Jesus Finally Fesses Up

After reading my email yesterday, I reckon to say that some of you didn't appreciate my comparison of Ray Allen to Antoine Walker.

Are you kidding me, some of you asked. You can't possibly be comparing one of the greatest shooters of all time to a shooter who is known for little more than bad judgment in how often he fires up three pointers.

Good point.

But at the time that I wrote the piece, Antoine Walker was shooting .414 for the year, while Ray Allen was shooting .408.

Something was clearly amiss.

Ray Allen was playing too many minutes. Ray Allen was showing his age. Ray Allen was in a slump. Ray Allen was being used too many times as the bailout guy when the shot clock was running down.

Well, the answer came yesterday and it was none of the above.

Ray Allen has been injured at least since the 12th game of the season against the Bobcats.

I don't happen to believe that statement either, since his slump started in game 6.

Regardless, Jesus is on the shelf for an indefinite period, and, best case scenario, he is the 2007-2008 Celtics version of Kevin McHale in 1985-86, which is to say I hope he doesn't miss more than 14 games.

A Ray Allen shooting .400 is still better than most players. But a Ray Allen shooting .575, like he did during the first five games of the year, makes the Celtics absolutely lethal, and we'll need the lethal Ray Allen when the snow starts to melt.