Premier

First of all, let me get this out of the way...

WE'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

I posted this in response to cpawfan.

cpawfan, I disagree with your opinion that "Boston is a bad team." First of all, let me address the problem with the Boston Celtics during tonights Milwaukee Bucks game. The main problem was Dan Gadzuric. This season, him and Morris Peterson have been absolutly on fire against the Boston Celtics, although there are "stars" like Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant who struggle against the Cs.

Gadzuric was able to take advantage of our unorganized front-court defense for easy offensive rebounds and second chance points. Dan Gadzuric was able to get these opportunities because our power forward would often commit to a driving guard leaving someone like Gary Payton on Gadzuric, who would either get the offensive rebound or the easy two. Kendrick Perkins and Al Jefferson were the ones to blame for their lack of basketball knowledge on switching defenders and help defense. When Mark Blount was in the game, Gadzuric simply out-muscled him. Blount is "soft" and isn't very good defensively (or offensively, for that matter).

To solve this problem come playoff time, the Celtics will play Antoine Walker and Raef Lafrentz for much of the game until Kendrick Perkins and Al Jefferson understand when to play help defense and when not to switch. In my opinion, Kristic wouldn't be able to take advantage of Perkins and Jefferson because he's not experienced enough to see the opportunities in front of him when Jefferson and Perkins leave holes in the defense. In my opinion, Krisitc will onl excel (or "kill them") when Mark Blount, a weaker defender and player, is guarding him.

Cheers!

__________________

Premier

My response to his reply...

I agree with your premise, but just to clarify: the Boston Celtics aren't a bad defensive team. They are just playing bad defense right now, mostly because of Doc Rivers' substitution issues. They do have excellenet defenders, but they haven't really 'meshed' together. Tony Allen, Marcus Banks, and Ricky Davis are among the leagues' best perimeter "on-ball" defenders, but because of their inexperience and lack of playing together (Doc Rivers' fault), they get lost when playing help defense because they aren't very good on switching defenders.

The interior Celtics' defense also are having issues, currently. Lafrentz and Blount are "soft", Jefferson doesn't have a clue, and Perkins is confused when he tries to commit to a penetrating guard or forward, leaving the center open.

Thanks for clearing that up.

__________________

Rizzah

Our post defense is my biggest beef right now. I wouldn't even be surprised if Brendan Haywood averaged a double-double

aquaitious

Our interior D is awful. It's at a point where its funny.

Doc Rivers on defense is what Jim O'Brien is on offense, absolutely clueless.

Our perimeter players are supposed to let their man beat them off the dribble and expect help from the inside. When the help comes there's 1 man wide open, and when our other interior defender defends that guy, his guy gets open.

Doc always talks about team defense, I don't know what we're playing, but it's definitely not team D.

You can't always switch, not on every single play. Try playing some one on one defense and see what happens, if someone keeps getting scored on, then switch defenders. It's not rocket science Doc.