"He has to play better," Doc Rivers said of Marquis Daniels, his bench swingman. "Point blank, he has to play better. He has to play harder, and he has to play better."
Daniels, who averaged 13.6 points per game last year in his final season in Indiana, has come off the bench in all eight Celtics games this March and has yet to score in double figures once this month. He has appeared tentative and unwilling to assert himself as a member of the revamped second unit, but the Celtics coach sees the potential for Daniels to turn it around.
"Marquis has it in him," Rivers said. "He knows that, I've told him that, and I expect that of him. You know, he's a role player and we need his energy every single night. He can't afford to ease his way into games. He's too talented to do that. And he's not going to play but 20 minutes, so when he comes into the game, we need him to be a factor."
With Nate Robinson joining the team at the trade deadline a month ago and Michael Finley entering into the fold last week, the Celtics have had to do some guesswork to figure out Daniels' place on the team's bench.
"We have to do a better job with Nate, figuring out his role," Rivers said. "Marquis probably doesn't get it on the post as much as he should, and we've talked about that as well. But you have to go get it, too."
Daniels has averaged 3.5 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game in March. On Sunday against the NBA-best Cavaliers, he was held scoreless in 12 minutes of play.
