Once the news broke that Paul Pierce would be out of the lineup for two weeks, people said that everyone on the team had to step up. Somewhere, somehow the team had to make up 18 ppg. Well that is much easier said than done. It is obvious with the way the Celtics have been playing in these past two games against the Clippers and the Warriors.
First off, Kevin Garnett is taking many shots out of the ordinary. One thing I have appreciated and liked about his time spent with the Celtics is his passing ability and unselfishness as he is willing to hand the ball off before taking his shot. He is still doing that, however, more often than he used to is he trying to make moves all of a sudden. I don’t mind it completely, but when it becomes a problem where he takes so many contested off balanced shots because of it, the team begins to struggle.
This was exactly what I was about to write a post on KG to praise him for last week is how about 95% of his shots he puts up are the right shot. “Right” meaning it doesn’t look like he is trying to force the issue. On countless occasions last night he got the ball looked for the pass and instead of kicking it out and setting a screen for the person he just passed the ball to, he would take the ball and try to make a move. This led to him flying uncontrollable away from the hoop and putting up many shots that never had a chance.
As much of a negative connotation that the title has, I can’t blame the Big Ticket. As he looks around the court for the starting five he sees Tony Allen who has zero impact on the offensive end unless it is on a fast break. Then he sees Ray Allen going 1-7 from three. He knows scoring has to come from somewhere, so he goes outside of his game to try and do it.
You can argue that KG is “simply struggling” and we expect so much more out of him just because of how he was shooting around 65% for about a 3 week stretch. I would agree with that, IF he was taking the same types of shots. I would hazard to say that Garnett would never shoot 65% shooting the same types of shots he has the past 2 games.
Oh well, atleast it won’t last too long and he can go back to play how he knows how to play with less pressure once The Truth comes back in a few days. I am very interested to see how the team plays even with the core of Rondo, Ray, PP, KG, Perk, Sheed, Baby, and Eddie. We can worry about Daniels in another month (but don’t forget about him).
(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)