Logo
The Ticker
7 days ago

3-on-3: Will Doc Rivers Return Next Season?

With the Doc Rivers coaching watch heating up to a fever pitch in the past few days with a countless number of credible reports, we decided it’s time to get our crew back together and address the speculation. 1. On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you Doc Rivers will coach the Celtics next [...]

10
9 days ago

Rajon Rondo Reads Mean Tweets About Himself on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Despite all the rehab, Rajon Rondo is finding ways to keep busy this offseason. Just a couple weeks after appearing on E!’s Fashion Police show, the point guard was back on TV last night, in a fun segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live called Mean Tweets. In it, celebrities, or in this case NBA players, read [...]

5
22 days ago

Why Are People So Eager To Trade Paul Pierce?

The whispers around Paul Pierce’s future with the Celtics continue to surface in the fourth week of Boston’s offseason. Unconfirmed report after unconfirmed report has circled in, stating anything from Pierce’s house being on the market, to the team being “likely” to buy him out. Locally, plenty of Celtics fans seem resigned to the fact [...]

51
24 days ago

Terrence Williams Tells His Side of the Story on Arrest

It was a tough start to the offseason last week for Terrence Williams. After standing out as one of the bright spots on the Celtics roster late last season, he was taken into custody last week with the disturbing allegation that he pulled a gun during a domestic dispute with his son’s mother and her [...]

10
25 days ago

Video: Rajon Rondo on E! Fashion Police

What has Rajon Rondo been up to this offseason beyond rehabbing his ACL injury? Rubbing elbows with Joan Rivers, that’s what. Just one summer after spending some time showing off his fashion sense in an internship with GQ, Rondo went one-on-one with Rivers on E’s Fashion Police, since well he has some time on his [...]

4
26 days ago

Jason Terry’s 2012-13 Final Grade

  Acquiring any player, whether it’s via trade, free agency, or the draft, comes with an air of uncertainty. The NBA has no guaranteed covenant and all sales are final, no matter how talented, proven, or productive the player may have been in year’s past. But these memories—especially recent ones—often clouds the judgment of a [...]

12
Browse Archives by:

Have you seen me?

When Pierce’s final shot attempt was blocked by John Salmons, a collective head hanging could be felt from Celtics fans everywhere. Heads hung because Pierce couldn’t even get the ball to the basket to give the Celtics a shot at an unprecedented 5 point come back with 35.5 seconds left.

While the disappointment still lingers, fans should lift their heads up and applaud their star for his sheer ability to even get off the floor at that point. Pierce’s attempt came at the end of his fifty-second minute of basketball yesterday, far more than any Bulls starter and only second to Rondo on the Celtics.

Why so many minutes? Because next to Pierce’s name on the Celtics’ depth chart is Bill Walker. While I still believe that Bill Walker will be good enough to be second to a swingman like Pierce, I know for a fact he won’t be in the 2009 NBA Playoffs.

What’s worse is the comparison between the Bulls and Celtics rotations. The Bulls only like to use a seven man rotation with only Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller coming off the bench while the Celtics supposedly have three serviceable guards and two big men to come off the bench. Now you can argue that Mikki Moore isn’t worth the six fouls he’s allotted, Eddie House hasn’t found his range in the playoffs they way he did in the regular season, Stephon Marbury is still shaking off dust, and Tony Allen has his mind on other things, but none of those would substantiate why Kirk Hinrich is out playing all the guards on the bench. One would also think that five guys is better than two, but so far, no good.

The only Bulls’ rotation player that has logged close to as many miles as Pierce is Brad Miller and he has only averaged around 26 minutes in the playoffs.

In order for the Celtics to win this series, or even have a shot at winning this series, the bench needs to step it up with the time they are given. Doc can’t play guys that he can’t trust to produce, which means more than 11 points in 50 minutes. The bench starts producing, Pierce can’t start resting, and the Celtics’ fans can start breathing easier again.

Best case scenario: Another blowout like Game Three where Pierce only has to play 28 minutes and the bench can get some rhythm going in to Game Six.

Worst case scenario: See you in Boston for Game Seven.

…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>