Allen moving on after tough outing in Philly

Share

PHILADELPHIAThroughout Ray Allen's brilliant career, we have seen him do some pretty amazing, hard-to-forget things on the basketball court.

But for one night, Allen had the kind of night that Celtics Nation and Allen himself would just as soon forget aboutquickly.

While Wednesday's 32-point loss at Philadelphia was indeed a team-wide pummeling on every level imaginable, few had it as rough as the C's sharpshooter.

Allen only had two points on the night, which included him missing all five of his shots from the field.

It was only the seventh time in Allen's career (his fourth with the C's) that he went without a made basket in a game.

"I don't think I was ever in the flow of the offense," Allen said. "Offensively, we just didn't have a flow. I was just a victim of a bad offensive flow."

Even when the C's have had nights with a good flow offensively, it hasn't always included Allen's firepower from the perimeter.

It's no secret that he remains near the top of most scouting reports on the Celtics. The result has been a lot of games in which he rarely touches the ball, but that doesn't mean he's not involved.

In the C's win over the New York Knicks on Sunday, they were determined to make sure someone stayed with him, stride for stride, all game. So that led to him being more of a screen-setter, doing the kind of things that others have for years done to free him up.

Allen understands doing those little things, is part of what he has to do to help the team win if the defense prevents him from getting good, clean looks at the basket.

"Some teams, I don't know if you want to say box-and-one, but they do whatever they can to just commit one guy to me and don't allow him to help," Allen said. "I've seen it. It seems frustrating at times, but I have faith in my guys to get it done."

While Allen is certainly disappointed in not making a single basket against the Sixers, he's not about to over-react to the situation, either.

Allen's play has been instrumental in Boston's post-All Star break success.

His numbers (17.5 points, 51.1 percent shooting from the field) following the break and leading into Wednesday's game, have been impressive.

That's why he and the Celtics are chalking up what happened against the Sixers as just one of those nights when nothing goes right.

"I'll just continue doing what I do," Allen said. "I'll prepare the same. When you find your spots, you have to take advantage of them."

Contact Us