Very early in the season the Celtics have placed a tally in both the Win and Loss columns. Although the differences in the teams played and arenas played in are a great factor, these games prove what the Celtics are capable of, and exactly what it will take for the C's to have a good REGULAR SEASON record.
Like I said before Opening Night, the Celtics were going to play that game to win. They were going to go to great lengths to pull that game out. No, they weren't going to show the Heat everything they had, but they would still do whatever it took to sneak out a win.
Then in the second game we saw exactly what we expected.. Doc Rivers is not going to get fooled into playing the starters too many minutes for a regular season game. The difference in minutes are very noticeable:
Opening Night vs. Heat:
Rondo: 41.5 minutes
Ray: 39 minutes
Pierce: 40.5 minutes
Garnett: 35 minutes
Game 2 @ Cleveland
Rondo: 38.5 minutes
Ray: 35.5 minutes
Pierce: 33 minutes
Garnett: 29 minutes
As you can see, every player played less minutes than they did on opening night, and players like Pierce and Garnett played FAR less.
It's not going to happen. Rivers is not going to allow these players to get beat down especially in game 2 on a back to back. Don't you think if these 4 players played the minutes they did on Opening Night the Celtics would have won this game? I do. (And by the way.. None of these players were in foul trouble)
This is where the bench comes into play. For a regular season record of 60+ wins, the bench has to step up. Last night we got the production from Big Baby, but I don't think we got enough out of JO, Daniels, or Nate. Of course this will only get better as Jermaine gets healthy, and Delonte gets back into the lineup in 8 games, so lets not worry about it too much. That is just simply what is going to have to happen to win some of these "inbetween" games. (inbetween= against teams that are average)
BUT... Opening Night did prove what this team can do in a playoff atmosphere with nearly playoff like minutes. So that is a good sign.
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