The "JET" took flight in Boston on Wednesday as he led the bench with
16 points.
Now that's the team we thought we'd see when the season started. Not perfect, but as Doc Rivers always says, a win is a win. The Celtics pulled this one out -- although taking overtime to do so -- over the the Washington Wizards 100-94. Led by double-doubles from the new "Big Three" and some long-awaited contributions from the bench, the Celtics managed to come out on top.
The good:
After coming into the game 24th in the league in bench scoring -- and after being outscored 27-10 in the first half -- the bench turned things around in the second half, leading to their best effort of the young season with 41 points led by Jason Terry's 16. Terry took on the challenge of making the bench better, and he sure answered the call tonight. He got off to a slow start, but really seemed to find himself in the third quarter and looked a lot like the Jason Terry of old. Doc was satirical when it came to Terry's performance. Said Rivers, "We left Jason in because he was playing great defense. That may be the first time that's ever been said about Jason Terry."
Chris Wilcox provided a spark off the bench. With nearly three minutes left in the third quarter, Wilcox's number was called for the first time and instantly made an impact. He made a transition layup and converted a three-point play. He finished with 6 points and 2 rebounds. Rivers said that Wilcox "single-handedly saved the game." That's a strong statement for someone who played less than 4 minutes.
KG looked awesome. He registered his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Garnett established himself early, something I wrote that the Celtics needed to do. He was active on both ends of the floor, and he was constantly looking to box out his defender when shots when up, something uncharacteristic of Garnett. He even provided his usually comical and witty responses to reporters after the game. When asked about chemistry, Garnett quipped, "You can’t speed chemistry up. I think the more you practice, the more you get familiar with each other, there’s no hitting the fast-forward button here."
And he didn't stop there. He continued, "You've got Comcast, right? You know there’s some shows you can’t fast-forward through, you just gotta let it go so you can watch the silly-[expletive] commercials. That's what this is." After being told that Comcast was the Celtics TV network, Garnett responded, "Did I just take a shot at Comcast? [Expletive] it, I did. So what? I’m more of a DirecTV guy anyway. This is what this is. I’m not helping myself right? [Expletive] it. Anyway, that’s what this is. I just totally messed that up. It’s one of those things where it’s just gotta take its course and you can’t speed anything up. Next question."
Brandon Bass is still getting used to his bench role. He knows he has to be ready for anything. After struggling early on, Bass quickly adapted and made an impact. Two strong drives to the bucket resulted in three points for Bass, including a layup with 1:51 to play that put the C's ahead 95-92. Bass added a layup in transition with 37.7 seconds left to seal the deal. He finished with 11 points and 7 boards.
The bad:
Jeff Green looks like he's going through the motions. I know he's less than a year removed from heart surgery, but he's out on the floor, isn't he? Shouldn't he be performing? Isn't he the highest paid bench player? He lacks aggressiveness, reverting to being passive and resembling the player he was when he was traded here in 2011. Why can't he go back to how he looked during the preseason? It's like a tale of two players.
After starting out strong, one couldn't help but wonder if the Celtics had finally started to turn things around. Then, KG was taken out, and a 9 point lead quickly evaporated. It's like last year all over again. In the first half, the Celtics were +9 with Garnett on the floor, and they were a -13 when he was on the bench. Like Rivers mentioned at practice on Tuesday, the starters (including KG) are going to rest, and if the bench can't perform, then the Celtics just won't win. The Celtics cannot afford to rely so heavily on Garnett. This team is fully capable of holding down the fort while Garnett gets his rest.
While it was a win, it was an inconsistent performance by the Celtics. The Celtics won the first quarter, lost the second quarter, won the third quarter, lost the fourth quarter, and eventually won the overtime. I'm sure Doc wants this team to put together a 48-minute effort.
*The Celtics are back in action on Friday night at the TD Garden in their first divisional matchup of the season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
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