Big Baby Love

by Jeff Clark on Feb 11, 2008 8:30 AM EST in Boston Celtics News & Links

Hollinger gave Big Baby (and Doc Rivers) a lot of praise this morning in the Daily Dime:

With Kevin Garnett again sidelined, it was Boston's "other guys" who made the difference against the defending champs.
Chief among them was backup forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis. Although the 290-pound rookie's minutes had dwindled in recent weeks, he earned 33 Sunday by playing strong on-ball defense against Tim Duncan and finished with nine points, eight boards and three steals. On a night when the Celtics were without both Garnett and starting center Kendrick Perkins (shoulder), his contribution was critical.
"What we told Glen was, 'He's taller than you; you're heavier than him,'" said Boston coach Doc Rivers. "And we said 'and you're lower than him. You're not going to grow today. He's going to be taller than you … but because you're low and you have a low center of gravity, get into his legs and try to push him of the block.'"
Indeed, Davis stymied Duncan's back-down efforts by using his heft to force San Antonio's star away from the block. Although Duncan's final numbers were hardly chopped liver -- 22 points, 14 rebounds, six assists -- Davis kept him off the line (four free-throw attempts), and two of his steals came when he used his surprisingly nimble feet to foil entry passes to Duncan.
As a result of how well he played in single coverage, the Celtics didn't need to provide double-team help -- even though they were facing one of the league's premier post players with a short-handed frontcourt.

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Baby wouldn’t have gotten in the game when he did if Powe doesn’t get two early fouls. I hope this finally breaks the barrier of playing Baby on a more regular basis. He is second only to Garnett in terms of intensity. Play him, Doc, please! We need him for the playoffs.

by halfman/halfoyster on Feb 11, 2008 12:53 PM EST reply actions

After the summer league we knew we had something good with Powe and Baby. I was glad to see them play a lot recently it is going to help their experience and confidence along with the team in the playoffs. They both rebound, play defense well for young players and surprise you on offense. Sometimes they need Baby for his ability to hold the offensive player off the block and other times we need Powe to cover a mobile center but I think they both can be versatile in this area. When they are in together they can be dominating on the 2nd unit but they also can play well with the 1st unit. If they both can continue to play about 15 minutes a game when KG comes back we will be tough to beat in the playoffs.

by CelticsWin on Feb 11, 2008 1:40 PM EST reply actions

Agreed that it’s time for Doc to start giving more and more of Perkins’ minutes to Davis and Powe, even when Perkins is back in the lineup and healthy. I’ve almost completely given up on Perkins as a legitimate starting C at this point.

He’s got stone hands. His defense is average and he can’t avoid stupid fouls. He can’t set a screen to save his life, he must lead the league in “offensive fouls committed while trying to set a pick”. Give his minutes to Davis or Powe and I suspect either one of them would outproduce what Perk has given thus far.

What does he bring to the table that Davis or Powe don’t aside from height? Nothing. They’re both better rebounders than Perkins, they’re both better offensive players than Perkins, and Perk’s defense isn’t even all that great.

I’m tired of waiting for Perkins to “come around”. At some point we’re going to have to just come to grips with the fact that our starting center is nothing more than a bruiser and enforcer on a championship team.

by PaulBonner on Feb 11, 2008 2:16 PM EST reply actions

it seems G Davis is a good backup to compliment to K Perkins. Both play good position defence with their wide bodies. i guess Perkins’ experience and chemistry with the Big 3 gives him the edge of starting. With Davis, his inexperience may get him into foul trouble and get discouraged at time.

but Davis has demonstrated his quickness and intensity, which are valuable edge from the bench.

by lis on Feb 12, 2008 2:32 AM EST reply actions