Rondo & Sam's Playoff Minutes

[Bankshot]

I think that Doc has promised Sam 16 minutes per game, which is why Rondo plays around 30 mpg (which is way too low for your starting pg in playoff game, imo).  The reason I think this is because I saw an interview with Sam the other day and he said that "all I ask is for 8 minutes a half" to help this team.  So I think Rondo is only getting 30 mpg and House is totally out of the rotation because Sam was promised minutes that he doesn't deserve.  I'm not saying he shouldn't play, but I think House should play, unless he is ineffective and then Sam plays.  I thought Sam and PJ were supposed to be insurance, but they seem to have replaced the guys (House, Powe & BBD) who have helped the team get to where they are today.

OT: Doc came up with a lame excuse for Pierce only playing 30 minutes.  He said that Pierce shot 4-12 and he wanted to calm him down.  By putting your best scorer on the bench for half the 4th quarter?   Yeah, right.

[PlayRyanGomes]

According to espn.com Pierce played 36 but that's still too low, I agree 100% with everything you said, it's frustrating how Josh Smith and Bibby played 44 and Joe Johnson 41 while we have Pierce and Rondo getting 36 and 30 respectively, didn't we rest these guys during the regular season for a reason?  Bibby's playing more than a whole quarter of basketball than Rondo and that's a match up that worked out in our favor in the first two games.  When I saw BBD get up off the bench I thought for sure he was going in for PJ b/c PJ was not contributing at all out there, then he went in for Leon and Leon didn't see the floor again.  I'd also like to see House get run as the back up PG.  It's got to be frustrating for him b/c he didn't do anything to lose his job, and suddenly he's replaced by an all out gunner who plays defense worse than he does.

[PlayRyanGomes]

This is the kind of strange reasoning and explanations from Doc many of us feared come playoff time.  Even Steve Bulpett is perplexed.

To begin with, Leon Powe has indeed slipped on the depth chart for now. He played six minutes in the first half Saturday and never returned to the court. Glen Davis, who fell behind Powe later in the season, has returned to the fore.

“He’s just not playing well,” said Rivers of Powe. “But it’s been in committee all year. It’s not going to change. Baby is playing much better right now, so Baby is going to play. For our bigs, it’s pretty simple and it’s not going to change.”

The Celtics do have an issue with Atlanta’s athletic big men, and it’s harder for Powe to get off his shot against, say, a Josh Smith, who can take Powe’s hit and still reach up to deflect Powe’s attempt. Yet, Powe hadn’t done all that poorly, making 5-of-11 shots in Games 1 and 2 before picking up just a foul on his stat line - no shots, no points, no rebounds - in Game 3.

And while we realize there are a number of factors that impact the following statistic, it should at least be pointed out that Powe was one of only two Celts in the positive range. The club was a plus-one on the scoreboard with him in. (Scoreless and shotless Eddie House was a plus-five after coming in with the C’s down 14 in the last few minutes.)

Going to House was an attempt to get an extra 3-point shooter on the court, and it served to cut into the time of Rajon Rondo [stats], who went 29:40 Saturday and probably could have been used more to help with the transition defense problem. Rivers went with Sam Cassell at the start of the last quarter (as usual), but the Celtics weren’t able to package their good possessions.

It also took awhile (6:58 on the clock in the fourth) to get Paul Pierce back in.

“I just rested him because I thought he was rushing,” said Rivers of Pierce, who was 4-for-12 from the floor through three quarters. “I was trying to calm him down.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1090153&format=text

[BudweiserCeltic]

I think that Doc has promised Sam 16 minutes per game, which is why Rondo plays around 30 mpg (which is way too low for your starting pg in playoff game, imo).  The reason I think this is because I saw an interview with Sam the other day and he said that "all I ask is for 8 minutes a half" to help this team.  So I think Rondo is only getting 30 mpg and House is totally out of the rotation because Sam was promised minutes that he doesn't deserve.  I'm not saying he shouldn't play, but I think House should play, unless he is ineffective and then Sam plays.  I thought Sam and PJ were supposed to be insurance, but they seem to have replaced the guys (House, Powe & BBD) who have helped the team get to where they are today.

OT: Doc came up with a lame excuse for Pierce only playing 30 minutes.  He said that Pierce shot 4-12 and he wanted to calm him down.  By putting your best scorer on the bench for half the 4th quarter?   Yeah, right.

Rondo was awful the other night, enough said.  Pierce was alright played 36 minutes, with a bad back and was noticebly slow in his defensive rotations. Let's see how it goes from the next game on, but Rondo was quite bad.

If Rondo is playing a good game, and the game is close and Doc yanks him, then I would have something to say about it, but not when Rondo clearly wasn't playing good.  Wasn't moving the ball well and shooting the ball somewhat poorly.

Sam is always talking a bunch crap... you need to take what he says with a grain of salt.  Also the person that brought up the 8 minute thing was the interviewer, and Sam rolled with it.  I don't think there's any sort of promise from Doc or anything.

And for those complaining about Powe, he was very bad himself, especially deffensively.  He was being eaten alive by the Hawk's bigs, missing quite a few defensive rotations and not crashing the boards like he usually does.  The energy that he brings was missing, and Baby brought it.

[Bankshot]

I think that Doc has promised Sam 16 minutes per game, which is why Rondo plays around 30 mpg (which is way too low for your starting pg in playoff game, imo).  The reason I think this is because I saw an interview with Sam the other day and he said that "all I ask is for 8 minutes a half" to help this team.  So I think Rondo is only getting 30 mpg and House is totally out of the rotation because Sam was promised minutes that he doesn't deserve.  I'm not saying he shouldn't play, but I think House should play, unless he is ineffective and then Sam plays.  I thought Sam and PJ were supposed to be insurance, but they seem to have replaced the guys (House, Powe & BBD) who have helped the team get to where they are today.

OT: Doc came up with a lame excuse for Pierce only playing 30 minutes.  He said that Pierce shot 4-12 and he wanted to calm him down.  By putting your best scorer on the bench for half the 4th quarter?   Yeah, right.

Rondo was awful the other night, enough said.  Pierce was alright played 36 minutes, with a bad back and was noticebly slow in his defensive rotations. Let's see how it goes from the next game on, but Rondo was quite bad.

If Rondo is playing a good game, and the game is close and Doc yanks him, then I would have something to say about it, but not when Rondo clearly wasn't playing good.  Wasn't moving the ball well and shooting the ball somewhat poorly.

Sam is always talking a bunch crap... you need to take what he says with a grain of salt.  Also the person that brought up the 8 minute thing was the interviewer, and Sam rolled with it.  I don't think there's any sort of promise from Doc or anything.

And for those complaining about Powe, he was very bad himself, especially deffensively.  He was being eaten alive by the Hawk's bigs, missing quite a few defensive rotations and not crashing the boards like he usually does.  The energy that he brings was missing, and Baby brought it.

I don't think Sam is talking crap at all.  If he's actually getting the minutes he says he asked for, then I believe him.

[sns0274]

Sam has basically played the same amount of minutes in the playoffs.
is the only reason this is coming up the fact that we stunk up the joint and lost one?

[BASSTHUMPER]

house backs up rondo...sammy backs up house...

how it should be..