Why are we focusing so much on Tony Allen… and why are we so hard on him?
Because he has the ability to be so good and he’s not living up to it. Its frustrating. Lucky for him, the schedule is letting him get plenty of chances to prove that he has the mental capacity to shake off bad plays and help us in the playoffs. And he knows… he’s got plenty to work on.
Allen’s biggest problem is that he is far too hard on himself, causing him to press in these situations.
“That was like a playoff-type, practice-type atmosphere,” he said of the Milwaukee game, when Rivers left his reserves on the floor to pull the game out. “It’s big to see how we react in those situations.”
Unfortunately for Allen, staying grounded became a problem once Redd started pump-faking.
“I had a lot of assignments that I fouled up on,” Allen said. “I have to try and stay on my feet. I have to use this time to get the coaches’ confidence back.”
I don’t want to belabor the point on Tony… but the simple fact is that he can be such a huge weapon off the bench… that its impossible NOT to focus on it. He can be a shut-down defender… AND… he can score. How can you not hope for that to show up in the playoffs?
Globe: Celtics own prime real estate | Enterprise News: Celtics relish home cooking | Herald: Best Celtic ever brackets down to Bird vs. Russell | Indy Cornrows: Why the Celtics should play to win against Atlanta | ESPN: Emails show Sonics owners wanted to move | SI: Celtics-Lakers would be the juciest matchup | CelticsBlog: All us bloggers look back at our preseason predictions… and cringe
Speaking of pre-season predictions, I know one of the fools on this site didn’t have the Lakers making the playoffs.
Neither of us did.
We each also had Chicago as 2 seeds and Miami in the playoffs.