We got 9 points from the three "players" at that position tonight. Courtney Lee had 5, Jordan Crawford (Who was brought in because he was a "scorer") had 4 and Jason Terry (brought in to replace Ray Allen's scoring) had 0.
Our best shooting guard, also sometimes known as a "scoring guard" has averaged 10.3 points a game this year. Jason Terry has by any measure been a failure. Do not give me this nonsense about fitting in or not having the right system. This is a guy who has scored everywhere he has played. This is his lowest scoring average since his rookie year. The sad truth is we gambled on an old player and lost. Terry just got old. It happens.
You are talking about the point totals of one game.
Between them our three guards (Terry, Lee and Jordan) are averaging 25.3 PPG, which is approximately 1/3 of the teams total points scored.
When you consider that our two best scorers (KG and Pierce) average almost 35 PPG between them, 25 PPG from our guards is pretty reasonable considering we don't have any stars at that position.
As for Terry, how can you say he has been a failure? When was the last time Boston (in the big 3 era) had two bench players both averaging double figure scoring?
Terry is averaging 27 MPG for us this season - he has averaged 30+ minutes per game ever other season in the league since his rookie and Sophomore seasons.
Last year in Dallas Terry averaged 17.0 points per 36 minutes, but he was the second scoring option on that Dallas team and the first scoring option off the bench. This season he's averaging 13.5 per 36 minutes, but he is the forth scoring option (after Pierce, KG, Green) and the secondary scorer off the bench (behind green). When you factor in his reduced role, his slight drop of 3.5 points per 36 minutes is not only understandable, but expected.
If you look at his percentages, they are right up there with what he has averaged throughout his career.
Stat | This season | Career |
-----|-------------|--------|
FG% | 44.3% | 44.8% |
3PT% | 38.1% | 38.0% |
FT% | 86.1% | 84.7% |
Look at his rebounding, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers - all of the are pretty much dead on what he averaged last season on a per minute basis.
Everyone is pointing the blame at Terry, but he has been solid this year and is giving us everything we expected from him.
You can't expect him to average 15 PPG for us the way he did in Dallas when he's playing 4-5 minutes less per game, and is two men further down in the scoring depth chart. That's just silly.
The best teams in this league score. That is the way the game is right now. Our defense is not going to crater, the culture is far too ingrained at this point under Doc. We just need someone to give us what Terry was supposed to give us, real scoring punch off the bench. I do not blame him. Plenty of players go from excellent to mediocre or worse during an offseason as they age. We were just unlucky with Terry. We need to move on with a younger player, not a old re-tread.
Correction - the best teams in this league outscore their opponents. Whether they do this by scoring a lot, or by allowing very little, makes no difference.
This team is a team that has gone for quantity over quality - DA took the approach of getting us a very deep team of solid players rather than a team with a few very good players and no depth.
This is by design, and if you look at our injury situations this season you could say it's paid off. We lost two key starters (Rondo and Sully) along with a significant backup (Barbosa) and we are about 3 games out from the 4th seed in the East. We've achieved this because of the depth that was built in to this team, and that depth has allowed us to whether the storm and keep fighing. We might not have the pure star power to dominate other teams on a nightly basis, but we have enough quality depth to compete on any night.
Right now we have Terry, Jordan and Green averaging 29 PPG off the bench between them. That is more scoring depth then a Celtics team has ever had in the big three era. Today our gus struggled with their shots - Green missed layups he always makes, Bradley missed jumpers he usually makes, Terry missed shots he almost always makes. We had a bad shooting night, it happens.
It was also some of the most one-side officiating I've seen this season and while that isn't an excuse, it doesn't help when you are struggling with your shot.
We also got beaten on the boards by almost double.
Somehow despite all of this we lost the game by 1 point.
One game prior to this we came one Lebron prayer away from upsetting the best team in the league and breaking their historical win streak.
We could use another scorer yes, but right now we are desperate for it. When Pierce and KG retire, then we will be...unless Jeff Green can start producing those big nights on a more consistent basis.