Celtics player grades vs Memphis Grizzlies

Rajon Rondo and the Boston Celtics fell to the Memphis Grizzlies 93-83

ESPN Boxscore

Player Grades:

Rajon Rondo:
Still looking affected by his hip injury, Rondo was unable to penetrate as well as he normally would. Played great help defense, but with Bradley off the floor he was unable to keep up with Conley's speed due to his hip. Jumper was completely off today, and made some boneheaded decisions in crunch-time. Needs to get healthy.
B-

Avery Bradley:Looked rusty on offense, but as good as ever on defense. Seems like he will be fine, but just needs more conditioning and practice. Also needs to get back on same page with Rondo, they messed up a couple plays between them tonight. Looks like he did a great job with his rehab.
B

Paul Pierce:
Kept the Celtics in the game early on with his scoring. Rebounded well. Stayed a little too confident in his 3-point shot, which failed him down the stretch. His defense was forgettable. Had a pretty good game overall.
B

Kevin Garnett:
Had a bad game offensively, but not too much to harp on otherwise. The days of depending on KG for elite rebounding are long gone. Seemed burned out by the end of the 4th due to playing for the entire quarter. Considering how good he consistently is, a bad game is not something to be too angry about.
C+

Jason Collins:
It is understandable that he plays with Wilcox out, Bass struggling, and Sullinger being unable to stay on the floor. However, Doc needs to stop playing him together with Rondo. They are a disaster offensively. A Rondo/Collins pairing is -9.6pts /48 with a terrible 88.7 OTRG. Oh yeah and he scored today somehow.
D

Jeff Green:
Had a classic Green game. Hit some shots, failed as a playmaker, did not rebound, played middling defense, and was not aggressive enough. To be honest if Jeff can consistently at least make a neutral impact on the court I will not be angry with him.
C

Jared Sullinger:
Hustled like always, rebounded, but really struggled offensively against a big frontline. He got hit by a ton of rookie calls today, which was unfair. It is still yet to be determined how much positive impact Sullinger can actually give us for later in the season. Sullinger getting crunch time minutes today was pretty huge in terms of learning how highly Doc is starting to think of him.
B-

Courtney Lee:
Started off really well but was benched by Doc for some unknown reason. Gambled too much on defense, and did a poor job of keeping the ball in front of him. Looked good with the ball in the open court. Doc needs to do a better job of riding the hot hand with his bench players.
B-

Jason Terry:
Was invisible on the court for the first three quarters, but helped the Celtics almost rally back. His poor defense really helped Memphis get a huge lead however. Doc should have sat him and kept Lee in. Also forced Garnett and Rondo to take some bad shots, which he should be taking himself.
C+

Brandon Bass:
Was godawful on the boards, but showed some offensive creativity and aggression that was lacking from his fellow role players. Defensively, he was more solid than usual. But several boneheaded decisions (an attempted behind the back dribble in traffic) and his ineptitude on the boards give him a low grade.
B-

Conclusion: This was not a terrible game. While we still have a plethora of problems to fix, chief of which is 3-point defense, we finally have a small glimmer of hope. The team played with energy, and had a great shot of winning the game tonight. The Celtics have a long way to go to be where they want, but tonight they inched a little forward. The next game is at home against the Indiana Pacers (19-13) on Friday (01/04/13).

Sound off in the comments whether you agree with the grades or not, and what you thought of the game tonight!

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