Green's 18 not enough as Celtics fall to Bobcats
No one can blame him after having played 47 minutes of a 3OT game against Denver. PP could be excused as he put in 54 minutes of work in that same game. Jason Terry seemed to have forgotten his mid-range game and is falling more and more in love with his three-point shot. Yet, in spite of losing Leandro Barbosa possibly for the year and their mental lapses they had a chance to win the game.
I suppose you can say the aforementioned players did their job in Sunday night's game and expected the role players to stand up and deliver against a sub .500 scrappy Charlotte Bobcats team. The opposite happened.
Brandon Bass continued his disappearing act but Doc kept force feeding him minutes, even though he showed no inclination to play inspired basketball. Then there is the curious case of Courtney Lee; who fancies himself as more than a role player. For the last two games Lee has shown a lack of awareness and production that culminated in only 19 minutes of playing time in this loss. The one player, besides "The Truth" and the "Big Ticket" is proving he belongs is Jeff Green.
When the game got tight, the 'Cats' kept attacking Boston's prized defensive hounds, Lee and Bradley.
Bass clanked jumper after jumper, and Courtney Lee's lack of defensive pressure, gave Ramon Sessions the shot that was key in ending this seven game win streak.
Meanwhile, "Uncle Jeff " who kept attacking the basket, getting and-one's after and-ones was glued to the bench for most of the fourth quarter. Doc Rivers excuse for Bass over Green, they needed the rebounding. (Que in the crickets...) Commonsense dictates that Bass "is what he is", an above average bench-player and a poor rebounder who has maxed out his talents. Green would have at least given them a fighting chance.
There is no need to panic, Doc just needs to do the obvious, and start Jeff Green. He has shown he can make the adjustments and is gaining confidence as the season progresses.
