C's problem is clear as glass: Poor rebounding main issue

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

C's problem is clear as glass: Poor rebounding main issue
By Mark Murphy
Friday, November 21, 2003

Considering that the Celtics' hides had been tanned on the glass by the likes
of the Hornets and Knicks in recent games, it wasn't hard for Jim O'Brien to
come up with a theme for yesterday's late practice.

     The Celtics coach essentially threw a ball into the air and ordered
everyone in a uniform to go after it.

     ``We worked on our aggressiveness on the glass, and trying to eliminate
our problem with turnovers,'' said O'Brien, who had two statistical sore
thumbs to consider in the aftermath of Wednesday's loss to the Hornets.

     On one hand, the Celtics were outrebounded by a brutal 50-31 margin
against the Hornets, who also walked away with a 24-8 edge in offensive
rebounds.

     On the other hand, the Celtics turned the ball over 22 times.

     Little wonder their offense - especially in the heavily targeted area of
fast break points - moved at breakdown lane speed.

     It's not the first time these deficiencies - and especially the Celtics'
pallid showing on the backboards - has been so blatantly exposed this season.

     The Knicks and (further back) Ben Wallace and the Pistons tore the
Celtics apart in the same manner.

     But O'Brien has had his fill of talk about the rigors of playing against
big, physical teams - with the Knicks, except for Dikembe Mutombo, falling
more into the category of an undersized physical team.

     ``Detroit, New York and New Orleans - you can say that the strength with
all of them is in their front lines, and you know what I say? So what,''
O'Brien said. ``No team these days is crashing with more than three people, so
at the very least you should have a 5-on-3 advantage on the defensive glass.

     ``Everyone should be going for it. So I don't want to hear about that
other stuff.''

     Statistics clearly say that many Celtics aren't pulling their weight in
this manner.

     Heading into tonight's game in Philadelphia, the Celtics are 18th in the
league in offensive rebounding and 12th in defensive boards - not exactly
horrible numbers, until the team's performances against legitimately tough
teams is exposed.

     But perhaps the most frustrating part of the Celtics' recent tendency to
give up second-chance points is the fact they are third in the league in field
goal defense, with opponents shooting only 39.3 percent against them.

     Their exceptional defense considered, the C's are undermining their own
ability to get stops by not taking care of the defensive glass.

     ``You can't say that our centers or power forwards are the ones who have
to do the job, because if anything it's our perimeter guys who are not
executing what we want - which is pursuing the ball,'' O'Brien said. ``Where
are our perimeter players? They're not in position. We gave up four offensive
rebounds off free throws, and that's something we haven't done over the first
nine regular-season games and eight exhibition games combined.''

     So much for the running game, then. O'Brien nearly broke out in laughter
over the suggestion that some of his perimeter players may be releasing early
to get out on the break, thus not being in a position to rebound.

     ``What's the use of running if you don't have the ball?'' O'Brien said.
``I can't see why guys would want to leak out. We don't have the strength at
(center) and (power forward) that guys can spectate. We're not getting a
concentrated effort from everyone on the floor. We're just getting pounded on
the glass.

     ``We've spent an exorbitant amount of time working on pushing the ball.
But when you don't rebound, you won't push it. And when we get hurt on the
glass, the thing we want to concentrate on offensively is not going to show
itself.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx