When the Celtics added Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal, questions arose as to how they’d find enough minutes to play all their big men. Through 10 games, that hasn’t been the problem.
Shaq and Jermaine O’Neal have combined to miss eight out of the first 10 games, and Jermaine O’Neal is expected to miss the next two to three weeks with a sore left knee.
That has left a bulk of the playing time (31 mpg) to fourth-year forward Glen Davis.
“Big Baby” has led charge for the C’s down low — literally. He’s taken 16 charges, easily tops in the league.
“That’s just amazing from any player, especially a forward,” Doc Rivers said. “He stays within himself. He doesn’t try to force it; he lets it come to him on both ends. His defensive awareness has been unbelievable.”
Davis is listed at 6-foot-9, well undersized for a traditional center. For that reason, he can’t block shots the way bigger big men can.
He makes up for it by using his body and quick feet to his advantage.
“A charge is giving up your body and sacrificing for the team,” Ray Allen said. “One of the philosophies is, ‘Who sacrificed more, the chicken or the pig?’ When you give up a charge, the pig is definitely that guy because he gives up his whole body for everybody to feast. I’m not calling Glen a pig, but he does give up his body.”
