Celtics Title Town

Well it sure sucked to see Ray Allen shine tonight, while kicking our butts, but otherwise, this was really not a bad start for the Celtics.  What we saw in this game was what we saw in the preseason;  that this is a team that has a lot of work to do.  This is a team that is nowhere near finding itself, establishing its identity, finding a flow.  Meanwhile, the Heat played well, like a machine.

The biggest disappointment, of course, was our defense.   The Heat seemed to score at will, almost.  For sure, whenever they got serious about it, they seemed to pretty much score at will.   I was surprised that Rondo didn't  pressure Chalmers more.  It seems to me that our defense needs our guards to pressure their guards, especially when we are playing Miami.  You have to make it a little harder for them to get into their offense.  It didn't help that the refs seem to make a point of taking KG and Lee out of the game in the early going.  But I really think we need more intensity from Rondo on the offensive end.

Another thing that doesn't help, of course, is our continuing horrible luck with centers.  With Wilcox and Darko both out, Sully and Bass ended up picking up the slack when Garnett sat.  

Another frustrating thing was that we didn't pound the ball at the Heat down low with KG.   Another frustrating thing was that the Heat constantly double-teamed Rondo on the perimeter, but we didn't really make them pay for it.  This should have led to easy buckets.  I think the fact that the Heat were playing Rondo this way is an incredible compliment.  Double-teaming on the perimeter.  They weren't just trapping him, though they did that too.  It was like trapping that was so persistent that it really was double-teaming.  This tells us again what we should already know;  Rondo is the key to the Celtics.   The Heat have shown over and over again that they know which Celtic can beat them.  I think they hit Rondo with a pretty drastic tactic tonight.  Next time the Cs need to figure out ways to take advantage.

Another frustrating thing was our bench.  Terry was up and down.  Green struggled to assert himself.  Sully struggled.  He had a nice move in the paint and beat his man, but got blocked by TWO Miami players.  But where were his teammates cutting and giving him passing options?

We really seemed to be very unsure of ourselves tonight.  Miami really seemed to be clicking.  I'd say indications are that we are going to become an amazing team as the season goes along.