Brian Scalabrine was one of the best Celtics on the court last night and the prevailing wisdom is that he matches up better with Rashard Lewis than Big Baby Davis does. Big Baby has been solid in Garnett's absence but Scalabrine has been a spot starter in the past before (with positive results). So why not start Scalabrine? (the idea is being discussed at length on the message boards)
When asked about the prospect of his role increasing, Scal downplayed the notion in order to give verbal support to his teammate Glen Davis (a smart thing considering his emotional temperament). via the Herald:
"They've been saying that based on Baby (Davis) might have trouble against Rashard Lewis," Scalabrine said before scoring 10 points in 26 minutes of last night's 95-90 loss to Orlando at the Garden. "You can't go on that. Big Baby's a good defender. I'll be ready if they call on me but not because of that."
Scal ended up playing good defense on Lewis, but according to Rivers, that wasn't the case in the first half (Globe)
"Scal really struggled guarding Lewis," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers about some of the first-half breakdowns. "They went to the post two or three times and he scored. I thought Scal made a great adjustment in the second half, fronting him more, getting him off the block.
The idea of starting Scal has a lot of merit. I for one like the idea of Big Baby coming in later to give Perkins a breather against Dwight Howard. And if Scal really can slow down Lewis more than Davis, it makes sense to prevent another big early game deficit.
On the other hand, you have to hope that the "demotion" doesn't negatively effect Big Baby's emotions to the point that he's knocked out of his rhythm. Also, Baby does provide some beef in the starting lineup which in theory helps with rebounding.
So what do you think? Stick with what got us here or make an adjustment moving forward?