Ray Allen and KG could return to the lineup tonight, which would give the Celtics a full strength starting five for the first time since Garnett hurt his knee a month ago. I can't help but be excited about this possibility, though early indications are that neither will play big minutes if at all. Fortunately, the Celtics have more than their fair share of easier games left to play this season, with one more game apiece against the Clippers, Wizards, 76ers, Thunder, Nets, Grizzlies and Bobcats remaining on the schedule. Unfortunately, Boston still has to play Orlando and Cleveland once (both on the road), Atlanta twice (split), as well as San Antonio tonight. Boston's remaining schedule isn't exactly a cakewalk, but it certainly could be a lot worse than it is.
I wish I could say that the Celtics have been playing better than their record of late, but in reality, their 5-5 record through the last ten games sums up their play perfectly in that I've seen as many good things as bad recently. For instance, Stephon Marbury looks a little bit better every time I see him play for the Celtics, however his shooting stroke is still way off (not that he was ever a sniper by any stretch of the imagination) and he still has to make some big steps with his conditioning and his defense. Flaws aside, I really do like most of the things Steph has been doing for the Celtics and the tools he brings to the table. Every time I've watched him play, he's made at least a few great plays and created some really nice, easy baskets for his teammates. Additionally, he's exercised good judgement while on the court and seems to be getting more and more comfortable within the Celtics' system. I've also noticed that Steph has been active in cheering on his teammates and his body language while on the bench has been great. Maybe he's only doing it for show, and admittedly it hasn't been 100% of the time, but Marbury has been an active participant from the bench, cheering on his teammates and looking far more engaged in the game than he ever did while playing for the Knicks (I could be blinded by desperation and optimism, only time will tell).
With the caveat of being incredibly rusty, Marbury has been mostly good for the Celtics. Mikki Moore, on the other hand, has not impressed me quite as much. Although Moore is an enthusiastic player who brings energy, length and some mid-range shooting ability to the Celtics bench, he's left me shaking my head in disgust more than once since donning green and white this year. Moore's biggest problem is that he seems determined to compete with Kendrick Perkins for the most-unnecessary-fouls-that-kill-your-team-and-relegate-you-to-the-bench award. Seriously, he's averaging 4.4 fouls per game in only 17.6 minutes on the floor! For those of you who aren't so good at math, that's one foul every four minutes which puts Mikki above and beyond even the likes of Zero Cool and Acid Burn in the biggest-hacker-of-all-time category (this pop-culture reference is probably only for Tyler, it's pretty obscure, even for my standards). It hasn't been all bad, and I'm still confident that with a little more playing time Moore can integrate himself into the system and become a contributor for the Celtics in the postseason.
Apart from Boston's more recent acquisitions, the Celtics bench has done an admirable job of trying to fill the voids left by the injured starters. Until he hurt his knee earlier this week against the Bulls, Leon Powe was absolutely tearing it up on the court. Eddie House has been his usual self, and I've been pleasantly surprised with the play of Bill Walker, who looks like he could be a nice contributor down the road. I've seen things from all of these guys that I like, especially in the context of Boston's upcoming playoff run. Though the bench has been maligned throughout the year and constantly pointed to as a potentially fatal weakness (even by me), if the rotation players can return to form I feel like the Celtics' second unit could surprise some people during the playoffs.
We'll see if I can catch tonight's game (if I can get to a place with NBA TV soon enough) and extract some valuable information from it, however I'm still expecting to wait another week or two before really judging this Celtics team. Until then, browse the archives for some older content, or expand your horizons and check out some of the other talented bloggers out there (I especially recommend Henry Abbott's Truehoop on ESPN). Cheers!
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