C's need to get into shape and find rhythm

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ORLANDO, Fla.From time to time, Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett reminds us that things we see on the court don't come about as easy as they look sometimes.

Especially for the Celtics offense, which has noticeably further behind than the team's defense.

When you look at the C's roster, one filled with a slew of scorers in the starting unit as well as a couple coming off the bench, the idea that 25 teams are actually better at producing points is surprising.

Not to Doc Rivers.

"It's tough to work on your offense when some of your key guys aren't in your offense," Rivers said.

You have to start with Paul Pierce who missed all of training camp and the first three games of the regular season.

From there you have Rajon Rondo who also missed time during training camp, and has been out the last three games with a right wrist injury.

Add in injuries to Ray Allen (ankle), Mickael Pietrus (shoulder), Chris Wilcox (calf, hamstring), Keyon Dooling (knee) andyou get the picture.

Rivers clearly would like to have all his players healthy and available, if for no other reason than to gauge whether they can truly play together as a unit.

But if there is a positive that has come about with all the injuries, it is that the players have a better understanding of how imperative it is for them to defend at a high level. Monday's 31-point win over Orlando was a great example of that.

The C's limited the Magic to a franchise-low 56 points scored, as Orlando shot just 24.6 percent from the field.

"The one thing you know, you can play defense no matter who is on the floor," Rivers said. "Your offense is only going to be so good until you get your right parts on the floor. And so instead of trying to put in new things, why? It seems like we've been in a holding pattern because they haven't been on the floor."

Rivers added, "It'd be nice to get all the working parts together, in shape and in rhythm. but you can almost not expect that this year and we still have to get to be, become the team we need to be, from that."

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