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In last night’s home opener at the Garden, Paul Pierce drew a double-team from a pair of Bobcats in first-half action.
(Barry Chin/Globe Staff)
Celtics notebook
Davis isn’t around, but isn’t left out, either
In last night’s home opener at the Garden, Paul Pierce drew a double-team from a pair of Bobcats in first-half action.
(Barry Chin/Globe Staff)
With the Celtics taking the court last night in front of the hometown crowd for the first time this season, president Danny Ainge made it a point to show that even though Glen Davis was absent, he is still part of the team. Ainge told the operations crew to include Davis in the pregame introductions.
Davis, who will miss eight weeks after fracturing his right thumb in an early-morning fight with a former high school teammate Monday, wasn’t at TD Garden. He had surgery Tuesday, the same day he issued a statement apologizing to his fans, teammates, and coaches.
Coach Doc Rivers said Davis has yet to address the team.
“He’s got plenty of time,’’ Rivers said.
After an offseason that saw him test restricted free agency but return to Boston, Davis lost weight and came into training camp in far better condition than he had last season. Rivers said he was disappointed in Davis’s lapse in judgment, but was also understanding.
“He made a mistake,’’ Rivers said. “I was mad at the mistake, but he’s still a part of our team. You get upset at your kids and they’re still in the family.’’
Forward thinker
Looking at it now, Shelden Williams almost seems clairvoyant. With Kevin Garnett resting, Brian Scalabrine nursing an injured ankle, and Davis dealing with a tweaked back, Williams was a reinforcement in the final exhibition game against the Cavaliers.He said a few days later, “You never know what’s going to happen in the course of the season. It’s a long season. Last year, when Kevin went down, Baby had to step in. So you never know what’s going to happen. You’ve just got to put yourself in a good position.’’
Williams played 13 minutes in Tuesday’s season-opening win in Cleveland, scoring 4 points (all on free throws) and grabbing four rebounds, and last night he had 12 points and nine boards in 22 minutes in the rout of the Bobcats.
The perception is that Williams, taken by Atlanta with the fifth overall pick in the 2006 draft, has yet to reach his potential.
“Shelden was a high draft pick for a reason and he was a dominant player in college for a reason,’’ said Rivers. “My job, the staff’s job, is to get that out of him. He has, I think, a great opportunity to do it with this team.’’
Ringing endorsement
When he was trying to lure Rasheed Wallace to Boston, Rivers sought the opinion of Bobcats coach and Hall of Famer Larry Brown, who told Rivers, “If Kevin goes down like he did last year, and you have Rasheed Wallace, that’s a pretty good alternative.’’Brown and Wallace were together in Detroit for two years, and in that time the Pistons won 108 games and an NBA title. Brown called Wallace “the most misunderstood guy in the league.’’
“He’s as good a teammate as you’ll have,’’ said Brown. “He’s as good a teammate as I’ve ever coached. Plus, he’s a great player. He’s a great defender. He can make shots. He’s a great competitor. I’ve really never met a player that played with him that didn’t love him. I really never met a coach that coached him that didn’t love him.’’
False alarm
Kevin Garnett took a spill in the third quarter while chasing down a loose ball at midcourt, and not long after Rivers decided to take him out of the game.“He said, ‘What’d you do,’ ’’ Garnett said. “I said, ‘I slid into second base. Was I safe?’ ’’ He said, ‘Yeah, you were safe.’ ’’
Garnett said the incident looked worse than it was.
“My first intentions were to get back and run and then I saw Paul [ Pierce] and [Rajon] Rondo on the break, and I was like, ‘Know what, they got that. Let me just sit back here and rub this hip.’ It wasn’t nothing.’’
Explain yourself
After TNT showed Rivers telling his players, “We’re going to win a championship,’’ during halftime Tuesday night, he was questioned about just how confident his team is. “I was just being honest with our team,’’ Rivers said. “That’s our goal. I don’t think it’s a secret. That’s Cleveland’s goal. They just didn’t get caught on camera. They say the same thing. And that’s Orlando’s goal. That’s the Lakers’ goal. That’s San Antonio’s goal. We say that every first game, and then we say it’s over with. We don’t talk about it. From this point on, it’s a process. So, you caught me, because I didn’t know that was on. Well, the secret’s out.’’ . . . Former Celtic Gerald Henderson was on hand to watch his son, Gerald Jr., make his NBA debut with the Bobcats. Before the game, Brown joked that he wasn’t sure how much he’d play Henderson because he didn’t want his first experience to be chasing around Pierce and Ray Allen. Henderson finished with 8 points in 25 minutes . . . Wallace drained the first two 3-pointers he took, and finished with 9 points, but what impressed Pierce most was Wallace’s defense. “I think that’s where his value is coming the most,’’ Pierce said. “The way he defends, the way he rebounds, and also the way he spreads the floor with his presence.’’ . . . Scalabrine dressed for the game even though he was unavailable to play. “I think he’s close,’’ said Rivers.Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
