Bench Play Highlights Win Over Pistons
by Greg Payne on Mar 3, 2010 8:20 AM EST
in Boston Celtics Articles
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PrintThe Celtics' starters managed to hold off the Detroit Pistons over the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter last night, but it was the bench brigade that gave the C's a lead to hold onto.
Trailing 75-72 heading into the fourth quarter, Boston's second unit for the game - made up of Nate Robinson, Tony Allen, Marquis Daniels, Glen Davis, and Shelden Williams - proceeded to outscore their Detroit counterparts 14-4 over the course of the first three minutes and 49 seconds of the quarter, capped off by a Robinson three-pointer (one of his three three-pointers in the final frame) at the 8:11 mark.
Rasheed Wallace (starting in place of the flu-stricken Kendrick Perkins) replaced Williams at the 7:16 mark of the quarter, and Robinson added his third and final three of the period just nine seconds later for good measure, giving Boston an 89-81 lead. His three polished off a much needed 17-6 overall run to start the final frame.
It's typically the NBA norm for teams to hope their benches won't waste their starters' initial efforts, but last night, it was the Celtics hoping the starters wouldn't waste the bench's pristine effort at the outset of the fourth quarter. Indeed, the key word that must be stressed is effort, for the bench gave a helluva lot of it in the first five minutes of the fourth.
At long last we're finally starting to talk about Glen Davis' play more than we are his seemingly never-ending antics and head-scratching nicknames. The man appears hungry for more than food these days, as evidenced by his relentless aggression last night. He took 14 shots, made five of them, teamed nicely with Williams on the glass (he kept more balls alive than he secured), and drew an important charge on Ben Gordon with 6:12 remaining.
Williams, Davis's front court mate, seeing his first action in what seems like weeks, finished with a respectable six points and four rebounds in 16 minutes. While he and Davis might, at times, make for an undersized front court pairing, if they can continue to contribute the hustle and energy that was on display last night, they'll surely negate any size they might be giving up. Even if Williams fails to find consistent minutes from here on out, Doc Rivers must know by now he has a guy he can rely on, if nothing else.
What's interesting is the noticeable increase in effort from the second unit, on a night when Rasheed Wallace wasn't a part of it. The pine guys came locked and loaded with a killer instinct, yet the starters (with Wallace at center) - who held an eight-point lead with 7:49 left in the third quarter - failed to close out the Pistons heading into the fourth. Is there a correlation there? Is Wallace indeed the anti-killer instinct parasite that's plaguing this team at times right now? Perhaps.
Nate Robinson, though, stole the show (while apparently utilizing an offensive set he ran while with the New York Knicks). While Tony Allen and Marquis Daniels did many of the little things that contributed to the bench's overall success (Daniels was a stabilizer of sorts for this group - the elder statesman, whose presence alone seemed to evoke a needed calmness in the second unit's execution.), it was Robinson who threw the daggers. Nine of his 14 points came in the fourth, all on three-pointers. His first with 11:11 remaining brought the Celtics within a point (77-76), and then his second - intersected by two Davis buckets and a Williams slam - put Boston up 86-79 with 8:11 remaining. He did what he came here to do, and on top of that, he hopped up on his Inspector Gadget spring-like feet and messed around on the boards, all while serving as a general pest in Detroit's personal space. As a whole, Boston's bench mustered 39 of the team's 105 points.
The formula worked. The bench wanted it, and they went out and got it. Let's see if Doc continues to utilize that five-man unit as the regular season rolls along.
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Just realized why Shelden
… may have worked out so well this time. The (justified) rap on him = stone hands. Last night, I don’t remember seeing ANY passes to Shelden… maybe 1 or 2 minor ones in the deep paint (more handoffs than real passes). Maybe this is what the team’s been working on with Shel… how to use him without allowing his stone hands to hurt the team.
It's interesting
I’m a huge Duke fan and watched basically all of Shelden’s career while he was there…Never once did the “stone hands” issue come up. Actually, the majority of the time he actually possessed a pretty soft touch around the rim. I wonder if it’s the speed of the NBA game that is affecting him.
Yeah now that I think more about it
He often just posted up at Duke, took a simple bounce pass and went to work on the block. He was big enough in college for that to work for him, which isn’t the case in the NBA. And during his days there, Duke never had that slashing point guard who would dump off lightning quick passes…Coack K always had guys like Chris Duhon, Daniel Ewing, Sean Dockery, and Greg Paulus…Solid PGs but no slasher types like a Rondo, Paul, or Williams. I suppose that weak part of his game was just never exposed in college.
I was at Duke when Shelden was there,
and mostly I agree. But I would add that he had to a lot of work into his offensive game throughout his four years. Never did he look like a “natural” offensive player. As a freshman and sophmore it was never clear that he would become the scorer that he was able to become (Shavlick Randolph was always the guy we thought would contribute more on the offensive end). So while I agree we rarely saw “stone hands”, he always had to work really hard for his points, even in college.
"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw
Not stone, but small
Which is why he gets the fumbles and why he doesn’t finish well at the rim…
by SalmonAndMashedPotatoes on Mar 3, 2010 9:01 AM EST up reply actions
If he plays more, he will gain confidence, And if he gains confidence, he will play better and do his job. No need to bring in another big to play 10 backup minutes. We have Sheldon. Instead, bring in Finley and keep the last roster spot open in case Bill Russell decided to come out of retirement.
by JPV on Mar 3, 2010 9:23 AM EST up reply actions
I’d like to see Doc shorten his rotation.
With all the chemistry problems, with the lack of consistent cohesive play, going on … I think the team would be best served by lowering the number of players who play in each game.
A shortened rotation would stand a better chance of rebuilding the team’s cohesiveness.
The best talent for more minutes playing alongside one another is the team’s best chance at regaining it’s form from early this season.
I don’t know if he has to shorten the rotation as much as limit the minutes he’s giving to the bench, or simply try to not leave the starters on the bench for long periods of times as he’s been doing.
by BudweiserCeltic on Mar 3, 2010 9:01 AM EST up reply actions
I don’t know, I didn’t see much from Williams at the game for me to think “yep, this is the guy we need in there”. A couple of hustle plays here and there, but that’s all. Just like everyone else, he was being out-rebounded, at times he fell asleep on the defensive boards that led to second chance scoring from the Pistons, etc.
He’s fine where he’s at. Baby should still get the minutes, but he need some serious talking to. He’s having the same problems Powe had last year, and that Perk has been having this year. The black-hole syndrome. Though he had a few good passes, each time he gets the ball he seems to give a quick look around and just make a play for himself. It’s disruptive.
the bench was the calvary last night
Nate finally got that unit moving by running the KNick offense. It’s as if someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden our second unit came to life. Give Doc credit for running the Knick offense but at the same time it points out the problems with Doc’s offensive scheme.We have become way too predictable on offense and defense and Doc needs to add some new plays. I have a good friend who believes that other teams have figured out how to beat our defense. I htink this is true. OUr D has not been good since December and the fact that we’re still number one in points allowed is no reflection of how we’ve beenplaying lately. We’ve given up 100 or more points in our last 5 or 6 games. Some of that is injuries but some of that is schematics. TIbbs needs to take a look at this. Why not play some zone from time to other? OUr second unit last night finally played with some energy on the defensive end and it got us back in the game. Sheed and Pierce played no D last night at all. Pierce especially was horrible. Danny is right about our starters- they’re the ones that need to pick it up.
Sheed
“What’s interesting is the noticeable increase in effort from the second unit, on a night when Rasheed Wallace wasn’t a part of it.”
Start Wallace?? Or at least have him play more with the first unit.
This would mean sending Perkins to the second unit. Which would solve the height issue in the front court.
Offensively it may force Sheed to play more on the block. Defensively it may allow KG to get in his ear.
Do not start Sheed. I watched only a little bit of the game last night. When I tuned in, it was the 4th Quarter and the swedish rookie (name?) just blew by him with an uncontested layup to pull the Pistons to within a few points of the lead. No effort whatsover to block or contest the shot. Now, I did not see the first three quarters so perhaps he played better. But this was just scary to watch. He really needs to step it up in the playoffs. And stay in the paint. Let PP, Nate and Ray shoot the 3.
by JPV on Mar 3, 2010 9:26 AM EST up reply actions
2 blocks + 2 steals, and that rookie was blowing by just about everyone in our team.
by BudweiserCeltic on Mar 3, 2010 9:41 AM EST up reply actions
link?
yes
this may look like some sort of reward for Sheed. hopefully, he would view it that way, at least.
the younger players getting ticked off?? maybe Perk but maybe it lights a fire under his butt.
it wouldn’t really have to effect either of there minutes much.
no
Sheed is not going to bang much with Howard or glove Gasol.
Highlights?
That was a weak win… I thought they’d come out fired up and destroy the Pistons. I was expecting a win by 15 or 20. The “Not ready to win it all” camp is slowly dragging me in…
True the starters were weak most of the night
But the bench did play with the energy we’d like to see at the start of the fourth…and really was the key behind the win.
Agreed on the bench play.
I just thought that after losing the Nets that these guys would come out firing on all cylinders and dismantle the Pistons. If a loss to the worst team in league history (or close to it) doesn’t make you want to rip your next opponent to shreds, I’m not convinced that the playoffs will either.
by funkstarrdeluxe on Mar 3, 2010 1:33 PM EST up reply actions
One Thing Did Impress Me
Glenn Davis got off 14 shots in about 15 minutes. I didn’t know he had it in him.
Great win!
It was nice to see us get a win. MAybe we can start a streak.
Shelden had a good game and like usually, he hit the offensive board.
Maybe he just needs consistent playing time to acclimate to the NBA game speed.
With that said, i hope he gets decent minutes tonight for us to see if consistent playing time helps his game like it does everyone elses and secondly to give our other bigs rest so we wont be exhausted in the 4th and lose the game like so many other times we play a back to back.
The problem with the starters last night rests primarily on the hands Paul Pierce who came asleep to the game (though he didn’t start the game right or ESPN mistaken?) and Rondo who kept turning the ball over. I liked it when Rondo was pushing the ball, and as always our team responded during that stretch, but then he started making foolish passes and getting the ball stolen from him over and over again which really shouldn’t happen.
Sheed played an overall solid game. The team should’ve tried to get Garnett more involved in the post.
The refs sucked also.
by BudweiserCeltic on Mar 3, 2010 10:00 AM EST reply actions
celtics
Nate was the differance here, the little guy set a fire under there asses, not bad shooting either. Pierce is a bust. Whats happened to him? He cant shoot, he cant rebound, and he cant play defence. He is the main reason the Celtics are faultering. I hope its only temporary, due to his injurys. If there is any chance the Celtics can come back this year, its got to be lead by Paul P. He is our captain and leader. KG is our motivator, and Perkins needs to take some shots. Everyone is backing off of him, and double teaming the other guys. He has to make them work on defence. He is to one dementional.
Pierce looked like he was wearing lead boots out there
He was that slow.
Paul Pierce was horrible … worried about him trying to defend or score against Gerald Wallace tonight.
I’m not expecting much from him against the Bobcats.
by Who on Mar 3, 2010 6:20 PM EST up reply actions
Nice Win
There are no easy wins in the NBA. I don’t care what someones record is. It was good to go into Detroit and come out with a W. I don’t care if we win by 1 or by 20. A win is a win. Come playoff time we will have a chance in every series we play. Thats all we can ask for. We are not gonna be dominant like in ’08 but we are capable of dominant stretches. Having the best road record will be to our benefit come playoff times. Nate will be a difference maker in a few playoff games. he will scorch someone and allow us to steal a few victories. Just wait and see. We know how to win in the playoffs, we have proven that the last two years. Anything can happen. GO CELTS!!!!
Bench Sheed
“Is Wallace indeed the anti-killer instinct parasite that’s plaguing this team at times right now? Perhaps.”
No doubt about it. Bench him. Cut him. Get him off the team. He sucks the life out of everyone he plays with. I don’t buy the “he’s a locker room guy” bit. Doc needs to send him home until the end of the season with a mandate to lose 25 pounds.
I was happy to see the bench play well in the second half. They seemed to be struggling in the first half. My concern though was that while it appeared they stepped it up defensively, their shot selection wasn’t very good. Thank God Nate hit the threes. But it just appeared that there was too much long distance shooting. For a couple minutes they appeared to move the ball effectively, but I could have seen the shot selection resulting in players being pulled early because nothing was falling.
The same goes for the starters. They tend to rely on outside shooting late in games instead of driving the ball. Glad to see the win, but overall not impressed with the team play.
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