Jesus who?! After going a scintillating 8-11 from behind the arc for 32 points in a crucial game 2 victory in L.A, Sweet Baby Ray Allen followed it up with one of the worst encore performances you could imagine. If this was his idea of a sequel, then he was the producer of Caddyshack 2. Allen went 0-13 from the floor including 0-8 from deep in 42 minutes of play, tying Pierce for most minutes played on the Celtics. This has got to be one of the worst playoff shooting performances I can remember in a long time. He did however manage score 2 pts by going 2-2 from the charity stripe. Give some credit to Derek Fisher who played his rear end off on both ends of the court, but to not make one single FG in 42 minutes of play, with the kind of shooting stroke you posses, that's just pathetic. Way to go Shuttlesworth, after I write about MVP finals aspirations for you and praise you on your buttery performance in game 2, this is how you follow it up, shaking my head. Maybe it was the "TrevorSpits curse", Ala the "Madden cover jinx", I don't know. What I do know is you and Paul Pierce for that matter, better pull it together and fast or you two might be watching Kobe hoist his 5 Trophy and second consecutive finals MVP on your home court. It seems to me like a He Got Game marathon is in order.
i would like to think of myself as an above average shooter in my past competitive and weekend warrior basketball endeavors. i'm probably harder on myself than anyone i know if i go maybe 1-5 in a pickup game, but i know i could easily bounce back the next time and not miss. the point is, there's nothing wrong with ray. i am sure that 80-90% of the time when he let it fly last night, it felt just as good as the J's that tickled the twine in game 2 on sunday. sometimes they just don't fall.
ReplyDeletewithout question the guy might have the sweetest stroke in nba history. his form is so flawless, he could probably shoot straight out of a phone booth. i will agree, however, that 0-13 is tough to fathom after the game 2 performance he had. i'd like to take a different look at it, though.
i would argue that "it happens to the best of them." someone might refute my argument and say, "kobe (or lebron, dwade, etc) would never go 0-13 following a stellar 32-point shooting clinic." but let's take a more technical look at the difference between a player like sweet baby and/or kobe going 0-13. simply put, the degree of difficulty of ray allen's shots are as a whole are tougher than those that kobe, lebron or dwade might take in a game. they're more difficult because players like kobe, lebron and dwade can create their own shots, get to the lane and make some of the most amazing shots you've ever seen. however, ray allen is a perimiter player. yes, of course, he'll occasionally drive to the hoop and throw one down, but he's never been a guy to create his own shot or take it to the hole and finish strong. therefore, an 0-13 performance by ray allen is somewhat understandable if you look at it from this perspective because he has to come off screens, move w/o the ball and position himself for a heavy dose of good looks at shots anywhere from 17-25 feet. i didn't see the entire game last night, but i imagine most, if not all of his 13 shots came from that distance. he certainly didn't lose the game for the celtics last night by going 0-13, but he (along w/ rondo's triple-double on sunday) absolutely was a factor, if not the main factor for their game 2 victory.
any takers that ray will get at least 15-20 in game 4?
Valid points. I agree with your assessment about not being able to create his own shots and he is always shooting from a 17-25 foot range. However, 0-13 is just inexcusable any way you look at it. for a guy with the best stroke and quickest release in the game, hes gotta be able to make at least one mid range jumper at some point. He has mastered the art of getting open around screens just like reggie miller did and richard hamilton but I have never seen either one of those guys go an entire game attempting 13 shots and miss every single one. You can argue reggie is top 3 shooters of all time if not the best, but Allen isnt far behind. With that being said, I do think Shuttlesworth will bounce back, turn his faucet back on and go for 23 in game 4. Problem is, Kobe had an off night and they still won. can anyone contain fisher?
ReplyDeletegosh im sooooo pissed, we needed that game! Trevor, I think you fucking jinxed him with that Sweet Baby Ray post, haha....but no seriously.
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