In advance of the Celtics-Heat series, Ray Allen sat down to chat with ESPN Boston's Jackie MacMullan.
Asked about LeBron James' dubbing the 76ers "breakfast," Allen notes about Boston, "You gotta have a big appetite, because we're a smorgasbord."
March 2011 Boston Celtics Wiretap
The Celtics will be paying close attention to Chris Bosh in their conference semifinal series and for good reason.
“When Bosh plays really well they blow teams out,” Kevin Garnett said. “It’s not even close.”
Bosh averaged almost 20 points and nine rebounds in Miami’s first round series against Philadelphia. He had monster performances in the first two games of the series and then came up big in the close-out game with 22 points and 11 rebounds. In the one game Miami lost he was held to just 12 points and five rebounds.
“LeBron and Wade are going to be LeBron and Wade,” Doc Rivers said. “They were great before the series, they’ll be great during it and they’ll be great after it and this summer when you’re talking about it you’ll say LeBron and Wade are great players. That’s not going to chance. But when Bosh plays great, then their team plays great. He’s a key guy for them.”
While Rajon Rondo has averaged 12 assists a game against the Heat this season, the rest of his offensive numbers (7.5 points a game, 37 percent shooting) have been subpar.
"It doesn't matter,'' Rondo insisted. "I'm going to attack those guys. I'm going to make them do their job. I'm driving right at them. If they block my shot, then they do.
"If they're blocking my shot, who is guarding Ray and Paul? It's about adjustments. If they block my shot the first time, then the second time, I'm doing something different.''
Rondo shot 53 percent from the line against New York, but insists his days of worrying about making them are over.
"I'm not thinking about that anymore,'' he said. "If I get to the line and get us into the penalty, then it makes it better for Paul when he makes a baseline cut. When he gets fouled, then he's at the line. Two shots.
"It helps him get into his rhythm, along with Ray. If Ray is fouled with the ball and we're in the penalty, he's going to the line. That's two shots, two points.''
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he remains uncertain when ailing center Shaquille O'Neal will return to game action, but expressed heightened confidence Friday in his potential to do so in an Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Miami Heat.
"He just did a little bit yesterday, maybe some more today," said Rivers. "Really that’s the only update I have. No decision has been made or anything. I’m more confident now that he’ll play in this series. I don’t know when. Maybe [Game] 1, maybe [Game] 2. But I do think he’ll play.”
According to Rivers, O'Neal participated in limited portions of Thursday's walkthrough and there was hope he'd ramp up that workload a bit Friday, but Rivers wasn't sure how much live action he'd see.
"He just did some stuff with [team trainer] Eddie [Lacerte on Thursday]," said Rivers. "Eddie's more confident that he'll play, so that makes me more confident."
According to ESPN researchers Peter Newmann and Dean Oliver, Paul Pierce defended LeBron James 69 percent of the time during the 277 offensive possessions that Miami ran out of a halfcourt set during the teams' four regular-season meetings.
During that span, with Pierce defending James, Miami as a team averaged a mere 81 points per 100 possessions while shooting 42 percent from the floor. With James defended by all other players, Miami averaged 102 points per 100 possessions and shot 52 percent overall.
Zoom in closer on James during those same situations and you'll see he averaged a mere 75 points per 100 possessions while shooting 43 percent when guarded solely by Pierce. Against all other defenders, that number jumps to 93 points per 100 possessions behind 50 percent shooting overall.
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers minimized the depth angle against an opponent that still possesses Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
"They have two pretty good guys, three pretty good guys they are going to play 40 minutes, so I don't think they are going to have that big of a bench problem during the playoffs, honestly," he said Thursday, with Wade, James and Bosh each playing at least 40 minutes Wednesday. "They have enough guys that they'll move them around."
The Celtics, by contrast, not only have Rajon Rondo and Jermaine O'Neal in support of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the starting lineup, but also the bench boost of Glen Davis, Delonte West, Nenad Krstic and possibly another O'Neal (if Shaquille O'Neal is able to make it back).
Rivers, though, said that doesn't diminish the pressure on his starters.
"It's important, but at the end of the day, the starters are the key," he said. "The starters have to play well. The bench has to help, and we have enough guys that that will happen for us, as well. But let's make no mistake, if your starters are playing well, then you have a very good chance of winning playoff games."
Doc Rivers said the Celtics will go through a skeleton practice today, which he later told CSNNE.com involved no contact but would require Shaquille O'Neal to run at full speed.
"That'll be good for him," Rivers told CSNNE.com. "Full speed, no contact is probably the best thing for him right now."
Depending on how today's practice goes, O'Neal would then participate in the team's practice on Friday morning but in a limited capacity.
"He'll practice some, but not all of that practice," Rivers said.
The last time O'Neal took the floor was April 3 vs. Detroit, a game in which he lasted less than six minutes before re-aggravating the injury.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers once again is satisfied with his engine.
“The ball movement, the simplicity of it, is really important, and that’s with Rondo handling the ball, but it’s also with everyone touching the ball and moving the ball,” he said. “I just like the fact in the last two games that it was simple and it was nice.”
The Celtics might still be playing New York, for example, if not for the return of Allen’s jump shot. Perhaps the ultimate sign of the C’s overall efficiency: Each of the Big Four led the team in scoring in the first round.
Allen wasn’t as gun shy when asked about turning that corner.
“I believe we turned a corner,” he said. “If the ball wasn’t moving for any one of us, it would be stagnant. On any team in this league, if you don’t share the wealth, it’s going to be tough on you.
“From a defensive standpoint, we want teams to hold the ball so we can load up on them and force them to make the play they’re not used to making. Teams do that to us and we play into their hands, but when we move the ball, I love that. If I don’t shoot it in the corner, when we move the ball I can see that everyone is touching it. If I’m shooting the ball, then that means that everyone is moving it.”
The Celtics reserves don’t lack for confidence.
“I feel like our bench is way stronger than theirs,” Glen Davis said. “We’re way deeper than them. We just have to make sure we use our depth.”
The Heat have used three reserves primarily in their first round series with Philadelphia — Joel Anthony, Mario Chalmers and James Jones — but they may get a boost if Udonis Haslem is able to return from foot surgery that has kept him out since late November. An ineffective Mike Miller has fallen out of the rotation.
The Celtics may be deeper on paper, but their second unit didn’t exactly distinguish itself in their series with the Knicks except for a strong showing in the first half of Game 4. Rivers feels like he has gained some insight from that series, however.
“We knew what the starters could do,” Rivers said. “We weren’t sure what the fifth guy with the starters could do and you had no idea going into a playoff series what your bench, not only what they were going to give you, but what worked for them. As the playoffs went on we kind of figured out more and more what they’re comfortable with, what they can’t run more than what they can run.”
Responding to comments by Mike D'Antoni about Rajon Rondo, Doc Rivers said Rondo isn’t necessarily a product of the players around him, but the stigma won’t leave him until they do.
“You play with those guys, that’s probably what you’re going to get,’’ Rivers said. “I don’t think he would trade it. He enjoys playing with them. But if there’s a negative side, that would be it: No matter how well you play, the question will be [there]. Someday that’ll be answered, too. I’ve got a feeling he’ll answer them all in the way he’s answered them now.’’
“When he’s playing at the top of his game, we’re tough to beat," Paul Pierce said. “That just shows you how important he is to our team.’’