Monday, May 14, 2012

What Went Wrong in Game 2

Here are the +/- for the Celtics' bigs over the past two games:


Garnett  +20
Hollins  -10
Bass     -13
Stiemsma -19


versus these for the Sixers:


Brand   -4
Hawes   -7
Young   -10
Allen   +27


What these numbers say is that Garnett dominates Brand and Hawes when he is on the floor. But as soon as he comes up and Lavoy Allen gets up from the Sixers' bench, the tables are turned and Allen just shreds Hollins and Stiemsma down low. 


This is the bane of the 2012 Celtics: no quality bigs to play behind Garnett. Even calling Bass a big man is really generous; he's really a small power forward. With KG on the bench, it comes down to Hollins and Stiemsma, and they just aren't getting it done. 


The point differential is one thing, but here's another: Stiemsma and Hollins collected 1 rebound between the two of them over a combined 25 minutes of playing time. That's 1 rebound for two guys, both 7-footers, whose only responsibilities are to play defense and rebound the basketball in KG's absence. That's despicable and it's no wonder Philly is dominating the bench play. 


Other Problems:


1. That was by far the worst playoff game I've ever seen Paul Pierce play. 2-9 for 7 points with 5 turnovers was the stat line but it looked even worse than that. All 5 turnovers were hideous, a few of those shots were way off, and he just looked completely stymied for the entire game. To be fair, the defense on Iguodala was solid and included a nice block. But The Truth was nowhere to be found tonight.  


2. Brandon Bass. After being the star of the first three minutes of the game with 6 points on 3 FG, Bass proceeded to miss 9 of his next 10 shots, including several drives to the basket concluding in him losing the ball and berating the referee after the no-call. The Celtics need Bass in this series and we need him big time.


3. We are terrible with Bradley off the floor. He posted a +18 over the course of this game but that doesn't even capture the impact of his defense. Without him on the floor, Rondo, Ray, and Dooling have to work much harder and one of Turner, Holiday, and Lou ends up getting hot. Huge momentum swing with him out of the game and I really hope he is healthy. 



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