Boston’s Loss = ‘Start Scalabrine’ Movement

I am really sorry it’s taken me so long to get anything posted today. Those games were positively repulsive, and made me want to end up on the wrong side of my household’s perennial “how come there’s always a game on during the playoffs” tension.↵
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↵But, to make it easy for you, the warts-and-all Magic should be able to stumble their way to a victory, even if they’re starting to fray at exactly the worst time. The Bulls weren’t only playing over their heads; without Garnett, the Celtics just aren’t very good. It also seems like Rondo’s not the same player, at least not for the full 48; in Game Seven, this was attributed to a mysterious spicy meal. Here, it was something about him showing up at the last minute, and then -- despite some big numbers, including turnovers -- never finding the scoring touch that allows him to really drive defenses nuts. There were also insinuations that he missed playing against Rose. Not exactly the stalwart performer you want running the point in the playoffs.↵
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↵Yet perhaps the greatest sign of Boston’s bind comes in this headline from the eminent CelticsBlog: “Start Scalabrine?” Details follow:↵↵⇥The idea of starting Scal has a lot of merit. I for one like the idea of Big Baby coming in later to give Perkins a breather against Dwight Howard. And if Scal really can slow down [Rashard] Lewis more than Davis, it makes sense to prevent another big early game deficit.↵⇥
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↵⇥On the other hand, you have to hope that the “demotion” doesn’t negatively effect Big Baby’s emotions to the point that he’s knocked out of his rhythm. Also, Baby does provide some beef in the starting lineup which in theory helps with rebounding.↵↵This based on the fact that Scal can step out in ways that Davis just can’t. But there’s a lot to unpack here. For one, in the Chicago series, the Celtics saw that they had a viable 1-2 youthful big man punch in Perkins and Baby. Ever heard that expression “die with the one that brought you?” That Davis might not be able to handle the demotion only underscores this. The Celtics are what they are, and have, in a weird way, taken a step forward this postseason even if they lose. Build on that, rather than scrape the barrel on the off chance that it wins one more game on the road to defeat.↵
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↵What’s more, it’s Brian Scalabrine. Lewis is an occasional All-Star who falls somewhere between the 3 and 4, and likes to launch shots from the perimeter and, less than anyone would like, drive the lane. In theory, Scalabrine matches up better. But Davis is the better player. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather try and make the most of the talent I’ve got, rather than ignore talent in the interest of abstract match-ups.↵