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You are only as good as your best players, but when your best players are carrying the entire load the entire time, they might get a little tired by the end of the game. I'm not saying that was definitely the case in game one, but it might have played a part. I know Jeff Green mentioned being worn out and of course Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are the opposite of spring chickens.
So where was the bench? Well, mostly on the bench. 20 minutes for Courtney Lee, just under 20 minutes for Jason Terry, and just over 10 minutes for Jordan Crawford. That's it. No bigs off the bench so Chris Wilcox's postseason drought continued for one more game at least and Shavlik Randolph's rebounds were nowhere to be seen. I'm sure Doc had his reasons - all coaches tighten up the rotations in the playoffs. But I'd definitely like to see the bench step up and help some more and to do that they have to step on the court. (see, I can be sorta-critical of Doc sometimes)
Obviously Bass and Green were playing well and you want all the Kevin Garnett you can get, even on one of his poorer shooting nights. But a few minutes rest for any or all of them would seem to be a wise choice to keep them fresh for the 4th quarter. Then maybe, just maybe, we could score in double figures for the quarter. I know, I'm a dreamer.
Oh yeah, and I hate to pile on, but Jason Terry.... umm, yeah. And Courtney Lee could use a few jumpers to fall to regain some momentum as well. After shooting abysmally at the beginning of the year (shooting just 18% from 3 in November), Lee turned his season around and shot closer to his career averages (around 40% from 3) for the rest of the year. We could use a little more of that stroke to pick up the scoring slack.
Despite his protests to the contrary, I thought Jordan Crawford looked uncharacteristically tentative out there. I wouldn't expect that to last for too long, though how that will work out is anyone's guess.
It was pointed out in the comments over the last few days that Terry's struggles in particular have been on the road and that he shoots better at home. In fact, the team as a whole has played just terribly on the road all year. But we have to steal at least one game on the road and tonight's a great opportunity to do that. It would help if the bench would get a little more room to breathe (Free Shav! and/or Wilcox) and step up in the right moment.