Tony Allen & Glen Davis (should) get more minutes against Miami

[Fafnir]

Too much turnover in the league now for career averages to mean a whole lot. Tony's played a bunch of games versus the Shaq led Heat after all!

[EJPLAYA]

I think they both will see plenty of time in this series.  Although I also expect Tony to be in constant foul trouble.

I am not worried about the starters getting too tired though.  Miami actually plays a style of basketball that works well for our starters.  They play relatively slow paced, half-court basketball, which works to the C's favor defensively.  Not to mention, there is a lot of time between games in this series.  

I think the bigger danger that scares me is that Ray will be in constant foul trouble. What we can not do in this series is have Ray get 2 quick fouls against Wade and then have him sitting until the second quarter. Then have him pick up a quick one and be done until the second half. If TA gets in the game and gets a quick couple it gets worse. Yes we have Marquis to come in which is probably as good a depth chart at the spot as there is in the league, but Ray is a star. TA and Marquis are role players. We need our best player on the floor. We also can't put them in the penalty early.

[mmbaby]

I agree with you, OP. Good post. Also I agree with Bahku about needing a consistent rotation. It seems to me that this playing around with our players like they are children forced to win a prize is bad for the chemistry of the players and the team as a whole. Positive reinforcement has proven to work best with all the players, regardless of personality. When you pit one against another for minutes, selfish play is the result and they lose sight of winning as a team. Also, it brings them down and fosters resentment, probably causing them to lose incentive and desire to really play well. All my opinion only.

[Spilling Green Dye]

For this particular series I hope we see a lot of Tony.  Ray does not guard Wade well at all, and Tony at least does a serviceable job. 

As far as Davis goes... I like the idea that if this series is near wrapped up or a game is in hand, that the Celtics play a lot of Davis to save minutes for KG & Perk.  However, I don't think Davis should be getting more than 4 minutes a game in the playoffs, and I've explained this in previous posts.  Personally I'd rather see Sheldon get those 4, but they're only 4 minutes so it doesn't really matter. 

This team needs to come out with guns blazing, and big minutes from the starting 5!  Only if they are up 3 to 1 in a series would I suggest giving a bit of a breather to the starters.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Although TA does get into foul trouble, it is not directly always because of foolish play. His D assignment is the most prestigeous guy on the other team, AKA the ref fav, TA is not a ref Fav, and currently no Celtic really is....TA has to cover these guys that way, and the guys he covers live off of ref calls, they lean into it, drive into it, and fake into it, but if you are not tight on them, they score anyway......maybe he should be used in the 4th, or 2nd and 4th to slow Wade, so he cannot finish us or some scheme like that....with MD holding him some also....? Haslem is rough and Miami will be using all their physical dirt against us for sure....coupled with the C's age and no ref respect it could hurt us fast....hope Ray and PP are hitting outside shots..be good to have Sheldon in there to rebound them....it would also be nice if someone passed to him under there seeing as though on the block he is good at finishing and drawing the foul...get THEM in foul trouble.....he showed he can score (11 points in 12 minutes on REBOUNDS )... ( had to add that!). I know doc doesn't like rebounders....!

[Vermont Green]

We can beat Miami with any combination of bench players so long as we play as a team with the fire which has not been present since about mid December (ie flip the perverbial switch).  I agree we could bench Sheed and play Davis and Williams and be fine.  I don't think it matters whether we play Tony or Daniels.

I am just not sure if the "switch" is broken or not.  If the "switch" is broken, it doesn't matter how much Sheed plays.