RSS
Home
Save the minutes, save the world title
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
34-26-28
The measurements of a Celtics dancer? Nope. It's the best stat-line to come out of last night's game against the Bulls.
They are the minutes played by Paul pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, respectively. And this year, that stat more than any other will be what we need to watch.
We all know that tired old story line. You know, that the Celtics Big 3 will be, well, tired and old? This is the way to make sure everyone who said that was wrong. But it's a joint effort. It's not just up to Doc Rivers and staff to look at the stat sheet and sit Ray, KG and Pierce for 'x' amount of minutes. It's up to the players to give Doc a reason.
Last night, the Bulls were over-matched from the start. For most of the first half, they were scoring at a pace of 1 point per minute. That's bad math in the NBA. 1 x 48=blowout loss at this level. But there was nothing they could do. The Celtics were playing stifling defense, while the Bulls were helping us out with bad offense. But it was mostly the effort of the Celtics that gave the C's a huge early lead. It seemed like they got a hand on every pass, or in every shooter's face, or on every rebound. The Bulls, who are still trying to figure themselves out, wilted. And as the lead grew, the minutes the Big 3 played shrank. With a second unit that held the Bulls off, Doc was never given a reason to stray from the plan to limit the Big 3's minutes.
Now the C's hit the road. And with games on back-to-back night, the minuscule minutes are even more important. They allow the starting unit to come out hard in this game, and maybe set the same tone they set last night. If the Celtics can repeat their effort tonight... if they can build a big lead and hand it to the second unit again... then the Celtics will be executing the perfect early-season plan to make sure their most important players are ready, and healthy, for another championship run.
