12.28.2007

1986 Cs HIT PANIC BUTTON

There are problems, folks, in Celtic Land. Given the level of competition in today's NBA, there is no excuse for these Celtics to play sub-.500 ball for three weeks.

Red Flags should be going up all over the place.

- Warning 1 - K.C. Jones is coaching scared. He's afraid of his second string and again there's a threat that the starters will be pooped by June. He's got to decide on a rotation and stick with it. It's not doing Sam Vincent or Rick Carlisle any good to play a single five-minute burst, then sit down for the night. And why have Bill Walton's minutes dwindled?

- Warning 2 - The Celtics don't have a legitimate backup forward (Walton is a backup center). Scott Wedman, who can't do anything except shoot, is hitting only 40 percent and looks to be just about through. David Thirdkill is a defensive specialist who doesn't get any minutes. It's here that they miss Max. Heck, they even miss Sly Williams.

- Warning 3 - Larry Bird's long-range shooting touch is, at the very least, temporarily misplaced. Bird's shooting less than 45 percent, the lowest of his career. Take away his inside game, and his percentage drops to about 33 percent. Wednesday's 8-for-27 was not his worst of the year. Maybe it's his back, maybe it's his head, but Bird's stat line is littered with 6-for-21 nights and he's got to stop taking a lot of bombs until he proves he can make them again.

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