Taking Stock: Celtics – Magic

After every game, we'll take stock of how each individual performance affects the player's overall value.

Starters

Avery Bradley:  Avery Bradley was so close to Jameer Nelson all night long that I think they're now legally married in Massachusetts.  His defense changed the entire game, which is good, because Avery's offense is still not good.  I'm sorry, I know this is "love Avery Bradley day" so let's all do ourselves a favor and not look at how he ran the half court offense last night.  

HUZZAH FOR AVERY!!!

Paul Pierce:  Another do-it-all night for the Captain.  He's really starting to get back to form and showing a level of energy that didn't exist a few weeks ago. 

Kevin Garnett:  I'll quote Dwight Howard: "there’s no way KG should be beating me up and down the floor. There’s a couple of plays where he beat me up and down the floor, and there’s no way. You know, he’s 40 and I’m 25. I just can’t allow that to happen."  KG brought it last night.  May be the most energy we've seen out of him.
 

Jermaine O'Neal:  He rebounded, he blocked a couple of shots, and he got up in Dwight Howard's face.  It's a level of toughness and attitude we haven't seen around here since…. oh, never mind.
 

Sasha Pavlovic:  

Sasha brought the energy early, coming up with a steal and fast break bucket on the second play of the game. He hit a few shots too, which is a bonus. 

Bench

Brandon Bass:  That's the Brandon Bass we all know and love.   19 points and 8 rebounds off the bench?  Awesome.  5 shots at the rim?  Love it even more.  Yes he was 5-7 from 10-23 feet, but it's the mix of jumpers and finishes at the rim that make him most effective offensively.  AND HE EVEN GOT AN ASSIST!!

Marquis Daniels:  He was still having trouble finishing close to the basket, but he was being aggressive.  Then he nailed a jumper and started dishing out dimes.  Best he's looked since the pre-season. 

E'Twaun Moore:  Keep working young fella.  Every long jumper he hits will help his confidence.  I think the speed of the game is something he needs to get used to.

Greg Stiemsma: I'll keep harping on it.  He needs to work on his hands.  He can't seem to catch anything cleanly, including rebounds.  It's hurting him out there.

JaJuan Johnson:  Showed the turnaround jumper, which was really nice.  But mostly he gets the green arrow for shutting Von Wafer up.  Von Wafer hit a couple of baskets out there to "cut" the lead do about 30 and then he was ball hogging and acting like this was suddenly his showcase.  Then this happened.

Sit down, Von.  And the Mohawk thing is played out, too.

Coaching

Doc Rivers:  Hey, everyone gets green arrows. Good call on putting Avery on Jameer full court.  Good move keeping Jermaine single coverage on Dwight.  Good move spiking KG's gatorade with some secret youth serum.  

OVERALL 

Obviously the best win of the year.  It's one of those wins where guys came together on a night where very few people, even their own fans, expected a win.  Realistically, they shouldn't have won.  But they did it with their signature defense and energy throughout the game.  The offense was still terrible.  87 points on 42.4% shooting will not win you many games.  But the key to this win was the all around effort and the defense…which should be enough to carry the Celtics through until their offense clicks.  That is, IF they can duplicate this effort on a regular basis.