The Celtics still suck on the road (and apparently so does every other NBA team except for the Pistons). The team with the best road record all season is now 0-5 in these playoffs. Sure, they’ve held serve in the Gahhden (6-0), but their Jekyll and Hyde personality is eventually going to derail this team from their quest for a 17th championship banner for the Boston franchise.
The problem with the Celtics’ inability to win on the road starts with their defensive breakdowns and ends with their offensive inefficiencies at the end of games. And the real donwer is that Celtics actually played pretty effective defense last night until the fourth quarter but by then they appeared to spent doing so to be able to knock down any shots.
More than tactical and or physical issues though, the real problem is that this road malaise will eventually become a huge psychological gorilla that will be hard to overcome. Most championship teams are tough mentally. This team doesn’t appear to be.
Paul Pierce said: "We're definitely not discouraged with the loss, especially on the road. Hopefully, we can play better at home and break this road streak so everyone can stop talking about it."
See what I mean, the doubt isn’t creeping in, it’s firmly established itself already.
A win last night (in what was a very winnable game) would have worked wonders for everyone’s mental attitude (the players, the fans, and perhaps most importantly head coach Doc Rivers) because it would have eliminated all of the burgeoning talk about the inability to win on the road and it would have put the Celtics within a home game of closing out this series. For a team whose stars are all over 30, some rest before the next round would have been huge.
Instead, Cleveland definitely has the upper hand now because they are in a better position to get that one elusive road win that they need to win this series. LeBron said that “a series doesn’t really start until a team wins a game on the road.” Despite the fact that LeBron is struggling with his shot, the series is tied at 2, and if that last minute dunk over KG showed, James could be shaking whatever doubts he’s had in this series. He could explode like he did last year at Detroit. This could just be the liftoff that James needs to really get going in this series. And when he does, Boston does not appear to have an answer. If LeBron gets the 3 d's going (driving, dishing, and dunking), Boston better watch out. With a reenergized James and a host of shooters that can make open 3's, Cleveland could conceivably pull of 2 more straight wins.
Worse yet for Boston, it appears that LeBron is winning the mano a mano with Paul Pierce. Just as Pierce has done a good job defensively on LeBron, the converse is equally as true. And while LeBron has struggled with this outside shot, he is still getting plenty of points and assists in other ways that Pierce is not. Pierce has struggled offensively because he is expending so much energy on defense. Pierce scored half the Celtics points in the 4th quarter and seemed to be the only guy who was actually looking to drive to the basket aggressively but his offensive production in this series is a paltry 12.5 ppg, well below his season average of 19. For Boston that’s a problem because The Truth is the only real go-to guy the Celtics have on offense. but KG’s and Allen’s disappearance offensively in the fourth quarter drove that point home again last night.
There are also troubling signs that Rivers is really losing his grip. He is being outmaneuvered by the Cavalier’s Mike Brown in the day to day adjustments needed in multi-game playoff series. He and his players also seem to differ on why the Celtics aren’t playing well.
Coach Doc Rivers said his team needed to play better "under stress" during the final stretch of games. Pierce and Garnett begged to differ.
"I wouldn't say we're lacking poise," Garnett said. "In a situation like ours, we are trying to do everything that Doc wants us to do. He makes all the calls. He gives us direction. For the most part, we pretty much try to do what he wants."
Said Pierce, "I don't know what he means. I'm stressed every game. Stressed to get a win."
Boston will be favored at home in Game 5 but I think the line must be shrinking rapidly. If Cleveland does win in Boston, the Celtics will be facing a must win on the road at Cleveland Friday, which is probably too tough of a mental hurdle to overcome.
Doc stated before Game 7 in Atlanta that he doesn’t remember any big game pre-game speeches. He better try to gleam some talking points from Pacino’s impassionate oratory from “Any Given Sunday” or the Celtics will be history.
The problem with the Celtics’ inability to win on the road starts with their defensive breakdowns and ends with their offensive inefficiencies at the end of games. And the real donwer is that Celtics actually played pretty effective defense last night until the fourth quarter but by then they appeared to spent doing so to be able to knock down any shots.
More than tactical and or physical issues though, the real problem is that this road malaise will eventually become a huge psychological gorilla that will be hard to overcome. Most championship teams are tough mentally. This team doesn’t appear to be.
Paul Pierce said: "We're definitely not discouraged with the loss, especially on the road. Hopefully, we can play better at home and break this road streak so everyone can stop talking about it."
See what I mean, the doubt isn’t creeping in, it’s firmly established itself already.
A win last night (in what was a very winnable game) would have worked wonders for everyone’s mental attitude (the players, the fans, and perhaps most importantly head coach Doc Rivers) because it would have eliminated all of the burgeoning talk about the inability to win on the road and it would have put the Celtics within a home game of closing out this series. For a team whose stars are all over 30, some rest before the next round would have been huge.
Instead, Cleveland definitely has the upper hand now because they are in a better position to get that one elusive road win that they need to win this series. LeBron said that “a series doesn’t really start until a team wins a game on the road.” Despite the fact that LeBron is struggling with his shot, the series is tied at 2, and if that last minute dunk over KG showed, James could be shaking whatever doubts he’s had in this series. He could explode like he did last year at Detroit. This could just be the liftoff that James needs to really get going in this series. And when he does, Boston does not appear to have an answer. If LeBron gets the 3 d's going (driving, dishing, and dunking), Boston better watch out. With a reenergized James and a host of shooters that can make open 3's, Cleveland could conceivably pull of 2 more straight wins.
Worse yet for Boston, it appears that LeBron is winning the mano a mano with Paul Pierce. Just as Pierce has done a good job defensively on LeBron, the converse is equally as true. And while LeBron has struggled with this outside shot, he is still getting plenty of points and assists in other ways that Pierce is not. Pierce has struggled offensively because he is expending so much energy on defense. Pierce scored half the Celtics points in the 4th quarter and seemed to be the only guy who was actually looking to drive to the basket aggressively but his offensive production in this series is a paltry 12.5 ppg, well below his season average of 19. For Boston that’s a problem because The Truth is the only real go-to guy the Celtics have on offense. but KG’s and Allen’s disappearance offensively in the fourth quarter drove that point home again last night.
There are also troubling signs that Rivers is really losing his grip. He is being outmaneuvered by the Cavalier’s Mike Brown in the day to day adjustments needed in multi-game playoff series. He and his players also seem to differ on why the Celtics aren’t playing well.
Coach Doc Rivers said his team needed to play better "under stress" during the final stretch of games. Pierce and Garnett begged to differ.
"I wouldn't say we're lacking poise," Garnett said. "In a situation like ours, we are trying to do everything that Doc wants us to do. He makes all the calls. He gives us direction. For the most part, we pretty much try to do what he wants."
Said Pierce, "I don't know what he means. I'm stressed every game. Stressed to get a win."
Boston will be favored at home in Game 5 but I think the line must be shrinking rapidly. If Cleveland does win in Boston, the Celtics will be facing a must win on the road at Cleveland Friday, which is probably too tough of a mental hurdle to overcome.
Doc stated before Game 7 in Atlanta that he doesn’t remember any big game pre-game speeches. He better try to gleam some talking points from Pacino’s impassionate oratory from “Any Given Sunday” or the Celtics will be history.
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