Gm 39: Chicago Bulls(22-15) vs. Boston Celtics(20-18) 1/18 7 PM EST ESPN/CSNNE

[celtics 34]

this game never should of gone to overtime dumb call by doc to fould with 12 seconds left which was probably the biggest blunder of this game if you wanted to foul do it with less time not 12 seconds also these refs were pretty terrible down the stretch and letting hamilton getting away with a bunch of calls and then not calling a foul on that inbound to pierce.

[celtics 34]

You try to foul so the other team cannot tie don't get it since the team was playing pretty good defense

[69centers]

Pierce looks so bad i'd take him out of the game...get it to Terry AGAIN!

Something doesn't seem right with Pierce. He's front rimming a lot of shots the past 2 games, and Doc hasn't gone to him until 5:30 left in the game for two straight games now.

still can't understand why the hinrich foul when up by 3 in regulation... smh...

this game never should of gone to overtime dumb call by doc to fould with 12 seconds left which was probably the biggest blunder of this game if you wanted to foul do it with less time not 12 seconds also these refs were pretty terrible down the stretch and letting hamilton getting away with a bunch of calls and then not calling a foul on that inbound to pierce.

Very dumb to foul that early.

You try to foul so the other team cannot tie don't get it since the team was playing pretty good defense

Not when there was that much time left in the game.

We still were an inbounds away from winning and Pierce couldn't hold on. What the heck is up with him lately?

[unwantedplayer]

time to lower pierce's minutes maybe?

[celtics 34]

Really hope he's injured instead of just playing like **** because he's getting old

[69centers]

I thought maybe the knee again, but he doesn't have either one taped. I don't know what's up. I do know that he looked frustrated with Doc at calling a timeout to set up a play in OT instead of letting them try to run the floor to see if it could lead to anything. He's also been very vocal in the locker room. Maybe he's getting to the old and pissy years and he's nearly had enough. I don't know what to make of it.

[Opalmerr]

Hate losing.

Loathe losing to the Bulls.

This team is okay.

Battle of the boards was even with the C's actually getting more offensive boards than the Bulls did.
C's had 10 steals to the Bulls 4
C's forced 21 turnovers while only turning it over 11 times themselves.
Boston blocked 3 shots, the Bulls blocked 1
Celtics actually generated more fg attempts +16 and made more fgs +2 than the Bulls.

So why did they lose?

Two things really stood out to this old coach....

1) Poor offense highlighted by lack of off the ball player movement resulting in the C's not sharing the ball. Only had 15 assists on 38 made baskets. Rondo had 7 of those assists.

2) Poor basketball IQ. Time and time again this team made bonehead plays and as often as not it was a veteran player guilty of this. I have read the complaints about fouling Hinrich but it was absolutely the right play. The wrong play was Pierce getting tied up and losing possession of the ball after with 9.4 seconds left when they had a timeout left. A bigger gaffe was Terry taking the shot with 12.5 seconds left in OT. Yeah, he made it but it's your home court and you want to control your destiny on your own court. Even though he made that shot, it allowed the Bulls to control their destiny... on the road. And it wasn't just those two instances. Those are just two examples.

But what we take from this game is, the team is okay.

[69centers]

So why did they lose?

Two things really stood out to this old coach....

1) Poor offense highlighted by lack of off the ball player movement resulting in the C's not sharing the ball. Only had 15 assists on 38 made baskets. Rondo had 7 of those assists.

2) Poor basketball IQ. Time and time again this team made bonehead plays and as often as not it was a veteran player guilty of this. I have read the complaints about fouling Hinrich but it was absolutely the right play. The wrong play was Pierce getting tied up and losing possession of the ball after with 9.4 seconds left when they had a timeout left. A bigger gaffe was Terry taking the shot with 12.5 seconds left in OT. Yeah, he made it but it's your home court and you want to control your destiny on your own court. Even though he made that shot, it allowed the Bulls to control their destiny... on the road. And it wasn't just those two instances. Those are just two examples.

But what we take from this game is, the team is okay.

I think it would have been better to play defense against Hinrich driving at 12 seconds left to go than to foul him. Too much time left. Under 10, that's completely the right play, but they left too much time on the clock. Then, we wouldn't have had to worry about what Pierce was doing with 9 seconds left, because there only should have been 3 or less left at that time.

Terry had the shot and should have taken that. We were losing by 1 point. You have to take the shots, regardless of where you are on the game clock. You're up a point or tied, you can chance running the clock down. If he misses, we had time for a rebound. Someone shoots it at the buzzer, we're one and done with that only shot.

[Opalmerr]

I think it would have been better to play defense against Hinrich driving at 12 seconds left to go than to foul him. Too much time left. Under 10, that's completely the right play, but they left too much time on the clock. Then, we wouldn't have had to worry about what Pierce was doing with 9 seconds left, because there only should have been 3 or less left at that time.

Terry had the shot and should have taken that. We were losing by 1 point. You have to take the shots, regardless of where you are on the game clock. You're up a point or tied, you can chance running the clock down. If he misses, we had time for a rebound. Someone shoots it at the buzzer, we're one and done with that only shot.

We will disagree on both counts. You have hindsight on your side.

[Opalmerr]

Pierce is an enigma right now. Looking at him from an analytical perpsective the signals are all mixed / jumbled.

Still elevates well when rebounding, on his turnaround and if uncontested going to the basket.

Looks ploddingly slow trying to create his own shot. He's shootng a quasi set shot from the arc, doesn't elevate at all on his step back and struggles to elevate going to the hoop in traffic.

Of more concern is his decision-making skills seem to be eroding as well. He's been making horrible gaffes on defense, not passing the ball to open teammates.

Injury? I don't know. His shot never had a lot of arc on it but it's so flat now it sometimes doesn't make it over the rim. That could be a sign of a bad back? We know he has always been a warrior, plays hurt and doesn't want to miss time. If it is an injury, back or otherwise, it's to the point that he needs to take time off and get healthy.

I fear this is not injury related though. He's actually reminding me of how Bird's game faded away his last couple of years. Maybe that's why a bad back came to mind?

[rufo4100]

He is certainly in a shooting slump and looks "tired" but i would not say an "enigma". I think he has settled for the 3 pointer too much the last few games. I also think it might be smart to give him a game off to rest.

I have said this for a while now but a move to the bench might be a good move. It would be a bold move from Doc Rivers who is just now finally getting chemistry but I think moving Pierce to the bench might help the 2nd unit scoring. I would put Green in the starting 5 to replace Pierce. Maybe give Pierce 1 more game to snap out of it 1st but this would be a good time for Doc to justify the move to the bench for Pierce.

[69centers]

He hasn't brought Pierce into the game until really late in the 4th the past 2 games. He might as well start Jeff Green and let Pierce finish games. It could wake Jeff up even more.

[Sportfan]

Relax about Pierce...very few players can consistently shoot near 50% a night. Some nights he'll be on, some nights he'll be off. It happens.