The Celtics ripped apart the Utah Jazz last night, but they did it slowly and it took them until the third quarter to really distance themselves from a team that is now 3-5 on the year. Sure the C’s won 105-86 but none of the starters played more than 32 minutes in the game. That is a stat that seems to be a reoccurring theme for this team. The starters get out to an early lead and then the bench continues to win the game for the team and all has been well in Boston as the Celtics are now 8-1 on the year. So why do people keep saying that the Celtics were tired in their game against the Phoenix Suns last week and that is the reason why they lost?

Kevin Garnett is averaging 29.9 minutes a game with a season-high of only 35 minutes in games against the Suns and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ray Allen’s average is a little higher as he has averaged 34.8 minutes a game with season high on the first game of the season against the Cavs when he played 42 minutes. Paul Pierce is also averaging 34.3 minutes a game with a season-high 42 minutes in the game against the Suns. Rajon Rondo is averaging even less than Pierce and Allen as he sits at 32.3 minutes a game with a season-high 38 minutes in the Suns game. Kendrick Perkins has averaged the least minutes, as expected, for the Celtics starters as he has sits at 25.9 minutes and his high is 35 minutes against the New Orleans Hornets.

OK, so there is a common theme going on for the amount of minutes played and it seems to me that maybe the starters cannot withstand playing a whole game anymore. Looking at the numbers from two seasons ago and they look fairly similar among the starters. The only difference is that Perkins and Rondo are scoring more than they did two years ago and The Big Three are scoring less, Garnett and Allen significantly less.

So I am still confused on the fact that people keep saying that the Celtics were tired against the Suns. I know they played eight games in 12 days but by playing less shouldn’t the starters be more rested? Makes sense to me. If the bench plays more than the starters get more rest. That’s all there is to it and with such a deep bench the Celtics have plenty of time to rest their (aging) starters.

I would also like to bring in the fact that Doc Rivers said that he was going to put less stress on the Celtics in the preseason and especially the starters. So again, why was the team so tired against the Suns and even the Timberwolves? Was it the fact that the Suns run all over the floor and the T’Wolves are much younger and wanted nothing more than to beat KG? That might very well be the case.

I think that the Celtics playing eight games in 12 days had nothing to do with how the defenseplayed in those games. Well, maybe it had a little to do with it but still. The T’Wolves came out to play and so did the Suns and they gave the C’s very good games, with the Suns actually winning while in Boston. The Suns are a very good team (much better than expected) and they are playing like they did a couple of years ago and it really kills defenses. Only it happened to kill the Celtic’s defense when the team was already “tired” from playing too much.

Rasheed Wallace should be able to play starter minutes but he doesn’t and he always comes off the bench fresh and ready to play. The same goes for Shelden Williams, Eddie House and Marquis Daniels. With the exceptions of Williams and J.R. Giddens, the bench is playing less minutes than their career averages so they should be rested as well. There hasn’t been any talk about if the bench is playing too much and that’s for a good reason. They aren’t playing too much and the starters were seen as being tired against the Suns when most of them saw a season-high in minutes. So maybe Doc should have taken them out more often during the loss so that they could’ve been more rested at the end of the game when it mattered.

Whatever the case is I don’t think blame should be put on how many games they played in how many nights and that maybe the starters aren’t playing as hard they could be and that Doc wants them to rested the entire season. If they keep blowing teams out then the starters should see a lot of minutes riding the bench and watching the end of games rather than playing hard and getting even more tired. I just don’t want to see an excuse like they played too many games in a row to start off the season and they were tired so they lost. One thing I am grateful for is that if the C’s have to play a lot of games in a row that they are able to play them at home, because then later on they should have time to rest between away games.

The Celtics next play the Atlanta Hawks at home tomorrow night. The Hawks have been streaky so far this season so the game could go either way.

By Greg Petersen