MVN - Most Valuable Network

Should Doc Shake-up the Line-up?

Doc hasn’t fiddled with the starting line-up all season.  If a healthy Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins have been available, they have always started. 

But if you haven’t noticed in this Cavs series, it’s been a bit bumpy out of the gate, especially in Games 2 and 3.  Additionally, the end of games haven’t been too productive either, where the Cavs have won the 4th quarter scoring battle in the last 3 games with some atrocious +/- numbers for some of the Celtics starters. 

That spells the need for Doc to make some changes that could include:

1. a change in the rotation,
2. shaking-up the starting line-up,
3. installing some offensive schemes to jump start production,
4. designating a go-to guy in the 4th running the offense through him

The Celtics’ dominance this year included typical wire-to-wire leads with the Celtics outscoring their opponents each quarter.  In fact, building on leads throughout the game was a signature of this team.  The fact that the team played every possession required an undeniable fire in the belly.  That team spirit, call it ubuntu, helped them achieve their league best 66 wins.

However, the 5 consecutive road losses in these playoffs have changed everyone’s impression of whether the Celtics are worthy of the championship this year.  They are looking mighty fine at home, but Rick Kamala at nba.com noted that

In the history of NBA basketball, only three teams have won the championship with one road win, and that hasn’t happened since 1964. Do the math, that’s 44 years ago, and coincidentally enough, it was the Celtics who pulled it off. [If you’re ever on “Jeopardy” and this question arises, here are those one-road wonders: 1954 Syracuse Nationals, 1955 Philadelphia Warriors, and 1964 Boston Celtics.]

In Road Woes Leave Celtics at a Loss, Marc Spears of the Globe takes a stab at what gives with this curious road situation. When interviewed by Spears, none of the players had an answer. Not Garnett, not Posey, not Allen.

But what was fun, is that two sports psychologists, Harvey N. Dulberg and Alan Goldberg, were asked for potential reasons for the poor road performance.  But in my opinion, they came up empty handed as well.

So short of doing our own therapy session on the Celtics, how about a simple suggestion of Doc switching things up as a band-aid to cure the dysfunctionality witnessed on the road? It shouldn’t be necessary tonight of course, because the Celtics are playing at home, but if Greg Popovitch can decide to start Ginobili on the road against the Hornets (without success by the way as the Hornets won Game 5), why can’t Doc do a bold move as well?

Steven Alexander’s of rotoworld.com in Rivers Needs To Right C’s Ship, pointed to changes needing to be made by Doc.

[Regarding Game 4] Doc Rivers had just one player with a “plus” for the night Kendrick Perkins, and he sat out the entire fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Cavs Mike Brown went with the five guys with the best plus-minuses over the first three quarters and played them the entire fourth quarter. The rumblings have been floating around the internet that Doc could blow it for the Celtics in the playoffs, and his team’s performance in Atlanta and Cleveland don’t seem to be quieting his critics. The Celtics will probably win this series, but you never know. Doc would not hurt himself by adapting on the fly and getting Allen on the bench if he’s not going to hit shots or play defense.

Other rumblings may be heard on Celtics Stuff Live’s Cavs Post-Game IV where Jughead wants more Rondo in the 4th quarter, and sees Posey starting may keep Allen and/or Pierce fresher at the end of the game.  These are good suggestions that Doc can do no harm in trying.

If the Celtics win tonight - many of these concerns may become more academic, but these LeBrons are dangerous indeed, and some infusion of something to get this team to play like it did during the Celtics’ Texas Triangle feat is going to be necessary to carry this Celtics team to a championship this year.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 6:54 am and is filed under Celtics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.