In tonights game against the 76ers, the Celtics sat their entire starting 5 plus their first man off the bench in Delonte West. Even with that, players 7-11 held their own against the Philadelphia 76ers starters.
I understand it was a preseason game, and the intensity level was not at all the same of a regular season game, but the 76ers played their REAL starters, nearly starter like minutes. This wasn't the same 76ers the Celtics thrashed in the first game of the preseason 93-65.
No, tonight Iguodala, Elton Brand, and Nocioni all played. Until about 3-4 minutes into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were right there, and had even built up a 12 point lead at midway through the 3rd.
There obviously comes a problem when the Celtics 3rd string is in there playing against a mixture of the Sixers 1st and 2nd's. That was something the C's couldn't overcome. But nonetheless, it was impressive that the team held on with the players they had playing. Just look at the Box Score... Lasme played 27.5 minutes Erden played just over 22, and Wafer plugged away nearly 39. With that, the Celtics were right there until the 4th.
Of course this is kind of looking at it as a moral victory, but it also begs the question: How easy will it be for Doc to rest key starters when playing teams like this?
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