Jesus the Creator

As part of my ongoing efforts to get inside Ray Allen's head, my application of behavioralism seems to be bearing fruit.

Behaviorialism is the notion that the best way to evaluate someone is by watching their behavior, not by question and answer or by some sort of psychological theory.

All of us have been grasping at straws trying to figure out why Ray Allen is having a less than Ray-Allen type of year. Is he still injured? Is he having trouble adjusting? Is Doc not running plays for him? Are his teammates forgetting about him?

The behaviorist would answer these questions by asking their own questions:

Is Ray Allen on the court? Yes. Well, then he’s not hurt.

Are his teammates looking for him? Yes, in the first half against the Spurs, they were. Ok, then Doc is doing his job and so are Ray’s teammates.

Is Ray playing aggressively? Most definitely. He is coming off picks and driving to the hoop, getting lay-ups and creating opportunities for his teammates.

So for the first half of the Spurs-Celtics game, then, Ray Allen is being Ray Allen.

Put another way, when Ray Allen is getting his touches and driving to the hole, good things happen.