We are the team to beat

[dforant1]

Doc may make coach of the year but he'll need the team of the year to do it. 
Doc is in a learning process at the expense of the Celtics.

Tony Allen has to get enough playing time sitting Rondo down till he gets a 
little more fire in him. Allen energizes the team. Rondo missing layups and 
freebies game after game not to mention getting beat handily by opponents on 
defense. He needs time to digest all that is going on. Doc should cut some 
of his minutes till he improves.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ryan W" <ubiquitous_am_i at yahoo.com>
To: <celtics at igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 1:24 PM
Subject: We are the team to beat


> 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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