A Look Into The Playoff Rotation

With the NBA playoffs right around the corner, Celtics coach Doc Rivers will be trying to figure out what players he’ll be using in the playoffs. Usually, a team will have an 8-man rotation that they go with. The Celtics rotation looks to be pretty set in stone unless something drastic happens to change it. Here are the players that should see a majority of the playing time this postseason:

Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Ray Allen, Mickael Pietrus, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass, Kevin Garnett, and Greg Stiemsma.

The only way I see this list changing would be due to injuries. Doc Rivers has been very cautious with his top stars by giving them time to rest up. Ray Allen hasn’t been healthy enough to play recently but he should be ready to go when the first round of the playoffs start.

This lineup looks very balanced and hopefully the starters won’t be relied on as much as they have been in the past. From a defensive standpoint, the C’s seem quality defenders at every position. Rondo and Bradley have teamed up to be a very good defensive pairing while Bass and Garnett have been able to control the paint. Stiemsma’s shot blocking ability has also been impressive although he does tend to get into foul trouble. Pierce and Allen have been here long enough to know that defense wins championships and they have adapted to be better players on that side of the court.

The Celtics will likely get offensive contributions from all of these players with maybe the exception of Greg Stiemsma. Rondo’s ability to drive to the hoop and either finish with a layup or make a pass to an open player has really opened up this offense. Allen and Pietrus are very good shooters from deep and KG and Bass can make jump shots as well as score from the post. Paul Pierce is the team’s most well rounded offensive player and he has picked up his game of late.

With the emergence of Avery Bradley and Greg Stiemsma along with the acquisition of Brandon Bass, the C’s have some fresh, young bodies whose durability can hopefully help this team in a long playoff run. Having Avery Bradley be able to play starter’s minutes has helped this team get by despite the injury to Ray Allen and even when Allen comes back, he won’t have to play as many minutes as he did before. I would imagine that Bradley will start over Allen to begin the playoffs and if that’s the case, Doc Rivers will have a great shooter that he can use off the bench. The Celtics look to have a little bit of everything on their roster and they should be a hard team to get out of the playoffs. Hopefully the Big Three have one last long playoff run in them since this may be the last chance this group gets.