Increase Playing Time for Big Baby Against the Pistons

[Employee8]

Time to look ahead to the Pistons.

I was thinking of the games we played against them during the regular season and all of them were pretty close although we had a double digit win in the last meet.  Remember the second game at Detroit when Big Baby absolutely tore it up for the Celtics?  He was getting all the key rebounds and the put ins and pretty much won the game for us in the waning minutes of the game.

Here are his stats against the Pistons this season:

Dec 19 @ BOS (L 85-87): 11 mins, 0/2 FG, 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 points
Jan 5 @ DET (W 92-85): 23 mins, 8/10 FG, 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 20 points
March 5th @ BOS (W 90-78): 20 mins, 3/5 FG, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 7 points

His numbers aren't too impressive at home but that's a big game he had on January 5th.  Maybe I wouldn't put him in the rotation at home but ease him in to prepare him for Game 3 and 4.  Maybe he needs the Detroit atmosphere to step it up!  I'm sure Big Baby remembers that game and that might be a boost for him.

[wdleehi]

No. 

Celtics should go with KG, Perkins and Brown. 


Powe or Davis can play if there is foul trouble. 



ECF.  Time to squeeze the rotation even tighter.

House/Posey/Brown if the bench (unless House can't deal with the full court pressure)

[RonJohn]

The problem with giving Glenn more minutes is you don't know which Glenn is going to show up. Will you get Glenn from the 1st game, 2nd game, or 3rd game? You can't rely on a rookie.  The key to Davis' game is using his wide shoulders to create space for himself. When he uses his shoulders to create space he makes his shots (ala 2nd game against the Pistons). However, when he makes himself smaller (winding up, trying to get the shot in), he cannot get the ball off and rarely gets the call. The Pistons are Long and Tall which makes it difficult for both Powe and Davis as they are both a bit undersized in the height department. The problems with them playing can be seen in the Atlanta and Cleveland series where both has trouble at times being able to get a shot off against taller/longer players. Unless a SPARK is needed, I would keep to PJ as the first big off the bench.  Hopefully, Perk will finally learn and not get fouls 35 feet from the basket.

[EJPLAYA]

Sorry. BBD needs to sit unless none of the others (Perk, PJ, Powe) are getting it done. BBD is a 1 out of 6 game player. The tough part though is you don't know which game he is going to look good. In a 7 game series you can't take that risk... Especially with PJ stepping up and having heigth. next year big fella. After you swap that fat for muscle! Step away from the chicken wings!

[RonJohn]

EJPLAYA,

I agree with your synopsis except for the Powe part. He's been as incosistent as Davis. They are going to have to counter Maxiell at some point with either Davis or Powe.

[WedmanIsMyHero]

Powe has not been that inconsistent.  He just hasn't had minutes.  I agree Brown looks solid as the first "big" off the bench right now.  However, it is unlikely he actually has the legs to play 20 minutes a game.  So Doc will have to be careful.

Don't forget Doc's "hot hand" theory of substitutions, which he analogizes to relief pitching in baseball even though that's not quite how they do it in baseball.  Here is the problem -- now that Brown has played well, I am worried Doc is going is going to ride him into the ground, leaving the Celtics with a cold Powe/Davis at the end of the ECF. 

EJPLAYA,

I agree with your synopsis except for the Powe part. He's been as incosistent as Davis. They are going to have to counter Maxiell at some point with either Davis or Powe.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Powe has not been that inconsistent.  He just hasn't had minutes.  I agree Brown looks solid as the first "big" off the bench right now.  However, it is unlikely he actually has the legs to play 20 minutes a game.  So Doc will have to be careful.

Don't forget Doc's "hot hand" theory of substitutions, which he analogizes to relief pitching in baseball even though that's not quite how they do it in baseball.  Here is the problem -- now that Brown has played well, I am worried Doc is going is going to ride him into the ground, leaving the Celtics with a cold Powe/Davis at the end of the ECF. 

EJPLAYA,

I agree with your synopsis except for the Powe part. He's been as incosistent as Davis. They are going to have to counter Maxiell at some point with either Davis or Powe.

Powe HAS been inconsistent regardless of the minutes.  The minutes have been erratic BECAUSE of his inconsistencies.

[Who]

Powe has not been that inconsistent.  He just hasn't had minutes. 

Powe has had the most minutes of the three players.

Celtics haven't updated their site yet, either have ESPN. Anyway one game will only change the minutes so much. In 13 games, Powe is averaging 15.2 minutes (14.5 in the regular season), PJ is averaging 9.5 minutes, Davis 7.6 minutes.

Powe has had more chances/more minutes to impress than any of the three backup big men.

His minutes haven't been consistent night in night out since Atlanta because he hasn't been consistent. What type of reaction do you expect him to get? He shot 56% in the regular season, only 39% against Cleveland. He only pulled down one rebound every 6 minutes against Cleveland, instead of the 3.5 minute per rebound average of the regular season. Powe needs to up his play.

Doc is still giving the lad opportunities. Powe was the first sub in last night in a Game Seven despite his struggles, coming for Perk with 2 minutes to go in the first. He did very little with his 7 minutes, grabbing zero rebounds and ended up benched in favour of the producing PJ Brown.

I expect Doc will continue to give Powe chances but he's gotta start making more out of them.

[Tommy Gun]

EJPLAYA,

I agree with your synopsis except for the Powe part. He's been as incosistent as Davis. They are going to have to counter Maxiell at some point with either Davis or Powe.

TP..Exactly you have to counter the matchup with the proper guy..Maxiell is a beast you have to counter with Davis or Powe..You can't just say we should only play KG, Perk or Brown.

Maxiell will push PJ all over the place

[wdleehi]

EJPLAYA,

I agree with your synopsis except for the Powe part. He's been as incosistent as Davis. They are going to have to counter Maxiell at some point with either Davis or Powe.

TP..Exactly you have to counter the matchup with the proper guy..Maxiell is a beast you have to counter with Davis or Powe..You can't just say we should only play KG, Perk or Brown.

Maxiell will push PJ all over the place

PJ is the best defender out of the bench big men.  He is the longest.  He is the most experienced.  I still trust him more then Powe or Davis out there.





As for Powe and Davis, both would have a better shot of playing better this series (as well as Perkins).  Detroit isn't close to as big as Cleveland.  Boston will be the bigger and stronger team inside.

[Employee8]

The reason I bring up BBD for this Pistons series is we haven't won a road game yet.  He had great success at the Palace so why not put him in for a little while to see if he can generate some energy for us? If not, we can bring in the usual suspects (Brown, Powe)

[wdleehi]

The reason I bring up BBD for this Pistons series is we haven't won a road game yet.  He had great success at the Palace so why not put him in for a little while to see if he can generate some energy for us? If not, we can bring in the usual suspects (Brown, Powe)

His great success was catching wide open shots under the basket because his defender was on Pierce. 


Both Brown and Powe could have done that.

[Employee8]

The reason I bring up BBD for this Pistons series is we haven't won a road game yet.  He had great success at the Palace so why not put him in for a little while to see if he can generate some energy for us? If not, we can bring in the usual suspects (Brown, Powe)

His great success was catching wide open shots under the basket because his defender was on Pierce. 


Both Brown and Powe could have done that.

I understand that I'm advocating for BBD based on his performance in only one game at the Palace but I think if our road woes continue, we might as well put in BBD since he has that mental edge over the Pistons.  It doesn't matter if he had a big game because his "defender was on Pierce" as you say, he still had a good game regardless and won it for us.  I'd give him the nod over Brown and Powe.  If my theory proves to be false, then we can go back to our usual bench players but it can't hurt trying new things to get us out of this funk.

[WedmanIsMyHero]

That's pretty fair, actually.

The reason I bring up BBD for this Pistons series is we haven't won a road game yet.  He had great success at the Palace so why not put him in for a little while to see if he can generate some energy for us? If not, we can bring in the usual suspects (Brown, Powe)

His great success was catching wide open shots under the basket because his defender was on Pierce. 


Both Brown and Powe could have done that.

I understand that I'm advocating for BBD based on his performance in only one game at the Palace but I think if our road woes continue, we might as well put in BBD since he has that mental edge over the Pistons.  It doesn't matter if he had a big game because his "defender was on Pierce" as you say, he still had a good game regardless and won it for us.  I'd give him the nod over Brown and Powe.  If my theory proves to be false, then we can go back to our usual bench players but it can't hurt trying new things to get us out of this funk.

[footey]

Doc has to keep an open mind. I don't buy all this shorten the rotation stuff.  These guys are busting hard, and fresh bodies are required. If PJ gets it done off the pine, keep him going. If BBD or Powe do, ride that pony as well. Try to go with the matchups. If they don't work, try something else, and keep at it until it works. As long as the starters get sufficient minutes, I would not worry about continuing to free lance with the bench guys. Who knows, maybe Cassell will play a big spot in game 7 this series. Crazy as it sounds, it could happen.