Scott Souza has an excellent rundown on the rotation decisions that Doc Rivers is faced with. Here are two of the more interesting points made.
In the backcourt, it will be interesting to see how far Sam Cassell has forged himself into the plans based on his play of the past two games. Rivers said play in the last week wouldn’t affect his rotations much, but he had to be getting a little concerned with Cassell’s inability to assimilate into the lineup because of a combination of lack of practices, a minor back injury and Eddie House’s strong play at the point. But with House out the past two games, Cassell has seized his chance while House’s unit had trouble holding the starters’ leads in recent games.
I like the idea of using House for instant offense and Cassell as the backup point guard. The only knock on Sam is that he shoots too much, but it isn't like House is a natural passer. Rondo will get the bulk of the minutes, but both backups have a role they can fill.
The wild card remains Tony Allen. Though Allen has played better of late, he continues to play well when handed 30 minutes a night and not so well when forced to play in three- to five-minute spurts of a traditional backup shooting guard. He remains the team’s best defensive option against the types of bigger guards that have given the Celtics trouble this season, but if Rivers feels he cannot trust him not to make mistakes in the playoffs his time could be more limited than the coach would have liked.
Sad to say, but I could see Tony Allen falling out of the rotation. I like him as much as anyone, but the playoffs are a time where you need to be consistent, and he's anything but. On the other hand, if we're going to see Tony shine this offseason, it would be against the Hawks where he can match up athletically against their wings better than most Celtics.