In game two, the Celtics offense was predicated on movement, sharp passing, and good floor spacing.  In the second half of game three, this Celtics’ offense disappeared and it was replaced by a slow and stagnant offense that really struggled to get into a flow.  A lot of it started because of the Celtics inability to get any action or movement off of the basketball.

In the above video, the first thing that you should note is how far away from the basket Ray Allen is when he makes the initial catch.  There is no way you can initiate an effective offensive set that far away from the basket.  Next, you have both Ray Allen and Tony Allen cutting to the same place (ball side corner), eventually forcing Ray Allen to break off his cut and head to the top of the key.  After holding onto the basketball for about 10 seconds, the ball ends up in Kevin Garnett’s hands.  Allen makes the catch on the post, but he is blocked.  Why?  Well, let’s take a look at a second angle that gives us a better idea.

Because Tony Allen is just standing in the corner not being a threat, Ron Artest is able to drop down to the block and help defend Kendrick Perkins.  Since Artest is on Perkins, Pau Gasol is able to range over on the pass and alter the Ray Allen shot.

In the above play, Rajon Rondo tries to push the basketball up the court.  With nothing there initially, he decides to enter the ball to Kevin Garnett.  Garnett makes the catch and he waits for the Celtics to clear his side of the court.  Instead of sending a cutter off of Garnett or provide a passing lane in case of a double team, the Celtics simply bunch up on the opposite side.  So when the double team comes, Garnett has nothing to do but try and make the best of it.  He gets the ball knocked away, finally gets control, but then has it blocked.

Again above, Rajon Rondo wants to push the ball but the Lakers are back on defense.  Rondo decides to hold things up, but then all of a sudden he attacks.  He catches Fisher off guard and he seems to have a lane.  However, there is a mix up as Tony Allen cuts right in the path of Rondo, sending his man (Kobe Bryant) into perfect position for help defense.  Instead of getting a lay-in or a drive to the basket, the Celtics end up settling for a Tony Allen jumper.

In the above video, the Celtics run their very familiar “scrum screen” play.  Rondo comes off free, and he has Big Baby rolling with him, but that is the only movement from the Celtics.  Because Tony Allen is just standing in the corner (maybe he could have popped out to the wing to at least force Kobe to pay attention to him), Kobe is by default in proper help position.  This allows Rondo’s man (Jordan Farmar) to help out, and he eventually draws the charge on Big Baby.

So why is all this stagnant offense so bad for the Celtics?  Because by the when they eventually get a good cut or set run, they aren’t going to be prepared to take advantage of it:

See what happened?  As Henry Abbott already showed us, Rondo missed a wide open Paul Pierce on a cut.  Instead of making the pass, Rondo puts his hand up as if to say “let’s slow it down.”  That isn’t the mentality you want Rajon Rondo to have if you are Boston.  In fact, Rondo makes this gesture a couple times in a few of the videos above, and I think that is a part of the problem with the Celtics’ defense.  They weren’t getting out effectively in transition, and their half court offense really seemed to struggle.