To: Doc@BostonCeltics.com

Dear Doc,

Let me start by congratulating you on winning your first playoff series ever as a coach. Getting that first one out of the way is such pressure. I remember when I popped my cherry (referring to my premier blog of course)... I believe my performance suffered because I was primarily concerned with getting it over with. I didn't care about the strategerie of the X's and O's, or the possibility of getting injured or worse... I rushed my way through it. I needed the proverbial monkey off my back. I knew with enough time, practice and repetition, my confidence would grow and my audience would be increasingly pleased as I chased after the coveted ring. My resume's currently looking pretty solid: some kudos, a few pats on the back, a 'thank you' note with a hint of eau de toilette, a little constructive feedback, some comments, but no complaints (at least not to my face).

Anyways, my point is, this was your first time. And being compassionate about what that felt like for me, I'm willing to cut you some slack and give you a pass. However, I'm still going to take a moment to advise you how I'd prefer to see things go down in the future. My development would have been exponentially faster if I had received some feedback after my first venture. Rather than rattle off 10 things I think you should've done differently, I'm going to focus on the easiest and possibly the most egregious.

Should you once again find yourself coaching a do-or-die Game 7, whereby you're up by more than 30 points in the middle of the 3rd quarter and the opposing team has not even scored 30 points yet - I urge you to more quickly get your franchise players (as well as your starters) out of the game. Forget that Game 1 of the next series would begin in approximately 48 hours and your team should have been already resting at home for a couple days, praying for an upset. Instead, I request you pay closer attention to how increasingly physical the series had become, and how a guy, who has no legitimate business being on the court, can end up in the middle of something random with a 1- or 2-game suspension (or worse)...Now I'm not saying some fan was gonna toss a beer and Scalabrine was gonna run up in the stands...I just think there are times in life where you should err on the side of caution.

If you don't have the confidence that your second team is able to hold a 32-point lead for a quarter-and-a-half against the 16th seed in the playoffs, then I'm unsure how you would expect them to be able to play in a close game because one of your All-Stars was in foul trouble. And don't get me wrong Doc, I completely agree with your decision to bring the starters out for the second half to make sure the game has been put away and out of reach. But when you see Rondo get slammed to the ground on an unfortunate play, that was probably the first sign to get them out. This isn't baseball where you exact your revenge in the next half-inning. The next clue may have been when both Garnett and Ray Ray successively dove for a loose ball with about 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Mind you, your team was up by 34 at the time!! But I don't blame them, they're not supposed to turn it off because they've doubled up the opponent's score (plus 2) with a little more than 1 frame left. Players wanna play... Coaches wanna coach!! It's your responsibility to know when to pull them.

Lastly, I've seen some absolutely miraculous comebacks but I must admit that when they happen, you at least have a little feeling inside that makes you think it's possible. And honestly, that feeling was nowhere to be found yesterday.

In closing Doc, I suggest you YouTube some footage of Red Auerbach, and get a feel for when he knew when it was safe to light up his cigar. Because although you can no longer smoke in "The Garden", KG and Pierce should have long hit the showers to replicate what I was doing...enjoying a lit one as I watched the 4th quarter.


Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need any additional information.

Sincerely,

A. Concerned Fan