House always on call
When time comes, he keeps shooting
LOS ANGELES - Did P.J. Brown know that Eddie House once scored 61 points in a college game? And, if not, is he surprised?
"No, I didn't," replied the affable veteran Celtics "Big." (Hey, might as well use the new jargon.) "And, no, I'm not surprised. I call him 'The Rifleman.' Like Chuck Connors. He pulls the trigger."
Quite aside from the amazing revelation that a contemporary NBA player is familiar with Chuck Connors (an original Celtic, as a bonus), the imagery is one that Eddie House would be proud to embrace. Eddie House has found a home in this league because he can shoot the basketball.
But these have been tough times for House. Night after night, he sits and waits for the coach to call his name. Five times during the Celtics' playoff run he has been completely disappointed. On four other occasions he is listed on the stat sheet as playing one minute, but the "minute" is actually one possession as part of an end-of-the-quarter or end-of-the-game offensive configuration. So he has five official and four de facto DNPs.
Yet his teammates swear you'd never know any of this has been going on by the way he's been carrying himself. He still works hard in practice. He is a major cheerleader on the bench. He's trying hard to be a professional.
"He's working hard," said James Posey. "He's got his energy. He's getting his work in."
"I prepare myself to play every night," House said. "Mentally and physically. During the playoffs, I've fallen off the face of the earth. But I don't want that to be an excuse not to be ready. That would be a disservice to the team."
House is a classic hired gun. He came out of Arizona State in 2000 as an undersized scoring guard (the 61 coming in a double-OT road conquest of Cal, in case you're wondering), and, after spending his first three seasons in Miami, he has embarked on a See America tour of the NBA, with stops in Los Angeles (Clippers), Milwaukee, Sacramento, Charlotte, Phoenix, and New Jersey, prior to accepting Danny Ainge's offer to become a Celtic. He's a man for an occasion, good enough to be wanted, but not good enough to fret over losing. At least, that's the way it seems.
House did nothing to lose his job as the permanent point guard backup to young Rajon Rondo. He had given his team 18 double-figure games, and he had been the same 3-point bombardier he'd always been. The Celtics knew his strengths and weaknesses when they brought him in. If they were determined to have a classic point guard as Rondo's main sub, they would have, and could have found one. But they were intrigued with House's ability to shoot, so they hired him, warts and all.
House gives you what the professionals would call stretch-the-floor shooting. He is, at best, a so-so ballhandler and no one has thought of him as a great assist man. He will get up and guard his man, and he gives his coach the proverbial 110 percent effort.
Still, we're talking about a classic shooting guard in a 6-foot-1-inch point guard's body.
Life was good for House until Sam Cassell showed up. Sam was a luxury item only a few teams could afford. The Celtics believed he would be a better insurance policy, particularly in the playoffs, for Rondo than House. But it wasn't as if House was put out to pasture. He still got significant minutes in late-season, post-clinching games.
And then came the playoffs. That's when House began falling off the face of the earth.
Doc Rivers made an immediate decision: Cassell, and not House, would get the preponderance of the backup point guard minutes. House sat throughout the Atlanta series (32 minutes, with 11 coming in the Game 7 laugher) and sat again in the Cleveland series until Game 6, when Doc suddenly gave him 18 minutes and House responded with 8 points (2 of 3 with his trademark threes) and a nice defensive presence. He got 15 minutes in Game 7, which probably gave him false hope. House would get 19 minutes in the next eight games. He had taken up residence in Middle Earth.
He resurfaced Tuesday night when Rondo sprained his left ankle in the first minute of the third quarter. Rivers called House's name, as opposed to Cassell's, because "he could stretch the floor better." It would be nice to say he gave the Celtics a dramatic lift.
He did hit a pair of threes, but he was 0 for 5 on twos, and he missed a 13-footer that would have tied the score with two minutes left. He looked very much like a guy who needed a shot of Rust-Oleum, but he was at least partially recognizable as Eddie House.
Last night, with Rondo rendered ineffective, House logged 25 minutes and scored 11 points in the 97-91 victory. He finished 4 of 9 from the field, hit two 3-pointers, and his long jumper with 4:07 to play gave the Celtics their first lead at 84-83.
Eddie House is not anti-Sam. He's pro-Eddie and pro-team. Being in the Finals for the first time helps make up for the fact he's been put on the back burner.
"I was part of the team that had the best record in the league, and I made a contribution to that," he said. "I'm in the Finals. It's very exciting.
"I try to stay ready," he continued. "I know I can still shoot. I've got my confidence, and confidence is 60 percent of shooting."
His teammates know that House could always go off, because House is a shooting man.
House just hopes Rivers knows the area code for Middle Earth. 