These reserves battle tested

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

These reserves battle tested
By Andy Nesbitt, Globe Staff, 11/29/2003

An hour before the Celtics met Milwaukee last night, Boston captain Paul
Pierce and point guard Marcus Banks were together working on their one-on-one
moves. The rookie sneaked by Pierce a few times and seemed to have a smile on
his face as he converted a couple layups.

      ADVERTISEMENT

Yet Pierce had the last word with Banks as he challenged the rookie moments
before his first meeting with Bucks point guard T.J. Ford, who was selected
ahead of Banks at No. 8 overall in last June's NBA Draft.

"I set a challenge for him actually before the game because he was going up
against one of his peers, T.J. Ford, a guy who got drafted before him," said
Pierce, who finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. "I said,
`Hey man you have to get out there and get on him.'

The prodding didn't stop there.

"I even asked Coach [Jim O'Brien] who was quicker with the ball and he said
T.J. Ford was kind of faster but he thought Marcus would get the job done
versus T.J., and he did," Pierce said. "He got the job done."

Banks finished with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Ford was just 2 of 6 for 6 points.

But it wasn't just the play of Banks, who came off the bench to play 20
quality minutes, that was the difference in the Celtics' second straight win.
Fellow reserves Eric Williams, Raef LaFrentz and even Walter McCarty all made
plays to help the unit outscore the Bucks bench, 47-34.

"I thought we got contributions from a lot of people off the bench," O'Brien
said. The Celtics improved to 7-8 and will play the Bucks tonight in
Milwaukee. "[LaFrentz] looked solid for his first time in a couple weeks. [We
had] good production from [Banks] and [Williams] coming off the bench."

Williams was the spark as he continued to be productive as the sixth man.

"Our guys came off the bench really alive," said Williams, who had 13 points
and 7 rebounds in 31 minutes. "Everyone on the bench is always up pulling for
the guys out there on the floor. That says a lot about the guys we have."

Playing in his first game since leaving the lineup earlier this month with
tendinitis in his right knee, LaFrentz didn't seem to miss a beat. He chipped
in with 14 points, including three 3-pointers.

McCarty only played eight minutes but his triple, on his only shot of the
game, gave the Celtics a 19-point lead late in the third quarter.

"It starts in practice," McCarty said. "Everybody from the top man down to the
bottom man practices hard each and every day, we won't let up."

It also doesn't hurt having LaFrentz and Williams coming off the bench.

"I've started in this league and averaged 20 points in this league and Raef
has averaged 15 or 18 points a game in this league," Williams said. "So guys
can score points, it's just getting the opportunity and now we're starting to
get them."

Williams is happy to have a healthy LaFrentz back on the court and hopes the
two can come together to help the bench maintain its production.

"For the first time we got all our guys out there, it seemed like every time
I'd been out Raef was in and then I come back and Raef was out," Williams
said. "So now that we're back out there it was good to be able to get a win
for our team. It gave us another win, a back-to-back win that gives us
something that we can build momentum from."

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx