Who to step up?

[Morten Jensen]

Game 3 proved that Boston is excellent at adjusting their defense to not only limit Derrick Rose, but Ben Gordon as well. Very few teams (in fact, I struggle to find another) have been able to limit those two at the same time. They've done so with smart positioning when it comes to Derrick, and they immediately double-team Gordon while surrounding the actual double-team with their own players to increase the chance of a steal.

Who has to make themselves a weapon? Salmons is not a player you can feed the ball to and ask to 'go get it'. That's not a knock on John, but he just isn't. He's a role playing scorer who breaks out of the offense and can gather 16-18 points a night by taking a few isolations and draining open shots. His role is very similar to Shawn Marion's when he was in Phoenix.

Personally, I hope to see Tyrus Thomas step up. If Tyrus can get his jumpshot going, and attack the rim without doing so out of control, the defense will have to adjust to him as they have just three bigs to use. Tyrus can draw fouls with the best of them, which is why he can frustrating at times. He should be shooting over 8 free throws a game considering his ballhandling skills and atleticism.

In game 4, I hope he will come out in attack mode. Taking and making open jumpshots, drive the lane and create contact, knock down free throws and overall make him an offensive threat. The Celtics cannot afford to have two or three of their bigs in foul trouble.

Which leads me to another point..

The Bulls have almost never taken advantage of golden opportunities. When we see a key player have 2 fouls in the middle of the second quarter, why don't we go hard at him? The player would neither not want to foul, meaning you could get a free shot or he will foul, and you'll be matched up against his back-up for the remainder of the quarter.

Is this is coaching fault, or is it lack of attention? The great team utilize these kinds of factors, whereas we never seem to do. That should change, and now would be a good idea.

 

[dougthonus]

There is a certain amount of learning you need to do from this game and a certain amount of "throwing it away". I'm going to go in depth into my thoughts on my podcast later about it, but a lot of this game was just some poor shooting, and a lot was poor execution.

I wouldn't want the team to get too bogged down on the things they did poorly that they'd normally do well, and instead I hope they just understand that they'll improve on those things automatically and instead focus on the things they did poorly because Boston forced them to adjust and they didn't.

 

[dougthonus]

As for who needs to step up, the logical answer is Tyrus.

He needs to play aggressively on offense like he did that first play. He needs to take it strong to the hole every time he touches the ball, because the Celtics are focusing all their effort at containing our guards.

Tyrus should be able to get the ball and just take one dribble, 2 steps and go to the hoop and draw a foul or score every time. They won't be able to rotate quickly enough to him.

 

[Brad Miller Passmaster]

Morten Jensen wrote:

His role is very similar to Shawn Marion's when he was in Phoenix.



The Bulls have almost never taken advantage of golden opportunities.

Is this is coaching fault, or is it lack of attention? The great team utilize these kinds of factors, whereas we never seem to do. That should change, and now would be a good idea.

Not sure if I agree so much about the Salmons/Marion comparison. Marion could never take someone 1 on 1 like Salmons can. Fish Man still seems tentative to me and I wonder how much that groin strain is bothering him. He doesn't mind jacking up the three point shot but he was taking Pierce to the hole almost at will, especially while Pierce was in foul trouble. I just hope he does more of that and less of the desperation 3s (which he can sometimes hit) in the next game.

This team seemed absolutely lost last night. They seemed like they were nervous when they have no reason to be. The UC was rockin in the pregames and 1st quarter and we were just looking for any reason to explode. Even when the Bulls were down 20 in the 3rd and Gordon started to look like he might be heating up, the fans were ready to get loud and get behind this team again despite their truly awful play throughout the game.

I wouldn't look for Tyrus Thomas to step up next game as he was playing like stupid Tyrus tonight and his confidence seems absolutely shaken. I wish Vinny would have put him in more towards the end (but not with the scrub crew) to at least let him try to work himself out of his funk.

And Vinny, I think, is a big reason that this team is not taking advantage of your cited golden opportunities. A player should see that his guy is in foul trouble, true, but if they aren't seeing it, it is absolutely the responsibility of the coach to say 'Hey, GO AT Pierce, he means too much to this team to let himself get in further foul trouble, you'll get a better look as a result or you'll go to the line then they'll really be reeling.' The veterans (Brad Miller - looking at you) on the floor also need to make this obvious to the young guys. It just seems like we have no communication out there.

No communication + no offense + no defense + no free throws = WHOMPING

2/4 of those are easy to correct for the next game - its the least this team can do.


and, to stay on topic, I think we need Rose to step up again. He didn't display enough confidence last game. He should just attack, attack, attack. He will go to the line. He will cause the defense to adjust more, and then he can get his guys going and we'll see Gordon and Salmons step into line.

 

[AirP]

Can anyone really define this team on offense?

Well... sometimes Gordon takes over, sometimes Rose takes over, sometimes Salmons takes over.

Now I hear, Tyrus needs to step up.

Too many roosters, not enough hens. When things get tough you have multiple people wanting to end the drought and we have too many guys who seem to think their one on one offense is enough to do that, this is absolutely why selfish play happens.

The obvious answer for this team is Derrick Rose, it should all begin with him, he's the only person on the team that has the ability to be a dominate scorer and a playmaker to help create some easy baskets to help his teammates get back on track. Ben Gordon and John Salmons can score but when they do they're not involving the other players... Gordon is especially bad at this because he takes such quick shots when he's hot, his teammates are basically only playing defense and maybe a couple seconds of offense because of his quick trigger in his hot streak.

I really don't understand why the team doesn't feature D.Rose with B.Gordon looking for only open shots(not one on one moves) early in the shot clock, no one on one moves. Same goes with Salmons unless he sees an opening towards the basket. I just don't understand why it has to be such a struggle with who the offense runs through. If Gordon's hot why can't we run the offense, work to find an EASY shot, not just a good shot and if you don't get it, rotate the ball to Gordon and let him do his own thing. There's ways of utilizing Gordon better, our team just doesn't do it.

 

[Brad Miller Passmaster]

The offense on this team is no better than what you see at a decent game of pickup basketball. Pick and roll, pick and pop, one on one. Even our pick and rolls are pathetic because all the action is centered around that. There is no off ball movement going on there. This team should be working the pick and roll, but meanwhile the other 3 guys are freeing Gordon off a double screen or something (just one of a zillion different ideas to come at it with). That will make the defense work, and make the defense think. If the pick and roll produces nothing in and of itself you may be able to swing it out to a Ben Gordon who is now free to either drive or take the shot. It sounds so easy...and I think Bulls fans get it...so why doesn't it happen?

 

[Morten Jensen]

Brad Miller Passmaster wrote:

Not sure if I agree so much about the Salmons/Marion comparison. Marion could never take someone 1 on 1 like Salmons can. Fish Man still seems tentative to me and I wonder how much that groin strain is bothering him. He doesn't mind jacking up the three point shot but he was taking Pierce to the hole almost at will, especially while Pierce was in foul trouble. I just hope he does more of that and less of the desperation 3s (which he can sometimes hit) in the next game.

I wasn't comparing their playing style, but their roles. Salmons often play out of the schemes which is something Marion did as well. Not a lot of plays were drawn up for them, as they manufactored their own offense.

I agree Salmons has tried to drive on Paul, but he has been shying away from contact. He's begun to turn his drives into fade-away leaners from either side. IMO, he should try to going to the rim instead.

I wouldn't look for Tyrus Thomas to step up next game as he was playing like stupid Tyrus tonight and his confidence seems absolutely shaken. I wish Vinny would have put him in more towards the end (but not with the scrub crew) to at least let him try to work himself out of his funk.

Heh. Don't get me wrong. I don't expect Tyrus to be given this responsability. But I still would like to see him take it. It'd be out of the ordinary if Del Negro gave Tyrus a chance to really assert himself offensively early on. We haven't seen that at all, this year. Tyrus has been the guy who on occasion could put 15-18 points on the board, but mostly due to other players stepping up, thus leaving Tyrus more open.

But if Rose, Gordon and Salmons can't get going, what else can we do? We can't just rely on Kirk, Brad and Tim. We would need Tyrus to score the basketball. That's basically my point. If Rose or Gordon breaks through the Celtics defense, you bet I'd rather want them saving the day.

And Vinny, I think, is a big reason that this team is not taking advantage of your cited golden opportunities. A player should see that his guy is in foul trouble, true, but if they aren't seeing it, it is absolutely the responsibility of the coach to say 'Hey, GO AT Pierce, he means too much to this team to let himself get in further foul trouble, you'll get a better look as a result or you'll go to the line then they'll really be reeling.' The veterans (Brad Miller - looking at you) on the floor also need to make this obvious to the young guys. It just seems like we have no communication out there.

+1

This is basically what I feel. It's seems like a bunch of the little things are always missing. In game 1, Rondo had an open lay-up and after he scored, Miller immediately put the ball back into play and Rose sprinted down court for the score. That play is not even that far-fetched when you have Rose on the roster. Yet, we stopped doing it in game 2 and 3. There are so many small things where you scratch your head and wonder why they leave out certain things.

Can it be blamed on inexperience? Probably. Could we give it more time? Probably. Is it still frustrating? Oh yeah.

I'm really hoping for a much improved Del Negro next season. I think it's important he establish himself as a smart guy when it comes to the X's and O's, but also beyond. Small tricks here and there can do wonders. The Lakers are making a killing every night on their smart plays, and they do it by acting to what the game tells them;

- Opponent foul trouble
- Defense not set
- Player has bad knee
- Realize who's hot and who's cold
- Team is fatigued, etc.

We have the same information, but we rarely go after it. The team should be smelling blood when the Celtics are missing Garnett, Powe and have players in foul trouble.

No communication + no offense + no defense + no free throws = WHOMPING

2/4 of those are easy to correct for the next game - its the least this team can do.

Agreed.

and, to stay on topic, I think we need Rose to step up again. He didn't display enough confidence last game. He should just attack, attack, attack. He will go to the line. He will cause the defense to adjust more, and then he can get his guys going and we'll see Gordon and Salmons step into line.

The Celtics has played him well in the last two games, but he could definitely have done more last night, regardless. He has to understand his own speed and how to make that a weapon. On several occasions, Rose was in front of Rondo on offense and instead of taking it hard to the cup, he backed off and tried to set the offense. Sometimes you simply need to take what the defense gives. When the defense is Mikki Moore and Ray Allen, and you have Ben Gordon in the left corner for a 2-2 situation, you take that ball to the hole.

(I screamed at the screen when I saw him stepping back. Mikki friggin' Moore shouldn't scare anyone)