Two First Half Bullets

Posted by Zach Lowe on Dec 27, 2009 50645 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F12%2F27%2Ftwo-first-half-bullets%2FTwo+First+Half+Bullets2009-12-28+03%3A56%3A46Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D5064

Two things of note from the first half:

• Glen Davis pulled down four offensive rebounds in just over 7:00 of playing time. The Celtics are one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the league (28th in the league in offensive rebounding percentage going into tonight). Some of that may be by design (i.e. emphasizing transition defense over crashing the offensive glass), but some of it surely has to do with the team’s personnel; Rasheed Wallace, a power forward who rarely gets an offensive rebound, has played most of the back-up minutes that last season went to one elite offensive rebounder (Leon Powe) and one decent one (Big Baby). 

After all, the C’s, playing basically the same system, ranked 8th in offensive rebounding last season. So it’s not as if the team de-prioritizes offensive boards like the Spurs and Magic do. 

In any case, this is one area in which Baby can help. Of 79 forwards who qualified for the rebounding title last season, Baby ranked  21st in offensive rebounding percentage (which measures the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player grabs while on the floor), according to Basketball Reference.

Everyone focuses on Baby’s jump shot (and further development there will be huge), but this is another way in which Davis can help this team. And we already saw it tonight. 

• The Celtics appear just about done experimenting with Eddie House at the point. When Rondo finally hit the bench in the 2nd quarter, Doc sent Ray Allen in to replace him and had Ray handle most of the ball-handling duties (along with TA). 

This is probably healthy in the long run, since Marquis Daniels (if healthy) is going to handle much of the back-up PG duties late in the season so that House can play the two guard. Jerking Eddie back and forth between the guard roles depending on other people’s health may not be the best thing for him. (Or it may not matter to Eddie. Who knows). 

But Pierce’s injury (and the team’s lack of faith in Eddie at the PG spot) should not mean over-playing Rondo in every game. And that’s a possibility with Daniels out, TA starting at the three and House entrenched as (basically) a shooting guard. 

To Doc’s credit, Rajon “only” played about 18 minutes in the first half. I hope he continues to resist the temptation to push Rajon too hard. He can handle it, but I’d rather save the 42-minute games for May and June.