Marbury Off To Strong Start, Gives Cs Playoff Hopes Back

When the Cs put down the Lakers in the Finals last year there was a clear deficiency in the Lakers: a strong body in the frontcourt who can dominate physically as well as technically. With Bynum back, the Lakers were able to shift their game to the gear they just didn't have last spring. Without Posey, the Celtics arguably lost that gear by significantly reducing the effectiveness of their bench. If the Celtics never lost Posey they still would've had a hard time taking down a Lakers team with Andrew Bynum. Without him, it could've very well proved impossible. Bynum is injured now, but by the time the Celtics have to face the Lakers, he'll be back. But with Marbury, the Celtics' second unit is not just as good as it was last year, it's better. It adjusts all the angles for that unit. House can move to an almost combo guard role and still be deadly as a spot-up shooter, Ray Allen can step in and provide more scoring pop to the second group, and now in Marbury the Celtics have a bench that can not just hold leads, but build on them with creative playmaking and confident ball handling in the halfcourt and we won't have the sheer panic in the playoffs that comes when Sam Cassell is your second point. Now, clearly the Celtics still lack a bit of body down low once Garnett and Perkins take a breather, but the growth of Glen Davis has been significant, and will continue with Garnett out. But with Marbury, the Celtics not only have a defined second unit, they have a scary second unit. Offensively, it's a more complete second unit than the first unit. Not better, but more well-rounded. Rondo has one of the best field gold percentages in the league, but we all know that's a phantom figure. He's not a great shooter and teams are still allowing him to hang unguarded anytime he's more than 18 feet from the basket. You can't leave Marbury unguarded like that. On the defensive end Marbury is fast enough and has decent enough hands to be the pest that Rondo is and Moore will hopefully provide the rebounding (and maybe a clutch J or two) that P.J. Brown gave us in the playoffs. Now, Steph will definitely have to work his way into the Celtics' aggressive half-court defense, which is the best in the league, but I think he'll have great success in that department, if for no other reason than his natural abilities should make it easy for him. The X-factor, of course, is chemistry. My colleague Jake DiGregorio talked about this when the trade went through. I've never put Marbury down as the cancer that others have. He's been far from admirable in bad situations, though. A lot of guys play a lot of basketball for a lot of crappy teams and make a lot less money than Marbury did and they do it without a word of complaint. There's no lauding Marbury's conduct in New York and Minnesota for the most part, but that doesn't mean he's a terrible person and it doesn't mean his stay in Boston won't be absolutely fine. I think he's probably a competitive guy who, like most NBA superstars, was coddled his entire life, told he was a prodigy, and then got put in the worst situation possible (Knicks, under that media spotlight) with the worst possible coach/GM (Thomas) and was made to be the face of that franchise. But I'm not in that locker room and I'm not in Marbury's head so I don't know how this is all going to play out in terms of chemistry. But I'm willing to give Marbury the benefit of the doubt. Yes, it's a risk but what are the Celtics putting up? A veteran minimum and a little more media scrutiny. And in return the Celtics could be better than last year, something you simply couldn't say until the Marbury trade. It'll take a couple weeks for Marbury to really get into the rhythm of this team and especially his teammates, and he'll have to be patient with guys like Davis and Moore and Tony Allen, but it's got a chance. We're not losing House; his scoring will still be there, his kid will still be there. All the Celtics lose, in my mind, is Sam "I've never seen a shot I didn't like" Cassell's halfcourt "offense" in the playoffs, which is only slightly less stressful than watching Eddie House try to carry the ball upcourt against a full press and a double team. Rondo is better, KG is hurt but will be back, the defense is the same, the second unit is scary as hell on paper and the Celtics are back on track for a shot at banner 18. And that's something worth getting a tatoo on your head excited about.