Game 1 minutes

[Tai]

Wow, this topic didn't take long to come up! 

It is Game 1, and I'm sure West being in coulda given Ray Allen and Pierce more rest. Same for Erden giving the O'Neals rest, who Doc said he would've played if he was healthy. Maybe Doc thinks that Erden is good to go for tonight.

Honestly, not a big deal.

[action781]

News flash- any game against the Heat, Lakers, Magic, Thunder, expect to see high minutes. When you play against good teams typically the better players are going to be playing more minutes. Doc did a phenomenal job of monitoring minutes last year and with greater depth this year, I don't see a need for a thread like this unless we are halfway through the season and our starters are playing more minutes than last year.

Last season, we saw how important home court advantage will be for us in the playoffs.  I think as long as home court is in sight, we need to play every single game to win.  This is going to be a wild season... I see Boston, LA, and Miami all winning many many games - likely all winning 63+

[the_Bird]

News flash- any game against the Heat, Lakers, Magic, Thunder, expect to see high minutes. When you play against good teams typically the better players are going to be playing more minutes. Doc did a phenomenal job of monitoring minutes last year and with greater depth this year, I don't see a need for a thread like this unless we are halfway through the season and our starters are playing more minutes than last year.

Last season, we saw how important home court advantage will be for us in the playoffs.  I think as long as home court is in sight, we need to play every single game to win.  This is going to be a wild season... I see Boston, LA, and Miami all winning many many games - likely all winning 63+

How so?  The team had no problem beating Orlando and Cleveland on the road, and was six minutes (and a Perk injury) from doing the same to the Lakers.  Pretty sure the home/road record was almost the same in the playoffs. 

If anything, last year's playoffs showed me that home court is LESS important for this team, certainly less important than having everyone healthy.  They ain't scared to go up against a bunch of white t-shirts in Miami.

[GreenEnvy]

I have no problems with the minutes played tonight.

It was a statement game. Both teams REALLY wanted to win this game.

The Celtics didn't have their backup SG and JO was clearly not ready.

BBD was forced to play a lot of time at center, and that made KG have to play more minutes. LeBron got going when Pierce went into the locker room.

Some nights we will need to roll the clock back and make the Big Three play extended minutes. It's a tough reality, but Sheldon Williams and Brian Scalabrine are not walking through that door.

[xmuscularghandix]

Play all the starters 18 minutes, and the bench for 30. Do you think we can get into the playoffs with 30 wins? 

[ralph]

Are you kidding? Doc playing the old guys 40 minutes!

Paul- 40:33
KG- 35:13(he needs to be at 30-33 minutes)
Ray- 39:16
Rondo- 41:29 ( I know he is young, but when you are tired that's when you get hurt)

Why did we trade for Nate if doc is going to play Rondo 40+ minutes a night? makes no sense, since Nate is having a very positive effect on both sides of the ball.
Would it kill Doc to play Von? the kid has played well, he could have played von so ray could sit out. I just hope this big minute thing was just so we could beat the almighty Heat.
 
And if Baby is going to Score 16 a night for us then it's going to be a great year.

[CelticG1]

Ha ha very funny

[CelticG1]

News flash- any game against the Heat, Lakers, Magic, Thunder, expect to see high minutes. When you play against good teams typically the better players are going to be playing more minutes. Doc did a phenomenal job of monitoring minutes last year and with greater depth this year, I don't see a need for a thread like this unless we are halfway through the season and our starters are playing more minutes than last year.

Last season, we saw how important home court advantage will be for us in the playoffs.  I think as long as home court is in sight, we need to play every single game to win.  This is going to be a wild season... I see Boston, LA, and Miami all winning many many games - likely all winning 63+

How so?  The team had no problem beating Orlando and Cleveland on the road, and was six minutes (and a Perk injury) from doing the same to the Lakers.  Pretty sure the home/road record was almost the same in the playoffs. 

If anything, last year's playoffs showed me that home court is LESS important for this team, certainly less important than having everyone healthy.  They ain't scared to go up against a bunch of white t-shirts in Miami.

I think we can maintain similar minnutes to last year for our older guys/starters and significantly boost our win column. We were losing games due to lack of concentration and execution in my opinion. We had a terrible home record and we gave away countless double digit leads that we ended up losing.

Hopefully with more focus this year coupled with a much more improved bench we can continue to win while limiting minutes.

[Celtics18]

Man, if only we'd kept Stephane Lasme to give Paul Pierce a rest!

[2short]

Wow it seems like just about everyone missed the point.  I understand it is an important game and that games like that should have a shortened playoff rotation.  However the point was the during the season I do want to see PP, Ray, KG, Shaq, Jermaine and even rondo get some breathers. 

Man, if only we'd kept Stephane Lasme to give Paul Pierce a rest!

  this is kind of jumping don't you think? 
My point was when healthy and its a normal game I hope to see Erden get some minutes.  I feel Danny has built a GREAT bench, the more they play the better they will be at the end of the season.  Knock on wood we don't have any injuries but if we do I want someone who can step in that has had constant minutes and been producing.  It is very hard to sit on the bench and actually produce with little pt.
Our young starter Rondo is the key to our team, even though he doesn't need a rest during the year I would like him to get a few games where he plays 20 minutes, this would be when delonte comes back of course.  But if rondo is healthy for playoffs he is so key to our team game.

[Celtics4ever]

We could have rested them but the lead eroded when PP was not in badly.   It was a playoff game.  LBJ wanted to win badly but he could take over enough to win enough with all the help from the refs on the no call charges.

[Jon]

The playoff atmosphere is the biggest reason, as others have noted.  I also think that Jermaine O'Neal's readiness (from a health and knowledge standpoint) and West's absence played a part.  Doc clearly had no trust in Wafer.  Add West to the equation, and you could probably knock 10 mpg off Paul and Ray's combined minutes.  Add JO at full speed and you could probably knock 5 off of KG. 

[Fafnir]

Man, if only we'd kept Stephane Lasme to give Paul Pierce a rest!

If we played Pierce even 2 minutes less we'd have lost that game. Pierce is the only player that we have who does a good job on LeBron. He was muscling right past Daniels on screens.

[Fafnir]

The playoff atmosphere is the biggest reason, as others have noted.  I also think that Jermaine O'Neal's readiness (from a health and knowledge standpoint) and West's absence played a part.  Doc clearly had no trust in Wafer.  Add West to the equation, and you could probably knock 10 mpg off Paul and Ray's combined minutes.  Add JO at full speed and you could probably knock 5 off of KG. 

I doubt that, KG only played 35 minutes. That's right around where he should be all year.

Plus Jermaine is really a C at this point in his career.

[Jon]

The playoff atmosphere is the biggest reason, as others have noted.  I also think that Jermaine O'Neal's readiness (from a health and knowledge standpoint) and West's absence played a part.  Doc clearly had no trust in Wafer.  Add West to the equation, and you could probably knock 10 mpg off Paul and Ray's combined minutes.  Add JO at full speed and you could probably knock 5 off of KG. 

I doubt that, KG only played 35 minutes. That's right around where he should be all year.

Plus Jermaine is really a C at this point in his career.

Really?  He averaged 32.8 mpg his first year here, 31.1 mpg his second year, and 29.9 mpg last year.  I can't imagine why with a) his history of injuries and b) all the depth in the front court, Doc would play him more than 30 mpg on average.