Doc Rivers has talked all about the process of finding a rhythm and between now and playoff time, everyone has to settle into their roles and be comfortable.
Rajon Rondo is the facilitator. Paul Pierce is the primary scoring option. Kendrick Perkins is the defensive stopper down low. Everyone has their roles, and they've got plenty of time to get comfortable in them. By April, this team will have more rhythm than a Shakespeare sonnet.
But the one guy you have to worry about is Kevin Garnett.
Over his three seasons in Boston, Garnett has been forced to reinvent himself as a basketball player. So many factors are forcing him to change his game, and it's amazing he's able to keep up.
But games like Friday night are proof that Garnett still has plenty left. KG went 8-for-11 from the floor against the Sixers, finishing with 22 points and eight rebounds. It was only his second time topping 20 points this calendar year — the first being the Celtics' embarrassing loss to the Nets a week ago.
"Kevin's been great," Rivers said. "He looks great, he's moving great. We didn't get him the ball, I thought, enough. I thought he had a lot of good matchups tonight and we just didn't do that very well. But overall, I thought he played terrific."
What we saw on Friday night in Philly was the latest version of KG. He's evolved into a perimeter scorer, knocking down 20-foot jumpers from the top of the key rather than putting pressure on his body to do more. When he does venture into the paint — a rarity these days — it's not to dunk, it's to make an inside-out play that feeds a teammate for an open jumper.
Garnett's knees have been troublesome for the past year and when you've put 40,000-plus minutes on your odometer in the NBA alone, that's bound to happen.
A knee strain in February. A knee sprain before the playoffs last spring. A hyperextension this winter. The ailments add up and even when Garnett is supposedly healthy, he's still playing with the residual effects of injuries past.
But sometimes, games like Friday come along to remind you that he's still capable of helping this team win.
"I just think he's getting better step by step," Rivers said. "I've been watching him so closely all year. I just think he's improving, you know, slowly. Even when he's on his bad nights, you can see some of the good things he's doing that he couldn't do earlier. So it's just going to take time, but he's getting better. This is the best he's been in a while."
If KG keeps improving, that's a very good sign for the Celtics. And if he finds that rhythm we've all heard so much about, then that's even better.
