After every game, we'll take stock of how each individual performance affects the player's overall value.
Starters
Rajon Rondo: He came out like a house on fire, but then he slowed down. And then, of course, there was the bobble. Tough ending to what was going to be another spectacular night.
Paul Pierce: He's only averaging 30.3 points per game so far in March. He's also averaging 5.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists this month, so he's back to doing a bit of everything. I don't know what the hell it was that woke him up, but I'd sure like to buy some.
Ray Allen: He missed a 4th quarter free throw, which we could have used, and it would have been great if he hit that shot to end the game (how the hell did he get so wide open?). But the C's don't even get into a position for Ray to take that shot without Ray making some big ones earlier.
Kevin Garnett: Ho-hum… another double-double. Sometimes it feels like he's the only guy rebounding out there. Probably because his 13 rebounds were 4 more than the entire bench combined and only 3 less than the other 4 starters combined.
Brandon Bass: 8 points and 4 rebounds don't sound like much but he was out there on a rolled ankle. He still managed a very un-Brandon-like 3 assists.
Bench
Avery Bradley: He had a few good moments, but he had a few terrible ones too. There's definitely some "good with the bad" dynamic with Bradley right now.
Keyon Dooling: Doc Rivers trusts his veterans a lot. And while sometimes I can see why he has faith in Dooling to do step up, sometimes I can't.
Mickael Pietrus: Missed a couple of shots, grabbed a few rebounds… otherwise, he didn't do much. We're going to need him to start stepping up a little more consistently.
Chris Wilcox: Missed a couple of shots, grabbed a few rebounds… otherwise, he didn't do much. We're going to need him to start stepping up a little more consistently (c'mon, bench… step it up).
Greg Stiemsma: What does it say about your bench that Stiemer, pressed into early action, scored 8 points almost immediately and never played again.. but STILL led the bench in scoring. Not only that, his 8 points matched the rest of the bench combined (Dooling-0. Pietrus-0, Wilcox-4, Bradley-4).
JaJuan Johnson, Marquis Daniels, Sasha Pavlovic
Coaching
Doc Rivers: My patience with Dooling is running lower and lower. We'll see what the rotation brings tonight, but these guys have played a LOT of minutes lately.
Overall
The bench mostly stunk, the team went into a malaise, and they got crushed on the boards. But hey, it happens. Orlando lost to Charlotte last night and the Lakers lost to the Pistons… so in perspective an OT win over a good Houston team ain't all bad. Plus, we had the Big 3 stepping up to deliver the win… which we haven't seen a whole lot of this season.
I'm focusing on the positives. I'm fully aware of the negatives, but my bitching about them won't change those negatives and neither will yours. The Celtics won despite those negatives, and that's a good thing.
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