Record Pace, Reasonable Minutes

by Jeff Clark on Dec 10, 2008 9:13 AM EST in Boston Celtics News & Links

Doc Rivers is doing his best to downplay the feat, but the Celtics could pass another milestone this Thursday: vis Frank Dell'Apa:

"The Celtics are close to breaking a team record for the best start to a season. A victory in Washington tomorrow would give them 21 wins in 23 games, ahead of the pace set in 1963 and matched last year. 'That's nice, but I would trade that for the best finish ever,' coach Doc Rivers said yesterday. 'That's what we're looking for and aiming for.' Asked if the Celtics could 'burn out' after a such a hot start, Rivers replied, 'We're just playing basketball. We're winning, but we're playing normal minutes. So, the question should be, if we played the same amount of minutes and lost, would we be burning out? No. So, if we're going to play the minutes, I think we should try to win the game, and that's what we're doing.'"

The Celtics don't need to win at a record setting pace, but it does help them get home court advantage in the playoffs. We need only look to last year for the significance of that.

The only worry I had about setting such a pace was hitting a wall come playoff time. However, a quick look at the Big 3's minutes shows that the team is far from burning out.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
2008 - Paul Pierce	22	36.9	5.2	13.0	39.7	1.4	4.0	35.6	6.5	7.8	83.0	0.8	5.3	6.0	3.5	2.9	1.1	0.3	2.8	18.2

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
2008 - Kevin Garnett	21	33.1	7.1	14.0	51.0	0.0	0.1	33.3	2.1	2.6	81.5	1.6	7.8	9.4	2.4	1.8	1.2	1.4	1.8	16.4

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
2008 - Ray Allen	22	35.8	6.8	13.5	50.0	2.4	6.1	39.3	3.2	3.5	92.2	1.0	2.6	3.6	2.7	1.7	0.8	0.0	1.7	19.2

Credit Doc for managing the Big 3's minutes and credit the team for running up the score many nights and giving themselves more garbage time to let the reserves play out the game. This team is taking care of business.

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Comments

How do those minutes compare to last year?

I think Doc has done a good job with the distribution of minutes this year, though I think it is all predicated upon the play of the second unit. The maturity of the second unit is showing (most of the time) which allows Doc to sit players.

by amenhotep04 on Dec 10, 2008 9:35 AM EST reply actions

things are looking DAM good so far

barring all the weird injuries, The BENCH is key for the next 2 months…

by mec1 on Dec 10, 2008 9:40 AM EST reply actions

Compared to last year

Last year’s MPG
Pierce 35.9 (1)
Garnett 32.8 (0.3)
Allen 35.9 (-0.1)

Not bad. Consider the fact that our games have been a lot closer and the schedule has been a lot harder.

If we keep doing well enough, we will see those minutes go down when they start resting a bit for the playoffs.

by afflatus on Dec 10, 2008 9:49 AM EST reply actions

Actually even better...

Rough calculations of mpg through first 22 games of 2007-08:

Pierce: 38.0
KG: 35.4
Allen: 38.5

(I think Ray missed a couple games so that is for the first 22 he played). My sense was Doc definitely played the Big 3 more during the earlier part of last season (part of the reason KG’s dip in per game averages didn’t concern me so much). Doc has gone to the bench more this season; hopefully it will pay off and they can really come on strong later in the season. If the bench solidifies those mpg will just keep going down.

by Berkcelt on Dec 10, 2008 1:25 PM EST up reply actions

doc has the right attitude- play to win and get ready for the playoffs. disregard us as a great team and work on the essentials, especially defense, which is our money area. i am glad to see some peeks at pob and let’s see some more of gabe.

by nazzbo on Dec 10, 2008 11:29 AM EST reply actions