everything.

Think about all the close games they've lost. I'd love to go back and watch those games and see what three or four key defensive rebounds might have meant to the outcome. I bet we'd all be surprised at how significantly different the record might be.

I think it's one of those things with Obie where he can't see the forest for the trees. It must be. He's so close to it, and so tied to the Harter system - which is the single biggest reason this team turned things around two years ago - that he's overlooking what's obvious to everyone else. And maybe - MAYBE - I can see that with Blount. He's a solid defensive player (but TERRIBLE rebounder). But Walter? He's just as bad defensively as he is offensively and on the boards. When he enters the game, the team's collective basketball IQ drops 10 points. Even some of the shots he makes are bad shots. The Celtics at their best look like a team in synch and on the same page. Walter never gives me that impression. He's like Stephen Jackson was with the Spurs last year. And Baker? I'm to the point that I agree with Ray... Vin's best role probably is as a low-post specialist. Sort of like the Pistons used to use James Edwards. Pick his spots, find good matchups, and exploit him for post-ups and high-percentage offense. He's not a defender or rebounder. Never was, never will be. Hell, they ignore him half the time he's out there anyway, so why not have a bruiser who rebounds in there? If you're not going to go to Vin in the post, he offers nothing.

OK... now I'm ranting. It's just that Obie's complete refusal to adapt to this rebounding problem is infuriating. It's one of the most fundamental rules of basketball - you have to rebound to win. But Obie seems to have no appreciation for fundamentals. Ainge had to force an actual offense on the guy - one with passing and occasional movement without the ball. Really wild concepts. Now it seems he's going to have to force Obie to think about rebounding by trading away more of his pets.

Of course, every time I get really down on something with this team, they reel off five wins in a row. Hopefully that happens. Maybe Blount and McCarty will turn into rebounding machines and our idiot savant coach will come out smelling like a rose again.

Mark

P.S. I really should say one thing... I'm hard on Obie. He drives me nuts most of the time. I think he's a terrible in-game coach and stubborn to the point that he'll cut off his nose to spite his face. I think if everyone stepped back and looked at this team's roster, they'd marvel at what Ainge has accomplished in forcing Obie to change. BUT... I do believe Obie is good at building team chemistry and insisting on a disciplined system (most of the time). He doesn't get too high or too low, and the team follows suit. All of that is important. 

But so is rebounding.


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TAM wrote:

Offense?  How about the defense?  O'Brien can't be blind to how horribly 
Walter has played on man defense, outside of his schemes.  He looked absolutely 
foolish out there at times.

Did I say he can't be blind?  I take that back.  After his comments about 
Mihm after the Laker game, and his failure to put him in at all against Golden 
State, maybe he is blind.  Blinded by loyalty.
Baker has been almost as bad as Water on defense, yet the ultimate preacher 
of defense starts a frontcourt of Baker and McCarty?  Then we wonder why the 
Warriors shot 60% in the first half. 
It's beyond my comprehension. 
Then we see Danny Ainge once again blaming the guards for our problems on the 
boards.
Sometimes I wonder if these guys are watching the same games I am.
Once a game, it never fails, Walter will be under the boards all alone only 
to have a ball hit him in the hands and go out of bounds.  Never fails.  Of 
course, things like that never show up in the box scores.  If not for Blounts two 
offensive rebounds late in the game- which were huge,no doubt about that-he 
would have finished with 2 rebounds in 28 minutes.
Three of Bakers 4 rebounds in 18 minutes were offensive.  That means between 
them they had three defensive rebounds in 46 minutes.  We've given up 51 
offensive rebounds in the last 3 games. Yeah, the rebounding is our guards fault.  
What a bunch of bull.

I caught O'Briens post game comments the last two nights.
The first question he was asked after the Laker game was about rebounding and 
whether he thought about putting some better rebounders on the floor.  He 
answered "we aren't a good rebounding team" in one of his patented gruff, don't 
even ask me such a stupid question and don't bring it up again like responses.  
That was a couple of questions before the one about Mihm's play.
Of course, this is the same guy who railed against the teams defense a few 
weeks back only to do an about face after reviewing film of the same games 
saying the defense was pretty darn good.  Maybe he needs a few film sessions to 
figure out that Mihm deserves some playing time and McCarty isn't the answer at 
center.