This Is Eddie's House

For most of the 2007-2008 season, Eddie House was the backup point guard for the Boston Celtics. Coming off the bench behind Rajon Rondo, House played well despite being more of a combo guard than a pure point. 

In March, veteran Sam Cassell was brought to the Celtics after a contract buyout with the Clippers made him a free agent. Once he was able to play (he was "injured" when coming over to the Celtics), Cassell immediately took over backup point guard duties.

Eddie House's minutes were cut in half, and the only reason he played so much in March and February was because the Celtics had already clinched a playoff spot.

When the playoffs started, House was benched, playing not much more than five minutes a game, and often times much less than that. This was all despite the fact that Sam Cassell had an obvious inability to initiate the Celtic offense.

Basically, Cassell would dribble out the shot clock trying to find his own shot, rather than get his teammates involved. Of course, "getting your teammates involved" should be at the top of the list for all point guards.

Sam has hit some big shots in his career, but the fact of the matter is that all he was doing was hurting the Celtics when he entered the game.

Nonetheless, Sam I Am remained the backup as the Celtics moved past the Hawks in that improbable seven-game series. 

In the first game of the Cleveland series, Sam was clutch, hitting many shots down the stretch after which you might hear ESPN's Mike Breen go "Bang!"

After the opening game, Sam disappeared.

In the following four games, Cassell went a grand total of 4-25 from the field. He became a liability on both ends of the court. His minutes soon started to dwindle.

Finally in Game 6, with Rajon Rondo struggling, Eddie House was inserted as the backup rather than Cassell. And he didn't show too many signs of rust, scoring eight points and providing a spark of energy off the bench.

Since that Game 6, House has been the backup point guard for Boston and Cassell hasn't seen any minutes at all.

The similarities and differences between Cassell and House are blatantly obvious.

What's the same about the two?

Well, they both are shooters who don't pass that well for point guards. Neither are slashers, but if you leave them open, watch out.

But the difference that makes House a much better backup than Sammy? Energy.

When Sam's shots aren't falling, he's nothing but a liability. As stated above, he isn't very good at getting his teammates involved, and he is a horrid defender.

When Eddie's shots aren't falling, he's diving on the floor for loose balls, playing defense as hard as he possibly can, and actually running the Boston offense efficiently. The energy he brought to the team, especially in Game 7 against Cleveland, was amazing.

Despite all that, I don't think we've seen the last of Old Man Sam. House is going to be the backup for the near future, and rightfully so, but Cassell has shown in his career that he has a knack for showing up at the right time.

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