The Celtics [team stats] were in no-man’s land as they flew home from Phoenix yesterday. Their rotation Wednesday against the Suns was like cobbling together dinner from what you find in the deepest recesses of the refrigerator.
But if you’re watching these games as a predictor of the Celts’ future, well, that’s a little difficult. With four rotation players out Wednesday and the situation possibly not improving until next week, it’s fair to grade some individual parts but probably not the whole. The C’s have to play the games and compete, knowing still they’re not an accurate gauge of their fitness for the postseason.
“That’s what it feels like,” Ray Allen said. “We’ve just got to get guys healthy, but we’ve also got to figure out a way to get better with the guys we have.”
And that grand desired rotation?
“We haven’t had it all year,” said Allen, noting that by the time Glen Davis returned last week, Marquis Daniels and Paul Pierce [stats] were out.
Now, with Kevin Garnett having knee problems, the Celts will be perhaps even more careful and err on the side of keeping people out longer in hopes the issues don’t linger.
But Doc Rivers still doesn’t want his people leaning so heavily on the readily available excuses.
“I mean, it is what it is,” the coach said. “We’ve got injuries. Every team goes through it. And other guys have to play better.
“I told them I’m not showing up for these games thinking we’re just going to lose. I think we’ve got to get our attitude in that place. We’re good enough to win games, and I think (against Phoenix) we felt a little sorry for ourselves, and I don’t like that.”
The Suns didn’t take the visitors’ roll call.
“It’s a win over the Celtics,” said their coach, Alvin Gentry. “We’ll take it. They don’t put an asterisk by it saying that Kevin Garnett wasn’t here, so we’ll take it any way we can get it.”
As distasteful as the performance may have been by the Celts, Rivers is aware, too, that winning now isn’t as important as having a full complement of players by season’s end.
“The big thing is health,” he said. “And it’s tough because you’ve got a home game that you don’t want to drop. I don’t know how many guys we’re going to have, but we’ve got to find a way to win that game.”
With Daniels (thumb surgery) not expected back until after the All-Star Game, that’s the first chance the C’s will have to get their lineup straight.
If they are intact then, it would give them nearly two full months to get things in order and figure how best to employ a bench that is more than useful. It would give them time to get past the nasty habit of ditching the game plan when things get a little tough - especially against the lesser lights of the league.
Rivers said his team is not flipping an on-off switch, saying, “We play hard. We just don’t always play smart.”
But he did mention the Celts have lost their composure on occasion, and isn’t sticking to the plays and defensive rotations a matter of mental effort?cw-3
“Look, we’ve got to get to the All-Star break and win as many games before then as we can,” Rivers said. “It’d be great to have everyone back for that trip west, but you can’t count on that. You can’t count on health, and I never do. I never take health for granted.”cw0
In the meantime, the coach is expecting more from his team than what he’s gotten during its three-game skid.
“I’m just upset because games like the Clippers and Golden State, you’ve just got to win those games,” he said. “If you lose those games, you don’t get them back, and then when you go against the better teams and you’ve got guys hurt, then it’s really tough.”
And it’s even more difficult when the Celtics [team stats] make it tough on themselves.
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