After the Celtics' shootaround Monday morning at Moody Bible Institute, Leandro Barbosa stayed around for a few minutes, taking jumper after jumper, most of which touched nothing but net.
Barbosa began his Celtics tenure with a sizzling 6-of-8 shooting performance en route to 16 points in the season-opening loss to the Heat. But going into Monday's 101-95 victory over the Bulls, Barbosa was 4 of 16 from the field since the opener, including 0 of 6 in Saturday's win against the Bucks. Against the Bulls he shot 3 of 7 for 6 points in 15 minutes.
So Barbosa was putting in extra work, hoping to regain his stroke and earn more playing time. The reserve point guard is averaging 11 minutes as Rajon Rondo's backup.
"The shot looks fine, I'm just not used to the offensive situation," he said. "I'm not worrying about the offense, I'm just worried about the situation I'm in. It happens when you are not knocking down shots, it's part of the game."
This is exactly what it looks like now when watching Barbosa. The other night Tommy Heinsohn observed that the entire team looked tentative. Bass was passing up open shots to drive. Ditto for Garnett. WTF? But it was true. When you have loads of talent and you are struggling to win, you start to think. You start to analyze. Your mind fills up with worry and doubt. What if we lose again and what if I am to blame? You feel the weight of the expectations. While on the subject, I submit this is what happened to Darko. He went from loose and free to tight and apprehensive. That flip shot he threw up was ghastly.
30 games will take care of this problem, except for Darko. He can't get comfortable without playing. On the other hand, when Doc rolls the rock from out in front of his cave, Darko's wrist should be better. Long story short, if you were ever wondering what 30 games will cure, the answer is lots.
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Paul Pierce said after Saturday's win over Milwaukee that he's getting accustomed to a new offensive role. Instead of allowing Pierce to take defenders off the dribble, Rivers has changed Pierce's spacing on the floor, where he is coming off more screens, similar to Ray Allen.
Rivers said the change was necessary because of Pierce's advancing age.
"I just don't think Paul is as athletic as he used to be," Rivers said. "Where before it was great having the luxury of knowing that at any time you swing it to Paul, he'll beat his guy and score, now guys are doing a better job staying with him, and so we feel like we have to get a body off of him. We felt that last year but Paul didn't feel that. Now Paul feels that, and that's good. He's already good at pin-downs, coming off of them but it's still an adjustment for him and he's got to get used to it."
even pierce is adapting to a new role
"You know what? It probably made me stop thinking about my game," Bass said. "I was thinking about just going out and helping the team any way and it happened for me offensively."
OMG
TOO MUCH THINKING
JUST PLAY
On Friday, the Celtics appeared in disarray, crushed after trailing nearly the entire way of a 106-100 loss to Philadelphia. Four days later, after road wins over teams expected to make the playoffs, the Celtics have gained confidence. Both times they built leads with clutch baskets and strong defense.
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The defense seemed much better with players jumping out to cover pick and rolls.
Since the second half against the Bucks, the Celtics are shooting 51.2 percent from the field with just 12 turnovers. They committed a season-low eight Monday, one of the reasons they raced to a 21-10 lead.
"We played pretty well offensively, besides the turnovers I had, other than that we took pretty good care of the ball," said Rondo, who committed five turnovers. "We got out on the break, kept it simple offensively and except the stretch that we missed nine shots in a row [in the fourth quarter], we played pretty good."
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Offense, turnovers -- getting to know each other. 30 games.
Agreed. Stop thinking and just play!
It's starting to come together.
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