We are the team to beat

[Ryan W]

Pierce said it right to those whiny-ass Pistons fans
on Saturday night.  We are the team to beat.  All the
pundits who said we couldn't beat Detroit have been
pretty quiet so far.  There's some deep-seated
anti-Celtic bias around the country, and I don't know
how many times I saw it repeated that we couldn't beat
Detroit.  They win one championship during an off-year
for the NBA and are the reincarnation of the Buffalo
Bills for every other season and that makes them the
team to beat this season?  Of their two best players,
one lets a rookie and questionable calls (actually
good calls in my opinion) rattle him during a game on
his home court, while the other bitches about our
celebration being like the Super Bowl.  Anything to
divert attention from the fact you couldn't make a
shot--not even a free throw--down the stretch,
Chauncey.  And if you want to see a meaningless
celebration, Chauncey, visit this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bbQUGogxus

And let me add this: we're not even playing our best
basketball yet.  Here's what we can do to get even
better:

1. Start Tony Allen: Tony's on the upswing; his
confidence is up; he's smiling, he's making big
steals, and I think the team is more cohesive
defensively when he's on the floor.  And, to boot, he
plays better when he starts.  Ray's been struggling
and I think his struggles boil down to not getting
into any rhythm throughout the game.  I'd bring Ray
off the bench for Pierce at the end of the first
quarter and run the offense through him for a while,
getting him shots off picks and letting him pick and
roll with KG or Big Baby.  The crunch time lineup
would stay the same for the most part, but let Ray
establish his rhythm between the 1st and 2nd quarter
coming off the bench.  Then we get the most out of Ray
and Tony Allen.  The offense and defense should
improve with this lineup tweak.

2.  We need to continue to trust Rondo with the ball. 
Our offense is at it's absolute best when Rondo has
the ball in his hands and breaks down his man,
penetrates to the basket, and then either scores or
dishes.  We need to work towards this ideal for the
rest of the season.  Doc needs to continue to get in
Rondo's ear.  Rondo needs to continue to learn when
it's time to take a game over.  And the rest of the
team needs to let this happen.  So far, so good.

Also, I think it's time to recognize the brilliance
(and I don't use that word lightly) with which Doc has
handled this team.  He's the perfect molder of
personalities and we're lucky to have him.  And even
luckier that Danny Ainge had the foresight to hang on
to him after such a terrible season.  Doc will still
make substitution mistakes (Big Baby and Tony Allen
didn't play last time against Detroit--this time they
both made huge contributions to the win), but with the
way the team has connected to him on an emotional
level, I don't think it's going to mean much on the
W/L level.  Plus, Doc has really got the rotation
working right now (other than the above suggestion
about starting Tony); he's relegated Scal to 12th man,
and kept the minutes for the starters at a reasonable
rate while still maintaining the best record in the
league.  He's my Coach of the Year so far.

Ryan


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