Peter Stringer of Celtics.com had a conversation with Ray where they touched on Game 7, the upcoming season, and some of the issues the C's faced last regular season. That's where the money quote was dropped:
We at times we were probably guilty of… we're so good at what we do individually. Me doing what I do.. Rondo does what he does… Kevin… Paul… everybody doing what they do. I think we were guilty at times of sometimes focusing on our individual preparation sometimes too much as opposed to figuring just 'win the game'… whatever game it is… let's just win it and the rest will just take care of itself.
Not only that… be he made it a point to bring it up again. This quote hits at 2:07. And again at 3:45… he brings it up again and he makes a point to say "everybody just has to be selfless at the same time." And then his next answer again focuses on taking the back seat… reiterating the need to be free of egos a minute later.
So it's pretty clear that last season, there was a breakdown in the Celtics where some guys… maybe Ray included… went off on their own individual quests and that cost the team games. It's no accident that Ray is saying the same thing three different times in the same interview.
And while that's the potential downfall of any team… it's especially problematic on star-laden teams like Boston or Miami. The Celtics obviously recovered from whatever the problem was last year… but there was clearly an issue. If the Heat can't check their egos at the door… then they're screwed. We've been banking on that. But if, for some reason, the Celtics can't either… they're equally screwed.
Luckily, the chemistry on this team seems to be pretty good already. And if its this good now, then it should be able to withstand this stuff because the rest of the group will have no qualms with putting someone in his place. So while Ray's words raise an eyebrow… I don't think it will be an issue this year.
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