Big-picture thinking key for C's | Chris Mannix's Boxing Blog

BOSTON -- While the national media have made them the NBA's darlings, the Celtics are little more than a blip on the radar right now in their own town.

That's what happens when you play in the same city with the World Series champs fresh off a victory (and a heck of a parade) and the presumptive Super Bowl champs who will take their vaunted offense to Indianapolis on Sunday to play in what many pundits are calling the greatest regular-season game in history.

Talk-radio stations can't get enough of it. Listening to WEEI on Wednesday while driving through Chestnut Hill (home of college football's second-ranked BC Eagles, by the way), the conversation shifted back and forth between whether the Patriots have been sore winners for running up the score and Boston's latest topic du jour: Lowell or A-Rod.

Barely a mention was made of the Celtics, who open their season on Friday against the Washington Wizards. It's too bad. There is a lot to talk about.

I read something interesting in The Boston Globe yesterday. A Celtics story included a statement from Doc Rivers that he would like to play his Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce "fewer than 40 minutes" per game.

Fewer than 40 minutes? You think?

If the Celtics are going to succeed in the postseason, they are going to need fresh legs. For that to happen, Rivers needs to keep his core players' minutes in the 32-35 range.

The defending champs offer the best example of how to prepare for the playoffs. Here's a breakdown of minutes for San Antonio's Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili last season:

Regular season
Duncan: 34.1 minutes per game
Parker: 32.5 minutes
Ginobili: 27.5 minutes

Playoffs
Duncan: 36.8 minutes
Parker: 37.6 minutes
Ginobili: 30.1 minutes

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is the best in the business. He probably could have ridden his trio harder and gotten into the mix for home-court advantage with Dallas and Phoenix. But nobody plays for regular-season titles.

Rivers would be wise to remember that.

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November 1, 2007 06:33 PM ET

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wouldn't it be great if every team had the kind of depth the spurs do? then teams would be able to sit their stars for a third of each game. as it stands, the spurs are pretty much the only team that can pull that off.