Ever since the Celtics traded away 2/3 of their roster for Kevin Garnett there have been concerns about 3 post-prime superstars carrying a team alone. Even as new acquisitions were made and the Celtics began crushing their opponents, the radio and papers have continued to worry about the durability of the big 3. This has been an afterthought for most Celtics fans as they have been far too busy marveling at the strange W's that now appear in the standings each day. My friend and stat guru Dave, brought these numbers to my attention.
As of today the big 3 all make the top 18 in terms of minutes played this season, with Ray Allen topping out at 5th in the NBA. Despite the hard evidence, I have been reluctant to hate on the 2007-08 Celtics in any way. After hearing KG's praise of Doc at a post-game press conference in which he called him "the coolest coach i've ever played for" I was fully ready to embrace him as a Terry Francona-esque coach, where his ability to manage big stars greatly outweighs his flaws as an in-game coach. Sure, the big 3 were eating up minutes, but I thought it was too early to panic. The season just started, so it was expected that the starters would be getting big minutes. Doc was still figuring out and becoming comfortable with his bench. The team still had a winstreak to protect. There were plenty of excuses (his track record not being one), but I still wasn't ready to poo poo on what had been a great Celtics season.
Then came the Heat game. The Celtics played poorly and I was bitter that Doc didn't go to either Big Baby or Tony Allen, when the bench was clearly struggling to score. This came at the expense of Ray Allen, who logged a season-high 45 plus minutes. That was it for me. My torrid love-affair with Doc was over. No NBA player sans Dwight Howard or Lebron James should be playing 46 minutes in November, let alone one who is 32 and has bad ankles. The worst thing was that they maintained a 6-12 point lead for almost the whole game. The game was under control and Doc still didn't put Tony Allenin. This was exactly the groin kick I needed to come to my senses and realize that Doc has been pulling this crap all season.
Ray Allen currently is 5th in the league in minutes played. KG is 14th, and Pierce is 15th. If Pierce and KG hadn't been in foul trouble for a couple games, they would be in the top 10 as well. What the balls is going on here? The Celtics have been BLOWING teams out, so why the holy heck are the Big 3 spending so much time on the floor? This should be the most well rested team in the league. 15 point fourth quarter lead against the Wizards = Lots of Scal time. Beating the Nuggets by 40 points at half time? Maybe its time to give Leon Powe a few minutes of action. Instead the team is riding their superstars and already showing signs of fatigue. They looked absolutely knackered against the Magic and it led to their first loss. KG is an intense person. He burns more calories giving dirty looks to reporters than I do from a whole week of platies. He needs a coach who can mold, channel, and most importantly pace that intensity all the way to April.
If Doc continues to stand-back and be the "coolest coach KG's ever had", your going to see Kevin prematurely blowing his playoff intensity all over the faces of crap teams like the New York Knicks in November. Let's face it. Having a cool coach is like having a cool teacher. No teachers are really cool, they are just nice people with low self-esteem that you can impose your will on and take advantage of. Doc needs to stop trying to be their friend and start being their coach. None of the players need a friend (except Scal). If they did, they would just buy one with their millions of dollars. Its time for Doc to start acting like a coach, pacing the players, and developing the bench with objective of getting them ready for the post-season.Source URL: https://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-up-with-your-horrible-time.html
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