Cassell gets comfortable
Veteran receives coach's blessing
ATLANTA - Celtics coach Doc Rivers was taking part in his usual pregame media routine last Wednesday in Washington when he became distracted by one of his players sticking his head out of the locker room and staring at him.
Rivers stopped answering questions and said, "What do you want?"
Said point guard Sam Cassell, a relative newcomer to the team, "Can I talk to you afterward?"
Rivers talked to Cassell, and ever since the veteran has had the floor presence the Celtics had hoped for.
Cassell said the coach wanted the point guard to be himself on the floor.
"It was a quick conversation, too," he said. "It was in passing and [Rivers said], 'Hey . . . if you are doing too much, I'll tell you if you're doing too much.' It's just that simple."
The two-time NBA champion has 115 games of postseason experience, played with Kevin Garnett in Minnesota and Ray Allen in Milwaukee, and has a reputation for making cold-blooded shots in the clutch. But through his first 13 games with Boston, the 38-year-old almost looked his age on the floor.
Cassell averaged an ordinary 5.3 points on 45.4 percent shooting, missed 10 of 13 3-pointers and averaged 1.7 assists in 15.8 minutes per game. His only big shot was a late 3-pointer in a win at San Antonio March 17. He also missed games against Milwaukee and Washington last week with back spasms.
"I'm cool [physically]," Cassell said. "My legs are getting better. My back is getting better. I'm good."
The Celtics had an NBA-best 46-12 record when he arrived after being bought out by the Clippers, so Cassell knew he had to fit in to the team and not vice versa. The 6-foot-3-inch, 185-pounder has said he felt more comfortable with the offense about the time of an April 5 game at Charlotte. But it wasn't until his talk with Rivers that he felt OK with being himself offensively.
"You can't come in here and put your image on the ballclub," Cassell said. "You've got to be a lunatic to do that. I just sat back to see how things work around here. Now, the second unit, that's my group. We've got to go. We've got to go . . .
"I have an opportunity to win a championship. I haven't been back to [the Finals] in 13 years and I have an opportunity to get back. It's all about sacrificing, winning the championship, and getting together. It's going to be someone different every night."
In his first game after the talk with Rivers, Cassell had 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds in a 102-86 victory over Milwaukee Friday. But as teammate Paul Pierce described it, the Celtics saw "vintage Cassell" in a 99-89 victory at Atlanta Saturday, when he had 20 points and five assists in 26 minutes.
A victory by the Hawks would have ensured them a first-round matchup in the Eastern Conference playoffs against top seed Boston. But with the Celtics' starters out for the majority of the fourth quarter, Cassell stole the show and led the team to victory by scoring 10 points, nailing two 3-pointers, and dishing out two assists in the fourth.
Cassell got Atlanta forward Josh Smith to foul out after baiting him on a pump fake with 2:26 left in the fourth. Cassell smiled and pointed at the bench before sinking two free throws to give Boston an 89-84 lead. And in the final 90 seconds, Cassell nailed the two 3-pointers to seal the win.
"He has [ice] water in his veins," Garnett said. "He has never been afraid to take the big shots. He's always been poised. He's always understood the game. I've always told him that he should go into coaching. He laughs when I say that. But he's very, very good at knowing how the game flows.
"He's a general out there. But he's one of the very, very poised players I have played with."
Cassell said even if the Celtics win their elusive 17th title this season, he expects to be back next season.
"I am going to play next year, right here," Cassell said. "As long as Doc is running this ship, I ain't going nowhere."
When asked why he is confident Boston will re-sign him, Cassell said, "If they can find a better backup point guard than me, I'd like to see it."
While it took Cassell a while to get comfortable on the floor, he has been comfortable off it since his arrival. Cassell has been living in Boston with Garnett, who joked that Cassell is getting on his nerves.
"I see him every day," said Garnett. "It's nerve-wracking, I'll be honest with ya'll. It's not a good thing.
"If you guys have a place for him, if ya'll want to take him off my hands, be my guest. You got to cook, you got to clean, got to iron his clothes, carry his bag because he has a bad back. [It's] killing me. So if any of ya'll want to house Sam Cassell, be free to do that."
