Jack Ramsay is 87. He’s been watching the NBA since it began in 1946 and has been working with the league as a general manager, coach and broadcaster since 1966.
So, Jack, during all of these years, have you never seen a team make an NBA conference final with a bench as weak as Boston’s?
“I can’t recall one,’’ said Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who is working the Eastern Conference finals between the Celtics and Miami as an ESPN Radio analyst. “When you go down the bench, who’s doing anything?’’
Well, the Celtics do have guys who are fouling. In the Heat’s 115-111 overtime win Wednesday, which gave them a 2-0 series lead, Boston reserves committed 17 fouls in a combined 50 minutes while managing just seven points. The comedy act started when backup center Greg Stiemsma had four fouls in three minutes in the first quarter.
Entering the season, the Celtics looked as if they would have a reasonable amount of depth. But then forward Jeff Green was ruled out the year due to a heart problem, and his contract was voided. At midseason, big men Jermaine O’Neal (wrist surgery) and Chris Wilcox (heart problem) were lost for the year and eventually waived.
Early in the playoffs, the Celtics at least had guard Ray Allen, despite a foot injury, providing some offense off the bench as the sixth man. But starting shooting guard Avery Bradley was ruled done for the season in the second round because of a shoulder injury, and the gimpy Allen was back in the starting lineup.
So who’s left? Well, the four guys the Celtics usually use off their bench — swingman Mickael Pietrus, guard Kenyon Dooling, big man Ryan Hollins and Stiemsma — are combining in the postseason to average a microscopic 9.1 points. Pietrus is the best of the lot at 3.5.
“They’re depleted,’’ Celtics Hall of Famer John Havlicek said by phone from Boston, where the Celtics will play host to Miami in Friday's Game 3. “But now is the time for somebody to step up and make a name for themselves. There’s no consistency from their bench.’’
Havlicek knows a little about playing off the bench. He was the second great sixth man after the legendary Red Auerbach had introduced the concept to the Celtics as their coach in the 1950s and 1960s.
The first acclaimed sixth man for Auerbach was Hall of Famer Frank Ramsey. Like Havlicek, he’s not exactly enjoying watching what has happened to Boston’s noted bench tradition.
“It’s unfortunate,’’ Ramsey said by phone from his home in Madisonville, Ky. “You can’t have your bench not even giving you 10 points a game. That puts too much pressure on your starters.’’
Never was that more evident than on Wednesday. Boston point guard Rajon Rondo played all 53 minutes, totaling a phenomenal 44 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. Starters Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Allen, despite his bad ankle, all logged 43 or more minutes. Pierce probably would have ended up playing 49 had he not fouled out in the final minute of regulation.
“I think it starts with the starters, regardless of the bench,’’ said Pierce, offering a realization that the starters don’t expect much from their reserves. “We only go so deep …. In order for us to win, it’s got to come from me, KG (Garnett) and Rondo.’’
To show how the Celtics’ current bench was pretty much put together with duct tape, consider where they got their players. Stiemsma, 26, is an undrafted rookie, and Pietrus, 30, and Hollins, 27, both were acquired this season after other teams waived them.
Dooling, 32, arrived in a trade last December when Milwaukee wanted to dump his $2.2 million salary and shipped him to Boston for the rights to Albert Miralles, once a 2004 second-round pick who is now a so-so player in Europe and never will play in the NBA. The Spaniard was put in the deal because the Bucks had to get something, and no doubt the NBA would have frowned upon the Celtics shipping them a case of clam chowder.
When Dooling was asked before Wednesday’s game what he knows about Miralles, he said, “I’ve never heard of him.’’ When a player has no idea about what he was traded for, that’s not exactly a sign it was for much.
At least Dooling, who once was an effective NBA backup point guard, is not exactly trying to tout Boston’s bench as an elite one.
“There are probably some teams that have more productive benches statistically than us,’’ said Dooling, averaging 2.3 points in the postseason. “But they’re at home watching. So it doesn’t really matter.’’
Stiemsma is averaging 1.7 points per game in the playoffs and at least has one more point (24) than he does fouls (23). But Hollis, averaging 1.6 points, can't escape that dubious distinction since he has more fouls (23) than points (22).
“Compared to our starting lineup, it is thin,’’ Hollins said about Boston’s bench.
Nevertheless, Celtics coach Doc Rivers is doing the best with what he has. He mixes his reserves in during games, attempting to give his starters at least some breathers without the score getting out of control. In the case of Rondo in Game 2, Rivers never could trust taking him out.
“Our bench is what they are,’’ Rivers said. “They’re going to continue to do their best …. They are not as consistent as some benches but their effort is consistent and their defense is consistent every night …. I don’t want them to focus on their offense because they’re struggling …. Defensively, they have to be there.’’
Still, Rivers, who is getting 2.6 rebounds per playoff game from Stiemsma and 1.8 from Hollins, doesn't deny he’d like his reserves to score at least a little more. The bench has provided seven or fewer points in three of Boston’s past four games.
It then was mentioned to Rivers the Celtics’ Boston’s legendary sixth-man tradition, which includes Kevin McHale and Bill Walton combining in the 1980s to win three of the first four NBA Sixth Man Awards handed out. Rivers was asked if he has a sixth man, and he said it’s Pietrus. But Rivers admitted he’s never heard of a team’s top reserve scorer averaging 3.5 points.
Pietrus was better during the regular season, averaging 6.9. But Pietrus, who is past his prime but still has athleticism and a reasonable three-point shot, has been reluctant to shoot in the playoffs.
“I’m willing to sacrifice my offense for KG, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rondo,’’ Pietrus said. “That’s the main core of the team.’’
Apparently, that’s Pietrus’ stock line. And when he told it to Ramsay, the coach of the 1977 champion Portland Trail Blazers who certainly knows something about playoff basketball, he had a quick response.
“I talked to him and he said he’s giving himself up for the team so the other guys can score,’’ Ramsay said. “I said they need it from you.’’
The Celtics could use something from anybody off the bench. Ramsay is waiting.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
