May 3, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers watches from the sideline as they take on the New York Knicks in game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

After the Boston Herald reported that the Celtics have worries that Doc Rivers may not return as coach next season, things are seemingly surfacing up that we did not know about at first.

There is seemingly an issue between Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers on the scheme that Boston should run. Take a look at this quote from the article the Boston Herald released earlier.

“Doc wants to play up-tempo,” said Ainge. “We all want to play up-tempo. But that’s a serious commitment, and you have to have the right personnel to do that and still be able to defend,” Ainge continued “Doc and I have talked about tempo a lot. Doc really wants to play up-tempo, but you have to have the right players to do it. I don’t really want to get into our personnel, but I think Doc has played the right style of basketball for our team over the last while. Our identity has been built on defense, and you cannot be a defensive team and an up-tempo team”

This quote concerns me. I know that Ainge said that he and Doc are on the same page and both want to play up-tempo. There are multiple reasons for not doing it, but if they really wanted to, wouldn’t the roster be shaped in that way?

It takes roster change to go into a season playing a different style, but if they really wanted to commit to that change I believe they would’ve by now. I don’t think that Rivers really wants to do that.

Its really the roster. I’m sure that Rivers doesn’t have a problem with coaching up-tempo ball–his Orlando teams were some of the fastest in the league. But making this transition requires a lot of moves that should’ve been made.

They have the ideal point guard for an up-tempo offense. Rondo is a willing passer and a monster at finishing in transition. He and Paul Pierce would’ve adapted to that style of play pretty well with them as a transition combination.

The problem would be the three bigs that the Celtics have. Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Jared Sullinger are more suited for halfcourt style play. Putting them in the open floor is dangerous.

My next thought is about what Ainge said when talking about not being able to be up-tempo and defend. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are both top 10 in pace and points per possession defense.

Yes, I’m aware that the best defensive teams in the league play slow offensive styles because of personnel. Still, that doesn’t mean that you have to make your roster one-dimensional. Especially not in today’s NBA where coaching is at a premium–not to mention that you’ve got one of the most innovative coaches in the league.

Apr 28, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics shooting guard Jason Terry (4) reacts after make the final basket of the game against the New York Knicks during overtime in game four of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at TD Garden. The Celtics defeated the New York Knicks 97-90. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Celtics narrowly avoided being swept by the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon. We were all ready to put the Celtics away and get on with next season, but new life was given to their offense and their season.

The Celtics scored 97 points against New York after not scoring during the rest of the series with New York. Still, down 3-1 the Celtics are going to need to pick things up if they want to have a shot at winning this series.

Jason Terry chimed in on the new life in the offense for Boston.com’s writer Howard Ulman:

‘‘We’ve got a lot of basketball in us,’’ Terry said, ‘‘but there’s always something like one quarter that holds us back. So if we can put together four quarters of great Celtics basketball, ball movement, getting out in transition, then this series is going to be a long one.’’

-Boston.com

Terry had his best showing of the playoffs in game 4. This is more like what we expected out of him come playoff time. He even promised us that he would be productive on this stage. He had 18 points on only 10 shots and shot 70 percent on the day. He played 40 minutes and was a large factor in the Celtics winning.

They were able to use him as a screener and a ball handler since he was hitting his shots unlike the first two games of the series. The two man game that he and Paul Pierce had been able to sustain at points during the regular season had finally returned for the playoffs when the Celtics needed it the most.

Terry did a little bit of everything for the Celtics yesterday. He played the point position, he played off of the ball, he had a distributing role and more importantly he scored on when called upon. He hit the biggest shot of the night on a transition three that gave the Celtics the upper hand in the game.

Hopefully the Celtics can put together four quarters of this offense like Terry suggested. They’ll have to win three straight games to advance, but if they can play like they did on Sunday–maybe even a bit better–they have a good shot at doing so.

Feb 3, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Clippers at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Today Paul Flannery of SB Nation wrote about 10 different things he took notes on from yesterday’s game against the Clippers. There were plenty of things to note, especially after the news broke that the Clippers were interested in Kevin Garnett.

There was one thing that stuck out to me like a sore thumb, though. Well, two really. There was Doc Rivers’ quote about how the Celtics blew their 19 point lead. He talked about how their offense has changed since Rajon Rondo tore his ACL. Here’s the quote.

We stopped playing. You could see it in the third quarter. It’s back-to-back games, and I told our guys that. I hate as a coach when you’re telling them that and they’re agreeing with you after the game, and we still did it. That’s back-to-back games where we were playing really good basketball. We were pressuring, we were getting up the floor, we were playing in space, our offense was early clock — and we get into the third quarter in the middle of it and all of a sudden they’re scoring in five seconds, we’re walking the ball off the floor. And I’m trying to tell them, ‘That’s not who we are. We can’t be that anymore.’ We just can’t. We can’t play that way.

-Doc Rivers

That’s a pretty interesting quote there. In talking about how they blew the lead  Doc revealed exactly how much the Celtics have changed their gameplan. He confirmed what waas already suspected. The Celtics have gone from being a team that goes from the first option if its not perfect and waits patiently for the second or third option. The late clock possession is now a thing of the past for them.

There’s a lot more movement with the ball and the C’s are taking the first look that they get. They manifest these looks from ball movement and spacing and making sure that they get back on defense. The offense is no longer a set one. Now, its rather free flowing and it focuses on defense and transition.

I wouldn’t say that the Celtics are better without Rondo. In fact, I don’t think that anyone would say that. I’d venture to say that the Celtics offense is better without Rondo because the players have to make up for the absence of Rondo. They’re creating in different ways as opposed to letting Rondo do everything for them. And that brings us into the next interesting quote that I found in Flannery’s piece. It came from Courtney Lee. Take a look.

“We’re not better without Rondo,” Courtney Lee suggested. “We’re better because we’re playing for Rondo.”

That’s exactly what was suspected before. Everyone is pitching in because of the absence of Rondo. It’s now just a matter of sustainablity–not being better without Rondo.

What we should question here is why Doc Rivers hadn’t gone to this offense before Rondo went down. This style perfectly accomodates the needs of Rondo. He’s dangerous with shooters trailing behind him in transition and can find anyone at the rim. His pinpoint passing is something that a lot of teams don’t have when they’re running the floor. It hides his inability to hit three point jump shots and gets him a path to the rim as well.

Hopefully, when Rondo returns next season Doc will go back to the system that worked for him. He needs to. Surrounding Rondo with shooters and letting him drive the ball into the paint is what needed to be done in the first place. Sure, when the game slows down you’ll know how to run things. But pick and pop jump shots aren’t what wins in this league. You’ve got to focus on drawing fouls, shooting threes, and getting lay ups. You do that by having a big that dives to the rim, getting into the paint and kicking the ball out, and swinging it against the defenses rotations.