Doc Rivers has turned into a Mad Scientist.

The only consistent thing I've seen from Doc Rivers in these 2 regular season games, is the willingness to play Rajon Rondo for 40+ minutes. It's clear to see that he's taking advantage of this 82-game season.

I didn't get to the see the Celtic-Heat game because Hurricane Sandy knocked my power out, but judging by the box score, the Celtics had trouble defending. The Heat shot 54% from the field and managed to put up an astounding 120 points against the Celtics defense which ranked 3rd in the NBA last season in points allowed, 2nd in the NBA in opponent's field goal percentage, and 1st in opponent 3-point percentage. The Heat had a field day, and the Bucks also had a comfortable outing in TD Garden.

Against the Bucks, the Celtic starters averaged 31 minutes. Pierce played 41 minutes against the Heat, and only 28 in the Bucks game, primarily because of how much Pierce struggled with the Bucks. I believed the Celtics struggled so much because of what Doc Rivers did in the first quarter.

Doc pulled in so many bench players in the first quarter that with 4 minutes left in the quarter (a healthy chunk left in the period), Doc Rivers had Rondo with 4 bench players on the court. I think that hurts the Celtics because it doesn't give anybody a chance to settle into the game. I believed 9 or 10 players hit the court in the first quarter alone. Barbosa had an impressive 16-point 15-minute performance against the Heat but Doc Rivers still on put in Barbosa for just 7 minutes, making hard for him to get into any type of rythm. The same thing could be said about Jason Terry, although he turned it up a little in the final 2 minutes of the game.

The only bright spot for the Celtics seems to be that they've outscored their opponents in the fourth quarter...although that's the only quarter they've outscored their opponent.

I'm not sure what to make of this. This is only the second game, but I thought all (or at least most) of the kinks would've been worked out during preseason or training camp. I could understand the Heat having a good game, but the Bucks weren't favored to win, especially in TD Garden, an arena where the Celtics are 0-3. The home crowd has yet to see a Celtic victory for the 2012-2013 season. I'm not mad the Celtics are losing, but it's how they're losing that bothers me.

I just believe that Doc Rivers needs to find a definitive rotation, once that happens, things will start to fall in place.

What are your thoughts? What does it take for the Celtics to get back on the B-18 Bus?