Well, that was disappointing ...

[Berry, Mark S]

Quick thoughts:

 

--- I think they were all too tight after the Red tributes, opening
night and everything else. I'm giving them a pass.

 

--- I liked Doc's starting lineup (although I'd switch Rondo and Telfair
... more on that in a minute).

 

--- I liked Doc's rotation, other than Tony Allen being included. And
maybe he won't be if Delonte plays anything other than his worst game as
a Celtic.

 

--- Pierce was an absolute warrior. Sure he tried to take over in the
second half; no one else was doing ANYTHING. I can't fault his game at
all. If he plays like that all season, this team will be fine.

 

--- Jefferson was the only other guy to bring it last night. He was
dealing in the post, until he missed a shot and they decided not to
throw it to him anymore (drives me nuts every time). He had a couple of
bad calls go against him and Doc left him hanging to pick up some others
(more on that in a minute).

 

--- Here's what I didn't like about Doc: It took him more than three
quarters to adjust to that high pick-and-roll with Chris Paul. They kept
trying to go over that pick, giving Paul a path to the basket and
setting up the big guy - Al or Perk - to commit an unavoidable foul
while trying to defend Paul off the dribble. I'm convinced Doc only made
the adjustment to have the PGs go under the pick when he overheard Tommy
finally say something early in the fourth quarter. That's TERRIBLE
coaching. Just awful.

 

--- My other gripe with Doc: Telfair is a scoring point guard. You put
him out there with that starting unit and he spends all his time trying
to do what he thinks a point guard should do - get other people
involved. Not only is he not very good at it, it wastes the one thing he
does pretty well - score. Have him come off the bench to give them some
offense when Pierce/Wally/Delonte aren't in the game. This is so
obvious.

 

--- OK, one other gripe about Doc: Are we the only team in the league
that doesn't practice a pick-and-roll? I thought the reason we didn't
run any last season was because Delonte allegedly couldn't do it. So we
went out and got a couple of point guards who allegedly can do it and
now we never run it. And while we're on the subject of things we don't
do ... How about not just talking about running; how about actually
doing it? Cousy was right last night in that it didn't look like they'd
been coached in the fundamentals of the running game. Simmons wrote it
in his NBA preview and I completely agree - someone like Mike D'Antoni
would win a lot of games with this team.

 

--- On the running game ... That starting lineup (switch Telfair with
Rondo) has to run. They can't get in a halfcourt game. They rebounded
well enough, but they didn't take advantage of the mismatches they had
on the offensive end and in transition. That's coaching.

 

--- Tony Allen is an abomination.

 

--- Delonte will never play a worse game in his life.

 

The emotion of the night had something to do with how they played. I
expect a much better performance Friday.

 

Mark