Boston’s Bench to Step Up Vs. Lakers and Heat


Kobe and LeBron will get their points as they almost always do. However, the Celtics thrive against offenses that revolve around a single scorer, as they have been able to consistently defeat teams that run a “feed the ball to our MVP” offense. The battles that we will see between Boston’s starting five against Miami and LA’s will be exciting, action packed, and fun to watch, but the ultimate outcome of the game will be riding heavily upon the performance of the second units. Hopefully Erden or Shaq will be ready to go, as the Celtics will be at a great size disadvantage if Perkins is their only true center for these games. Nate and Big Baby also need to demonstrate smarter shot selection than they did last night, while still bringing the energy they are known for that can so easily spark the Celtics to a critical run which often turns the game around in their favor. Davis relies too much on his improved jump shot, and went 1-5 from the field last night with only one of the five attempts coming from inside the paint. Big Baby is great at using his massive size to get himself to the hoop for easy buckets and trips to the foul line, and should exploit the soft big men he will come across over these next two games.
Backing up The Truth without Marquis won’t be easy for the next month or two, but Von Wafer has had some big games for the C’s and rookie Luke Harangody is a great presence in the court thanks to his hustle and tendency to box out and do all the little things right. The second unit will definitely feel the impact of losing their ball handling small forward, but hopefully Wafer and Harangody will be able to complement the starting wingmen of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen by playing tough defense, knocking down threes, and helping stretch out opposing defenses. Ray only put up two three point attempts last night, and made both of them, so look for him to both tie and break Reggie Miller’s record on Thursday night against LA in front of thousands of cheering Celtics’ fans at the Garden. It’s going to be a moment, as well as a game, that you won’t want to miss.