Celtics' Bench is Regular Brick Brigade

December 25, 1984

CELTICS' BENCH TOSSING ROCKS

Any rocks in your stocking this morning? Blame it on the Celtics' backup guards. Boston's backcourt benchmen have been tossing boulders all through the holiday season.



All of the Celtics shot poorly in Boston's 110-85 humiliation in Chicago Saturday night. Larry Bird (3 for 14) had his worst game of the year, and Robert Parish clanged to the tune of 31 percent (4 of 13). Collectively, the Celtics hit a season-low 35 percent (34 of 97) from the floor.

Coach K.C. Jones knows he can expect Bird, Parish and the other big guns to start hitting again tomorrow night in Phoenix, but what about the brick- tossing backcourt backups? Jones doesn't think Dennis Johnson (sprained left ankle) will play against the Suns, which means Quinn Buckner will get another start, and Scott Wedman, M.L. Carr, Carlos Clark and/or Rick Carlisle will be asked to do more than usual.

Each of the five subs is struggling with his shot. Granted, they are not expected to contribute 20 points per game, and it is always tougher to shoot well in limited playing time, but the Celts lose considerable offensive weaponry when teams sag down low and let the guards fire away.

Buckner and Carr can still play the solid defense, Wedman is Boston's best bench man until McHale (sprained left ankle) comes back, and Clark and Carlisle haven't had enough time to be fairly critiqued, but with DJ on the sidelines, depth becomes a big question. The Celts need more help from the bench. Here's the rundown on the struggling sub shooters:

- Wedman - He's been the best shooter off the bench since McHale and DJ got hurt, but is still capable of much more. A 48 percent career shooter, Wedman's hitting 45 percent this year, but only 40.5 percent (15 of 37) in his last six games. He missed nine of 14 attempts in Chicago.

- Buckner - Never a scoring force, Buckner is on a course which would yield the lowest shooting percentage of his nine-year career. He hasn't scored a basket in seven of his last nine games and is hitting .227 (5 of 22) in that span.

- Carr - He went from Nov. 28 to Dec. 15 without scoring a point, and is shooting .297 (11 of 37) in his last 14 games.

- Clark - Shooting 26 percent (7 of 27) since Nov. 21.

- Carlisle - Shooting 9 percent (2 of 22) since Nov. 21.

Jones isn't worried. The Celtics are 23-5, and hope to have DJ and McHale back soon.

"When you lose a DJ, it's very tough," he says. "But our backcourt depth is all right . . . It's important that we get some scoring from our bench, of course, but the Chicago game was just a totally numb situation. We'll get better production from our bench."

Does the sight of the Celtics without DJ make Jones wish Gerald Henderson was still around?

"Not really," says Jones. "That never crossed my mind. We have people to throw in there. Hey, we've lost five games. We haven't done too badly to this point."

True, but DJ and McHale are still hurt, Boston's lead over Philadelphia is only 1 1/2 games, and the tired Celts have lost two of three as they embark on a trip to Phoenix, Los Angeles (Clippers), San Antonio, Milwaukee, and New Jersey. Boston's bench will be tested.

The Celts worked out at Hellenic yesterday, took this morning off and will fly to Phoenix early this evening. "If I had scheduled a practice for this morning, I'd have been the only one there," jokes Jones. McHale is spending Christmas in Hibbing, Minn., and DJ is in LA. Both are expected in Phoenix tonight, but Jones isn't counting on either player for tomorrow.