Taking Stock: Celtics – Magic

After every game, we'll take stock of how each individual performance affects the player's overall value.

Starters

 Avery Bradley:  I don't know how many times I'll continue to be amazed by Avery Bradley, but I continue to be amazed by Avery Bradley.  23 points on 10-14 shooting last night?  He was huge.  Just huge. 

Paul Pierce:  Truth does it again.  How he's still hitting career highs in categories in his 14th season is amazing too.  And I just love when he shows how he can morph his game to a distributor when Rondo's out.    

Kevin Garnett:  Not a bad game from KG, but I think it's time to give him another day off.  I think he looks a little tired.  If he takes tomorrow off, that would be five days off before he plays again.  And he should probably take the last game off too. 

Brandon Bass:  Brandon torched his former team and seemed to be playing with a little extra aggressiveness.  Good thing, too… because we needed him to outplay the suddenly rejuvenated Big Baby.

Sasha Pavlovic: Well, the nice production out of Pav was fun while it lasted.  He had a nice little stretch there when Pietrus was out with the concussion.  It's obvious he won't be in the mix if this team is fully healthy.

Bench

Greg Stiemsma:  I could make a case that without Stiemsma's energy late in the third, the Celtics lose this game.  The C's were scuffling along at a pace that rivaled the Red Sox.  Then Stiemsma checked in, blocked a couple of shots, sparked a break, and suddenly the C's were on a 10-0 run.  Huge.

E'Twaun Moore:  I'm giving him a little leeway here.  In 13 minutes, he didn't do a ton.  But he demonstrate an ability to hit shots, which we knew… but it was nice to see.  He played ok out there.  There's something about 

Keyon Dooling:  His confidence has taken a shot.  He had one play in particular where, with the shot clock winding down, he had two separate chances to shoot.  Instead, he passed into a crowd and turned it over.  He's another guy clearly out of the rotation if Doc has all options at his disposal.   

Marquis Daniels:  Not much to discuss here.  He's out too. 

Coaching

Doc Rivers:  It's no easy task to rely on 3 guys who are out of your rotation.  Even with a heavy reliance on Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, he still managed to keep their minutes down around 35.  That alone is impressive.  

Overall

I'll take the win and happily move on.  The C's are the division champs, they're still in the hunt for home court (though I still think health is more important than winning home court in the first round) and the older guys weren't run into the ground.  What more can you ask given the situation?