(Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
As you can see in this photo Leon is sad. Sad because he is hurt, hurt by his own coach. Leon had a career high 27 points his last game of the season, and did a good job in game one against the Hawks. He built up his confidence only to have it beaten down by Doc Rivers. Doc started screwing with his bench during the playoffs which is the worst thing you could do. He brings in Glen "Big Baby" Davis in game two just to get him minuets. Then he sits Leon in game 3 because he missed a defensive assignment. And yes, go look at the tapes, Leon missed one defensive assignment, not five. Powe gave up a lay up instead of fouling and Doc felt it was worth hurting Leon's confidence over it by not playing him. The last thing you need to do to a young guy is bring him down. Instead of just telling Leon personally why he isn't playing him, Doc decided to tell the media and bring down Leon. What kind of coach throws his players under the bus like this. Rivers always manipulates the media and gives them what they want. All he had to do is explain to Leon what he needed to do, then go let him do it.
Leon was brought down by his coach in the media, then put on the bench. But Leon has more heart than anyone on the planet, so I know he'll get it together. He did a good job on defense in game four, I'd like to see him get a little offense going in game five.
2 comments:
Come on Doc! Stop screwing around. The Celtics haven't played great basketball any of the last four games. We just got lucky the first two. The Hawks were missing wide open shots that we were giving them. They had chances for offensive rebounds, but backed off. Now their game has changed. They're taking what we give them and capitalizing on it. Right now, the Hawks want it more than us. We are playing Atlanta Hawks basketball and that's not what we do. No more mistakes, no more opportunities... we have to play with heart and show how much this championship means two. Garnet, Ray Allen, Peirce, Perkins, Rondo, Doc: this is when you have to step it up and do what it takes to close out a basketball game.
I agree, the Hawks seem like they want it more right now. Hopefully these two losses will wake up the Celtics and get them on the right track. Doc needs to get it together and figure out a set playoff rotation. We'll see how it goes tonight.
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