I was watching a couple of classic Celtics games today and something caught my attention and stood out to me. I watched as the Celtics ran up the floor on offense and Parish and McHale ran up the floor and set up position under the basket. This is what bigs are supposed to do.
In the clip above, you can see McHale and Parish on offense run down the court and set up under the basket. By doing that, they are ready for the offensive rebound if a quick shot presents itself and they are ready for the ball to come inside to score in the post. This is what bigs are supposed to do and this is how a running game is effective.
Then, I watched parts of a couple of games I have on tape from last season and the season before and every time up the floor, Perk and Raef would stop at the top of the arc and wait for the ball to be passed around before going toward the basket.
This is my biggest pet peeve with Doc. He has his center stop at the top of the arc when the team comes down the floor on offense. This is why he loves Scal and why he loved Raef and Blount. Because these centers love to wander around the arc and they are outside shooters, rather than playing inside under the basket. Perk loves to bang inside and play under the basket. Yet, Doc has had him come down and stop at the top of the arc and wait for the offense to set up. I just can't picture KG stopping at the top of the arc and waiting for a pass.
My hope is that Doc will make a change in his offense this season and let the bigs set up under the basket instead of holding up out on the arc. I think we could have a 1-2 punch in the post with Perk and KG just as we did with McHale and Parish. If we want to run, we need to get our bigs into the post as quickly as possible to be ready for a pass inside or for an offensive rebound if we get open for a quick shot. Too many times, we got an open shot but Perk wasn't in position for the rebound because he was still out on the perimeter in Doc's system.
I really hope that with a veteran team and a couple of tough inside players like Perk and KG, Doc will abandon the old system. I would love to see the bigs set up quickly in the paint just as they did in the old days. And hopefully we will win again like we did in the old days. That sure would be nice. [Discuss this topic on the Celtics Green Forums!]
Post a Comment
This blog does not allow anonymous comments.