Point system

Cassell entrenched as backup, while House is the forgotten man

May 08, 2008|Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist

In this game, a coach is better off when he has limited options. There's a lot less second-guessing.

For the first 61 games this season, Doc Rivers had no problems managing his point guard position. Rajon Rondo was the starter and Eddie House was the backup. They had complementary strengths, and you had to say things were working. The Celtics' record was 49-12.

But in Game 62 the tinkering began. That's when Sam Cassell was activated.

Cassell, age 38, was obtained from the Los Angeles Clippers amid great fanfare. He was imported with an eye toward the spring, toward the Games That Really Matter. He would bring veteran experience. He had long ago acquired a reputation for being a man who was unafraid to take the big shots, and who could actually make them, and he quickly lived up to his billing with a very big 3-pointer in the final minute of a victory in San Antonio. In the Celtics' inner chambers, there had to be a lot of back-patting and high-fiving going on that night.

The Games That Really Matter are here, and Cassell has become an issue. For he has turned out to be a trick-or-treat kind of guy, and really not all that much of a point guard, at least not if a reasonable point guard measurement is what he does for other players. Sam gets shots, all right. For Sam.

And that's quite all right if they're going in. Cassell was rightfully saluted for shooting 6 for 8 in the 110-85 conquest of the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5, and he was once again praised for making three fourth-quarter field goals (two threes and a long two listed as a 22-footer on the play-by-play) in Tuesday night's 76-72 tooth pull with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They were big shots, indeed, more tales for the Legend of Sam Cassell.

Sam is Sam, all right. He has lived up to the gunslinger image he started creating for himself as a brash Houston Rockets rookie 15 years ago. But in days gone by, Sam could also distribute the ball nicely when he wasn't firing up jump shots. This is a guy who has averaged as many as nine assists a game (Milwaukee, 1999-2000) and who, as recently as 2005-06, averaged 6.3 per for the Clippers.

Where has that Sam Cassell gone? This version gives up the ball under court order only. If he's got it, the ball is going up. In the last two games, the backup point guard of the Boston Celtics has zero assists in 25 minutes of playing time. In the playoffs, he has 49 shot attempts and nine assists in 111 minutes. And it's not as if he doesn't have anyone on his side worthy of receiving his passes.