Response to : Celtics without five players vs. Heat

The Celtics injuries are certainly starting to pile up, as it seems that the title of my paper, "who is going to step up" brings a new meaning by all the injuries. The starters have been bitten by the injury bug, as Kevin Garnett (who has now been out for a couple of weeks) and Rajon Rondo (who was injured in the Celtics' win vs. the Cavaliers). Also the bench is in rough shape as on of the top bench players, Tony Allen has been out for some time now with a dislocated thumb, as well as big men Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Brian Scalabrine who both get a high amount of playing time, are now out.

Obviously the Celtics have missed and are missing KG because of his veteran presence on the floor, but he will likely miss at least one more week.

With so many people out and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce having fatigue issues, the rest of the team will need to step up in order for the team to stay competitive for the number one seeed in the east.

I agree with Coach Rivers when he said that it is a growth period and that if anything, it will make the team stronger. Let us hope that he is right.

Article 11: Celtics without five players vs. Heat

"The Boston Celtics boggest opponent right now is the training room."

Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis joined Kevin Garnett, Brian Scalabrine and Tony Allen on the list of players that will not be playing against the Heat on wednesday the 11th.

Coach Doc Rivers said that both Rondo and Davis will miss at least the next two games.

Kevin Garnett will miss more than that.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen both played 45 minutes in the loss to Orlando, and were told that they would recieve limited minutes for at least the next game.

8 of 15 players played a full practice on monday, with the 5 injured players plus Pierce and Allen doing a shortened practice.

Doc Rivers said "In the long run, I think this might make us a better team."

Final Focus; Further Research Needed

When I started the project, I started giving information and reporting on games of the Celtics'. As my blog analysis pointed out, however, I have started to explore the statistics and the importance of the Celtics' bench. I have started to do supplemental research in order to prove my point that a deep "supporting cast" is necessary for a team to be successful, and prove that the Celtics' bench players are some of the strongest in the league. I would like to learn and find out by researching statistics, and player comments and reactions from press conferences. A primary source of these statistics may be from box scores in the newspaper or online.

I am trying to arrange at least an email interview with someone in contact with the Celtics, for example someone that works in the front office of the organization, or perhaps someone from the press. I am looking to get a hold of either of the Celtics radio announcers, Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell, to get some in depth insight into a topic that they would know just as well as anyone. I have a few questions ready to ask if I can get a hold of any of them. I was also thinking that I would try to talk to local news sports host Lee Goldberg about some of his thoughts on the Celtics.

I have not put much thought into my oral presentation, I do not think that the time parameters will be hard to meet, as this is a topic that I am passionate about and could talk about for much longer than 20 minutes if needed. I think that it may be difficult to do an interactive activity with this topic, as several people have posted on my blog that basketball is not anything that they are familiar with. If I can come up with a strong activity, it may help get the attention of my classmates and make them slightly more knowledgeable with the sport.