Game 1 Halftime Update: Atrocious showing

Posted by Brian Robb on Apr 18, 2009 14931 commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F04%2F18%2Fgame-1-halftime-update-atrocious-showing%2FGame+1+Halftime+Update%3A+Atrocious+showing2009-04-18+17%3A59%3A13Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D1493

A fitting ending to a terrible Celtic first half with a putback by an unmarked Brad Miller with a second left. It wasn’t all bad for the C’s in the first 24 minutes, but it was about as close to an uninspired team effort as you are going to see out there. Let’s take a look at some ugly numbers to see why.

Celtics have shot 39 percent so far, including a paltry 7/24 from the field in the 2nd quarter. Those numbers could be a lot worse if it wasn’t for the tremendous performances by Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins in the first half that allowed to Celtics to keep pace with these Bulls with almost no help from the rest of the team.

The overall team shooting has been less of a concern for me, compared to how the Celtics offense is functioning as a team. The are not passing the ball at all. It looks like everyone is trying to step up to KG’s absence and forgetting about the other four guys on the floor as the majority of the Celtics shots have come off of plays that turned into simple isolation.

On top of that, the Celtics have been letting the Bulls’ defense off the hook when they do decide to pass, as their decisions in passing out of double teams and taking advantage of slow Chicago rotations have been delayed.

This has left the Green to be unable to take advantage of these mistakes and limited their easy baskets. To me, the Celtics offense was a bit reminicient of a lottery team with a bunch of guys that were all playing for themselves. In order to come back in this game the C’s will have to work together as a unit again to find their offensive rhythm and flow once more.

On the Chicago end they haven’t done much to surprise or scare me. We all knew Derrick Rose was good, (13 points 7 assists) and that they had athletic bigs that could run the floor in Joakim Noah (10 points 8 rebounds). The Bulls killed the Celtics in transition in the first quarter, and while it got a little bit better in the 2nd, (15 first half fast break points) the team is still not showing the fire and effort it needs to, to get back on D.

On the plus side, the Celtics halfcourt D has been solid for the most part, as they have done well to defend the pick and roll and dribble drive penetration that the Bulls killed them on in Chicago last month.

It’d be nice for Paul and Ray to show up in the 2nd half, being a combined 2/11 with 8 points. Both have found no real flow as I mentioned earlier and you know it’s bad when Ray goes for a dunk and missed it. If one of them doesn’t get it going in the 2nd half, the Celtics will lose this game

Here’s hoping Doc has a nice pep talk to fire these guys up. Like I said, there’s nothing too scary about this Bulls team as besides Rose and Noah, no one is lighting the world on fire. Here’s some keys to the 2nd half

• Stop trying to play one on one and get back to basics on offense in moving the ball,
• Go back to the well and take advantage of using Rondo on pick and roll’s against Chicago’s mediocre defense
• Transition defense