Preseason is a time for experimentation. It’s a time to work on different combinations and lineups and a time to get a feel for what works and what needs work.

Sometimes, happy accidents can occur when game situations dictate circumstances that are hard to replicate in practice. Such has been the case for the Celtics in their last two preseason games as they have come down to the fourth quarter and the second unit has had a chance to try and close games out.

They were able to do it last week in New Jersey and again Sunday night in the Garden when the reserves held off the Raptors, 91-87.

Nate Robinson scored 13 points and Marquis Daniels and Delonte West each added 11. (Click here for a full recap.)
Stephen Lasme, who has impressed Doc Rivers so much that he is earning serious consideration for a roster spot, responded when a play for him was called and Von Wafer put the game away with a couple of free throws.

“It starts in practice,” Robinson said. “Our main goal is to give the first unit the best look. They make it hard for us. We make it hard for them. When we get to a game it comes easy that we just come to compete.”

Rivers has been adamant that the reserve unit is going to have to play major minutes this season and win games for the Celtics to go where they need to be by the end of the season.

So far this preseason, things are working out just fine for Rivers’ master plan. Here are three other things we learned Sunday.

MARQUIS DANIELS CONTINUES TO IMPRESS

One more time for the record: Daniels was the Celtics' best reserve until he injured his thumb in early December. The fact that he is playing well in camp is not an accident to him, or to Danny Ainge who elected to re-sign him this summer.

“My main goal is just to stay healthy,” Daniels said. “If I can stay away from the injury bug then I can show everybody what I can do.”

Part of what he can do includes being more aggressive with his outside shooting. Daniels is a career 24 percent shooter from behind the arc, but he spent a good portion of summer launching shots from deep. His goal was to make 1,000 3-pointers every day as part of his two-a-day workout routine.

“I just know this team has great post players and with [Rajon] Rondo slashing and other guys getting in the lane, I just got to be able to knock down open shots,” Daniels said.

Robinson, for one, has been encouraging Daniels to look for his shot.

“I was teasing ‘Quis earlier,” Robinson said. “I said, ‘Man, don’t think about it. Just shoot it. If you make it, you make it. If you miss, you miss. This year he said, ‘Nate when you rotate it I’m just going to shoot it.’ He’s adding the outside shot so he’s pretty dangerous. He’s a tough guy to guard.”

While Daniels isn’t going to morph into Dale Ellis, what an improved outside shot will do is open up driving lanes, and Daniels is one of the best slashers on the team.

“Honestly, I like the play before where he had the 3 and passed it up and took a hard dribble inside,” Rivers said. “To me, that’s his shot. He can make a 3, but he’s a good shooter from that 12-14 foot range. That’s a smart play for him.”

THINGS ARE SLOWING DOWN FOR LUKE HARANGODY

Throughout the early part of camp and the first two preseason games, it seems that the rookie has been fighting himself.

With Harangody having played four years at Notre Dame, it’s not like he has never seen high-pressure situations before, but there’s so much to process at the NBA level.

Against the Raptors, Harangody got an early taste of game action after Glen Davis got his nose busted up while taking a charge. Harangody responded with five rebounds and while he went 0-for-3 from the floor, his shots were in rhythm and not forced.

“Doc’s been on me so much,” Harangody said. “He trusts me out there. He knows what I can do. The fact of the matter is I have been going 100 miles an hour. Tonight, I felt so much better out there, more comfortable. It showed out there. I got great looks. Those are usually shots that drop for me. It’ll happen. I finally slowed down and had my first positive contribution.”

Harangody said that he began to feel a positive change happen in practice the last few days and he credited the veterans, particularly Kevin Garnett with helping him on things like pick and roll defense.

“It’s so much fun to watch him,” Harangody said. “He’s not really yelling, he’s teaching. I like that, to be honest.”
That attitude will serve him well because the Celtics are all about tough love. If he can get himself ready for the start of the regular season, Harangody has a chance to see some action early while Delonte West serves his 10-game suspension.

In that scenario, Daniels may play more off guard, which would open up some time behind Paul Pierce. At this point, Harangody seems more comfortable inside, but as he already understands, things can change quickly in this league. It’s just a matter of slowing down.

TURNOVER PROBLEM

Wins are nice, but an old problem reared its head for the Celtics Sunday night: turnovers. They had eight in the first quarter and 23 for the game, which is entirely too many.

“Too many,” Rivers said. “A lot of them, 15 of them were just bad stuff. I didn’t think we played well tonight at all, honestly. We missed a lot of easy shots. We didn’t make the extra pass at all. We were the home run team tonight. Every pass was for the film, unfortunately it will be the film now. We have to play better than that.”

The Celtics have always been a high turnover team, but last year it reached epidemic proportions. They were near the bottom of the league in turnovers and helped turn them into an inefficient offensive team despite a high shooting percentage.

“It killed us all last year,” Rivers said. “In the playoffs for whatever reason we took better care of the ball. All year it hurt us.  Especially when you look at our points per possession, I think we were fourth. We scored every time we took a shot for the most part, but we didn’t take enough shots because we kept turning the ball over.”

Along with cleaning up their defensive rebounding, reducing their number of turnovers will be a telltale number to gauge their progress this season.