A disturbing trend, we're losing the last 3 minutes

[nickagneta]

I noticed a trend happening that I'm not really happy with because I see it as maybe one of the main reasons we are losing in these playoffs. The trend is as the last three minutes or so come up at the end of quarters we are constantly losing those three minutes and killing any type of momentum we have had so that it carries over to the next quarter or half.

Just about every loss going all the way back to the Atlanta series has this trend. Sometimes we are only losing by 2 points others like 1st quarter game 4 Atlanta we are losing by 12.

Examples:

Game 2 Detroit         2 Q at 3:06: Detroit 38-35     at half: Detroit 50-43
                                     3 Q at 3:09: Detroit 66-64     at 4 Q : Detroit 78-69
                                     4 Q at 3:04: Detroit 92-90     at end : Detroit 103-97

Game 6 Cleveland   2 Q at 3:20: Boston 33-30      at half: Cleveland 42-33
                                     3 Q at 3:31: Cleveland 51-48  at 4 Q : Cleveland 59-50

Game 4 Cleveland   1 Q at 2:25: Boston 19-16     at 2 Q : Cleveland 23-21
                                     3 Q at 3:59: Boston 63-61     at 4 Q : Cleveland 68-65
                                     4 Q at 3:31: Cleveland 76-73 at end : Cleveland 88-77

Game 3 Cleveland   1 Q at 3:42: Cleveland 18-8   at 2 Q : Cleveland 32-13
                                     2 Q at 2:38: Cleveland 48-33  at half: Cleveland 52-35
                                     3 Q at 3:16: Cleveland 71-59  at 4 Q : Cleveland 79-63


Now maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion but when I coached and was coached as a youngster, this is something that was always stressed. Finish and win the last three minutes and you can kill a team's spirit.

In a lot of these games the Celtics ended up storming back to start the quarter only to lose momentum and give the points back.

I am a Doc supporter, everyone knows that, but this needs to be on the coach to see and fix. And he's not. Probably because his substitution patterns may be one of the reasons why.

His tendency to not substitute any of the starters until almost no time left in quarters and then subbing in 3 sometimes 4 players is killing us in our losses. The starters look tired by the quarter's end and the subs just don't have the offensive firepower.

This is very common at the end of 1st and 3rd quarters, but why it is also happening to the starters at the end on the 2nd quarter and sometimes end of game does mystify me a bit.

Now I don't know if the substituion tendencies is the only reasons. Perhaps it's the crowd atmosphere on the road that gets the tired opponent players pumped, giving them more energy. It would explain why I haven't, until last night, noticed it at home.

But something needs to be done. If at the end of quarters we are giving away a whole game aggregate total of 12 to 20 points in those game, there is very little chance we are going to win those games.

Something needs to change. Whether it's the players effort or the coach's tendencies, something has to happen. You can not win championships this way.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I really don't know the reason for it, but it has been a problem all year. You guys see now why our big guys played big minutes in the season, especially at the end of games even if there was a blow out.  This is what they were trying to be prepared for, but it hasn't worked that much.

[Roy Hobbs]

Nice observations, Nick.  I've noticed that being a problem, as well, but your post really encapsulated that.

Absolutely agree on the substitution patterns. 

[MetroGlobe]

While there may be something related to the substitutions, it has to be noted that almost every coach in the league rests his starters "around the quarters".  And Doc actually bucks that going into half time, because the starters almost always finish the 1st half together after resting 4-5 minutes to start the second quarter. 

So while it may be Doc's lineups, I think it's the execution of the offense.  If you notice when we get near the end of the quarters, everything bogs down and we stop running plays.  We're always fighting the shot clock it seems.  You'll see someone grab a rebound and hand off to Rondo or Pierce in the backcourt.  They slowly walk it over the time line and KG starts jockeying for position.  But by that point the shot clock is down to 12 seconds, and if the defense traps, we never get him the ball and Paul is left to hoist a bad shot with no time left.

Instead of defensively rebounding and advancing the ball with outlet passes, they're sort of gathering themselves calmly and handing the ball off to bring it up.  I guess they're thinking they should take their time and work hard for a good shot.  But it's not working that way because the defense they're facing at those points of the game is very frantic and aggressive.  Traps and overplays on every pass and pick & roll.  Isolating Pierce or KG at the three point line just isn't working because the opponent is causing turnovers and pushing the pace off of our bad shot selection.