3.03.2010

Can We Start the Bench?

Wow.

Inspired play. Attitude. A sense of urgency, energy even.

Of course, I'm just talking about the bench, and I'm just talking about the end of the third quarter and the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, but you gotta start somewhere.

During that time frame, we saw Tony Allen clogging up passing lanes (on defense) and making steals a la James Posey. We saw Give It to Me Big Shelden throwing people around in the paint at one end of the floor and dunking in their face at the other. We saw Glen Davis time and again score from inside, and we saw Mighty Mouse draining threes like his name was Drazen Petrovic.

When Doc Rivers removed Shelden Williams from the game and replaced Glen Davis with Kevin Garnett, at least one viewer (this one) was left to ask, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? Do you understand that the Boston Celtics are actually playing basketball and playing it, dare I say, well? Sure, it was against the Pistons. Undoubtedly, we still gave up too many points in the paint. But for the love of pete, Coach, can you possibly let the players stay on the floor when they're on a roll and have some momentum?

I mean, the starters egos can't be that fragile. Hell, having KG, Pierce, and Jesus watch the reserves close out a game might even remind them how its done.

7 comments:

Lex said...

The Army agrees:

The Celtics got a fantastic effort (39 points) from their bench. Nate Robinson had 9 of his 14 points in the 4th quarter. Glen Davis had 12 points, 3 rebounds in 18 hustled-filled minutes. Even Shelden Williams (6 pts, 4 rebounds) contributed. The second unit started the 4th quarter with a 17-6 run.

http://redsarmy.com/

Matty said...

Agreed!!!

Loved that sheldoon got some minutes, even if it was only because perk was down, but still!

defense is still the big issue, as you mentioned, i dont think the lolcats are that good of and inside team, so lets hope that the c's can bring it to them on the defensive end tonight.

(Although i know it will be hard from a back to back!)

Matty said...

loved the fact that doc used a
knicks play to get nate going, and that nate was teaching it to the team in practice.

Must of made him comfortable out there.

Lex said...

“We really could have just let them play the whole fourth quarter the way they were going,’’ said Pierce, who had 9 points in 29 minutes after missing three games with a sprained thumb and symptoms of the flu. “They got us the lead and never looked back from there.’’

Amen, Brutha!

Lex said...

Winning one game is hard, but if we try back to back is possible. :)

Lex said...

Yeah, Matty, glad to see Doc found a way to make use of Nate!

Lex said...

“It’s all about having players comfortable. Nate, with that play, played a lot more freer tonight. He definitely was a lot more fluid, made a lot of easy shots, a lot of shots he knows he can make. Anything to get him comfortable as quick as possible is good.’’

+++

After one shot, Nate had this look on his face like, yup, that's what I can do.