It’s so simple, really. The Celtics starting five is very good at what they do, maybe better than everyone else, or at least as good as any other combination in the league. So, Doc Rivers thought, let’s play them together for longer stretches and see what happens.
Like most good ideas, this one was born a bit out of necessity. The injuries have started to hit the Celtics, but in a twist from past years, they have affected the reserves far more than the core players. First, Jermaine O’Neal went down and that forced Shaquille O’Neal, who was supposed to anchor the second unit with his low-post scoring, into the starting lineup. Then Delonte West broke his wrist and he was supposed to be the adhesive glue to this makeshift crew.
Now the bench is down two key players and players have been shuffled into different roles. The tendency may have been to overthink things, try to mix and match various combinations into a whirling rotation of moving parts, but that just leads to confusion and miscommunication among players who aren’t used to playing together.
So, Rivers is keeping it simple and daring other teams to try and keep up. Take the first quarter of Wednesday night’s workmanlike 105-89 takedown of the Denver Nuggets. (Click here for a full recap). The Celtics opened up a 30-11 lead nine minutes into the game when Paul Pierce subbed out. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo all played 11 minutes.
The second unit almost gave it up, which is a concern, but then the starters returned and held the lead at seven going into halftime.
They then played almost all of the third quarter together and built the lead back up to double digits. The bench played better this time and when the starters came back to finish off the Nuggets about halfway through the fourth quarter they had a 15-point lead.
Why risk it? Because it wasn’t a risk. All the starters had to do was turn it on for three minutes and the game was over, which it was. The greater risk would have been leaving the reserves in together and hoping they could seal the deal. No one played more than 36 minutes and no one was overextended.
Yes, the second unit has its problems, but Rivers is doing a masterful job of managing games through this stretch. He’s keeping the starters minutes down and getting more out of them by simply putting them in positions where they’ll succeed by playing them together. It’s simple really, but oh so effective.
Here are three other things to take away from Wednesday’s game:
THE CELTICS ARE FINDING THEIR DEFENSIVE FLOW
Ho-hum, the Celtics shot 56 percent again. It really shouldn’t be that predictable to shoot over 50 percent in NBA games, yet they are making the amazing look downright routine. But that’s not what is fueling their eight-game winning streak.
“Our offense is getting a lot of light because of what we’re shooting and all that, but it’s off our defense,” Rivers said. “We’re getting stops. We’re able to run. The formula is not that hard but it’s hard to do that every night and lately we’ve done it every night.”
They’ve done it every night since a late-November win over the Hawks, which came after one of their worst performances of the season in a loss to the Raptors. In that Toronto game the Celtics fell for the offensive trap. They had been overwhelming teams with their scoring and shooting and when they ran into a team that for one night shot it better than they did, they got burned.
“I can say Atlanta was probably the first game I remember where we were talking,” Kevin Garnett said. “If you were three, four rows in front, you could hear us. I think we’ve been using that game as a roadmap as what we need to be defensively.”
Since that Hawks game the Celtics have won eight straight. They had one game – again against Toronto – where they gave up more than 100 points and have held five other teams below 90 points.
They are moving up in the rankings to where they came into the night basically tied with Orlando at the top of the defensive efficiency rankings. “That’s who we are,” Rivers said.
True, but it hasn’t clicked in until this winning streak. Before the Hawks game, the lament was that they weren’t playing defense for 48 minutes. The one time they got away from the formula Wednesday was in the second quarter and, according to Rivers, the offense was to blame for the defensive shortcomings.
“They missed a couple of shots, the ball started sticking and then they started getting mad at each other about not passing and they forgot what we do,” Rivers said. “That’s play defense.”
RAJON RONDO IS HURTING
In a brief conversation as he headed out of the locker room for the team flight to Philadelphia, Rajon Rondo said that he was fine. It’s admirable that Rondo won’t discuss his various injuries and even more admirable that he’s playing through them, and still doing it a high level.
He played 30 minutes, took just three shots, rarely attacked the basket and still dished out 13 assists.
“He was great,” Rivers said. “I thought Rondo was good. Really good. He looked fine. I thought he had it in cruise a little bit, but he was just trying to run the team.”
That’s the difference between the 2010 Rondo and the one from years past. His speed is his greatest weapon and even without it he’s still able to be effective.
But Rondo is hurting. Ty Lawson, who in fairness makes everyone look slow, repeatedly got past him. He also came out of the game in the third quarter and stretched out his leg. After a few minutes he walked back to the scorer’s table and checked himself back into the game rather than let his leg get stiff.
“Him and Nate [Robinson] are actually grinding it out,” Paul Pierce said. “Those two are both having feet problems. We’re just thankful that we get them through right now. We’re trying to get through this tough stretch where one day we get healthy. I don’t know when that day is going to be.”
It may never happen, actually. The healthy part, that is, because it appears that Rondo is going to be bothered by his leg and foot ailments for the foreseeable future. Credit him with playing through it and playing as well as he can, but understand that it’s not easy for him right now.
MARQUIS DANIELS HAD A FLASHBACK
Yes, Daniels thought about it.
In the third quarter, Robinson threw him a tough pass and someone on Denver bent his thumb back. The thought immediately passed through his mind. “I was like, ‘No, not again,’” he said. 
Daniels went to the bench and had his thumb iced, but he returned to action and said later that he was fine and didn’t expect to miss any time. The other bit of good news is it happened to his right thumb, not his left, which kept him out of action for two months and effectively derailed his entire season.
At times it feels like the Celtics are walking a tightrope with their injury situation. With three players out and four more playing through various afflictions, they didn’t have enough able bodies to run a complete practice Tuesday.
A significant injury to Daniels would have been devastating. For once, though, the Celtics caught a break and not the one Daniels originally thought about.