Scal was 3-for-5 with a block and a steal and the team was +15 with him in there, but he's getting mocked. That makes a lot of sense...
Tommy said it best after the game: Scal is a situational player and today was the perfect situation to play him. Toronto was using a perimeter player at center and Scal was the best matchup against him. Good move by Doc. And even more importantly than the couple shots he hit, was the feistiness he displayed on the court, standing up to Graham after Joey tried to start some nonsense. We have sorely lack such spunk during this bad stretch and good for Scal for manning up and providing what we needed.
It's true, Scal doesn't deserve to be mocked for anything he did today, since it was one of his best performances of the year. However, his situational effectiveness will never obscure his fundamental terribleness. Scal will never be a consistent shooter, scorer, rebounder, or defender and will always be cursed by his inability to play within himself. However, against certain guys on certain teams, his pestiness is effective. But, other than about 15-20 situational games where his presence is helpful, he should never see the floor. He does nothing well, other than being annoying. Unfortunately for him, annoyance is easily counteracted by actual talent.
Meanwhile, the true fat blob on our team contributed the worst offensive game of any Celtics player in recent memory, and yet people stick to the tried and true chastisement of Scal. Yep, that's understandable.
The worst offensive game of any Celtics player in recent memory? Really? Your memory must be slipping, because KG was 3-16 today. Baby also had 11 rebounds and missed a bunch of layups he otherwise usually makes. It's not like he was chucking 3s like Scal often does...these were makeup shots in the flow of the offense that he just missed. There will be nights like that, just ask KG.
