BOSTON -- A collection of news and notes after the Boston Celtics practiced Thursday afternoon at the Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint:
Celtics reserve swingman Marquis Daniels, who sat out the final 34 minutes of Wednesday's win over the Detroit Pistons after rolling his ankle in the second quarter, did not participate in Thursday's hourlong session and coach Doc Rivers indicated he's "50/50" for Friday's game against the Utah Jazz.
Point guard Rajon Rondo also departed the short session after getting hit in the mouth during on-court drills. According to the team, he merely split his upper lip, did not require stitches, and should be fine for Friday's showdown with Utah star point guard Deron Williams, which turned out to be topic du jour on a very quiet day around the team's practice facility.
"[Williams is a] powerful point guard and plays at unbelievable tempo," said Rivers, who knows a thing or two about that position from his playing days. "He controls the team, but what sets him apart is the fact that he’s the best shooting point guard of all those guards. That’s what makes him so good."
Those guards that Rivers referred to are the otherworldly collection of MVP-caliber point guards like Rondo and Williams, along with Chicago's Derrick Rose and New Orleans' Chris Paul. Rivers admitted its a unique situation given how different each player is from the next.
"The difference between Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose and Rondo -- there's very few similarities in the four guys, yet they’re all dominant," said Rivers, who later admitted to being pleased to see the influx of talented ball-handlers.
"Our era was a good era of point guards, but we also had a good era of bigs and that helped all the point guards be better when you have good bigs next to you," said Rivers. "It’s sensational right now. What’s amazing is that we said it like five years ago, 'Where the hell are the point guards?' They heard us. They’re all here or coming, you just look at college, there’s more coming. I can’t even say names, because I think it’d be tampering."
A few of other quick hits from the session:
* Rivers said he doesn't have any plans for rookie guard Avery Bradley, who is currently on assignment with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League. "I don't have any plans, I want him to just play and I'll leave him alone; Let him play as much as he can play," said Rivers. Bradley, the 19th overall pick in June's draft, is averaging 13.3 points, 3.3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1.7 steals over 23 minutes per game in three appearances off the bench since joining Maine on Friday.
* Rivers said Shaq came into his office after Wednesday's win over the Pistons and apologized for missing two free throws when Detroit employed the 'Hack-a-Shaq' defense nursing a four point lead with three minutes to go. "The horse is out of the barn on that one," joked Rivers. "I don't even worry about it. Shaq last night after the game said, 'Coach, I let you down, I missed two free throws.' I said, 'I could care less, don't even worry about it.'"
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Paul Pierce and the Celtics read at the Winthrop Elementary School in Dorchester Thursday.* Before Thursday's practice, Celtics captain Paul Pierce and Delonte West performed a play with students from the Winthrop Elementary School in Dorchester as part of the NBA's Read to Achieve program.
“We had a great time today performing the play with the students," said Pierce. "It's so important that children learn to enjoy reading at a young age. It brings us great joy to be able to make a difference in the lives of these kids and be positive role models.”
Pierce and West acted out scenes from a play based on the children’s book, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.
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