Stars May Sit

by Jeff Clark on Apr 5, 2008 11:06 AM EDT in Boston Celtics News & Links

The Boston Herald reports:

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said this morning that because of the Celtics captain’s absence, he was also pondering a rest for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in tonight’s game against the Bobcats - a choice that would undoubtedly be unpopular with Bobcats ticket holders.
Detroit coach Flip Saunders drew considerable flak for holding Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace out of a game earlier this week.

UPDATE: Looks like it's official :

Celtics Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen will get tonight's game against the Bobcats off to get rest. Boston's magic number, a combination of its wins and Detroit losses, is down to one to get home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that whether Garnett, Pierce, or Allen play in remaining regular-season games will be decided on a game-to-game basis. Rivers not only would like to get the All-Stars rest during the rest of the regular-season, he also would like to get his bench more minutes before the playoffs.

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I’ve said it before. The coach can do whatever he wants if he thinks it will be helpful come playoff time. None of the big 3 had an actual allstar break, so if they sat out tonight, that would be 5 days off between games. That could be very beneficial. I don’t care what the Bobcats season tickets holders think, and I’m sure Doc cares even less.

by CelticsWhat35 on Apr 5, 2008 12:28 PM EDT reply actions

yea, i don’t really give a damn what bobcats ticket holders feel like.

rest em imo.

by crownsy on Apr 5, 2008 1:15 PM EDT reply actions

opps should have said darn heh

by crownsy on Apr 5, 2008 1:18 PM EDT reply actions

Bobcats Ticket Holders – rise up and Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. You don’t have to put up with that doo-doo from Doc, Crownsy and CelticsWhat35!

by Dipper on Apr 5, 2008 2:15 PM EDT reply actions

So who starts? Rondo, Perk, Posey, House, Cassell?

by halfman/halfoyster on Apr 5, 2008 2:24 PM EDT reply actions

They need to play tonight! I’ll be at the game!! I’ll be disappointed to not see any of the big 3 play. At least play the first half for me :) 4 days off is plenty … rest them the last 2 games of the regualar season

by bhbf08 on Apr 5, 2008 2:37 PM EDT reply actions

Worked great last year for the Mavericks, didn’t it?

When the playoffs come around, the one thing we know if we follow Doc’s coaching prowess in the playoffs it that he’ll get outcoached. We don’t need a flat roster going into the playoffs to match Doc.

15-20 minutes keeps them in game shape and sharp.

by lobstermobster on Apr 5, 2008 2:51 PM EDT reply actions

Nooooooooo….

I’ll be at the game tonight. Finally conviced my wife and daughter to come along and watch the Cs destroy the cats

I just want 2.5 quarters of KG/RAllen…that should be enought. ;)

by cocofan on Apr 5, 2008 2:51 PM EDT reply actions

Worked great for the Spurs last year Lobster, didn’t it?

Duncan, Ginobili and Parker were all benched for the last two games of the season, and if I’m not mistaken, the Spurs did pretty well for themselves last year.

by CelticsWhat35 on Apr 5, 2008 3:46 PM EDT reply actions

If they plan on resting them, tonight is the perfect game to do it. Give them five days to rest and take it easy, and then get back into the swing of things and try and develop a solid playoff rotation over the final 6-7 games.

by Ben Pepper on Apr 5, 2008 5:29 PM EDT reply actions

Refer back to the coaching thing, What. Comparing Doc to Popovich in the playoffs is like comparing comparing Duncan to Scal.

7 games away and at least two solid weeks from the playoffs is a long ways from the last two games. I think we also saw how long it took Garnett to return to form after sitting out. Sitting them out this early isn’t healthy.

Until Doc proves he can coach in the playoffs everybody on the roster had better be completely in sync to make up for his historical shortcomings.

by lobstermobster on Apr 5, 2008 5:39 PM EDT reply actions