The Ray Allen Question

I keep hearing the question "Is Ray Allen done?"

And I keep thinking "are you nuts?"

Just because a guy has gone cold doesn't mean he's done.  Ray has taken a drastically reduced role than what he's used to… and in case you haven't noticed… the questions we all had in the pre-season are now surfacing in the post-season.  Remember when idiots like me were wondering if we should predict 50 wins for this team?  It's because the we were picturing the first month or two of the season playing out like this. 

Remember when we were wondering "who would take over,"  "who takes the last shot," "can Rondo lead the team," "is Perkins good enough to be the a starting center?"  The C's rode the emotion of the opening month into a season-long ride of giddy, spotlight sharing fun.  The results were great… until the pressure was ramped up.  The C's are 2 games above .500 right now.  That's where they should have been in December… then they should have figured things out by the All-Star break… and then they should have gone on a run that got them into the playoffs as a 2 or 3 seed. 

Well… they did it ass-backwards… dominated early… and now they're struggling.  Luckily… they're starting to figure things out.  Paul is scoring option #1, KG is option 1a, and Ray is next. 

This may be wishful thinking.  But I can see the possibility of Ray Allen figuring things out in this round.  Atlanta was way too athletic for him (and for the whole team)… and Cleveland went out of their way to stop him.  Detroit probably won't do that, because that leaves Paul Pierce 1-on-1 with Tayshaun Prince… and Pierce can post him up.  LeBron could defend Paul… and take him out with his offense.  Prince is not a scoring threat… and Pierce is feeling good… so I'm going to guess Detroit might want to focus on The Truth and take their chances with a cold Ray Allen getting worn out by gettig hit with 3 picks every time down the floor.

But Ray can find some space if Paul is drawing attention… and the Celtics can "Rip Hamilton" Rip Hamilton… by running him off 3 screens of their own.  If Ray is open… great.  If not… Paul posts Prince up and we go from there. 

Ray is probably killing himself more over his performance than fans ever will… but Ray just needs to hit a few shots and we'll be happy.  The threat of Ray Allen is more important than Ray Allen.  We don't need 20 points from him.  We just need Detroit to think 20 points is possible… and that will open things up… let Pierce and Rondo work the lane… and give KG and Perk easy shot on the drive-and-dishes.