WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -Eddie House is a career backup with nine seasons coming off the bench for eight teams. Now he’s shooting like a star.
The Boston reserve guard has been hitting so many 3-pointers that even Paul Pierce is reluctant to challenge him in a game of H-O-R-S-E.
“I can’t compete with Eddie right now, not the way he’s shooting,” Pierce said Thursday. “I’m not going to even mess with him.”
In the last four games, the 6-foot-1 House has made 22-of-32 shots from 3-point range and had three of his eight highest scoring totals since the Miami Heat drafted him in the second round in 2000. The 25, 23 and 28 points he scored in those three games are his most in two seasons with the Celtics.
The secret to the improvement? House, who had been the primary backup to point guard Rajon Rondo, is shooting more and passing less.
t rebounds, kick it out,” House said. “Instead of me passing to somebody to make the play, somebody’s passing to me to take the shots.”
It helps that the Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are unselfish, preferring to get the ball to an open House rather than take less certain shots themselves.
“A lot of pressure’s been taken off him bringing the ball up the floor,” said Allen, an outstanding shooter, whose 50.3 shooting percentage is the best of his 13 seasons. “When I’m in the game with him, I try to bring the ball up. He’s able to get to his spots.”
That takes advantage of House’s ability to move without the ball, a skill coach Doc Rivers compared to that of Richard “Rip” Hamilton of Detroit. The Celtics will try to extend their winning streak to 10 games when they visit the Pistons on Friday night.
“The way Eddie has been shooting the ball,” Pierce said, “he can offset Rip.”
House’s stint with Boston is just the latest in the life of an NBA nomad. In the five seasons before joining the Celtics, he played with six different teams – including three in 2004-05.
Through all those years, he’s started just 30 of his 558 games.
In 46 games this season, House has made 84 of 203 shots (41.4 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc and is averaging 8.5 points per game.
ing 0-for-3 on 3-pointers against Phoenix on Jan. 19, he went 7-for-11, 0-for-1, 7-for-11 and 8-for-9 in the last four games. In the most recent one, a 119-100 win over Sacramento on Wednesday, House led the Celtics with 28 points, matching his second highest point total and just three below his career high.
And he’s done it all with a sore shooting arm.
His right arm began hurting after a game in Toronto on Jan. 11 and he wears a tight sleeve on it.
“I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with it,” House said, “but, whatever it is, it’s painful at times so I just wear that to try to keep it warm while I’m playing.”
“Whatever someone did to his arm,” Rivers said with a smile, “we’ve got to find out what it was and we’ve got to keep doing it.”
House has been hitting his long-distance shots without forcing many. He always seems to be open when he puts the ball up.
“He’s getting it within the flow of what we’re doing,” Pierce said. Opposing players “are helping (defensively) off other players, leaving Eddie open. And he’s making them pay.”
So would House beat Pierce in a game of H-O-R-S-E?
“I probably would win,” House said. “I think I have more trick shots, behind the back, halfcourt, stuff like that. I think I’d get him. I wouldn’t be confident in myself if I said he’d beat me, would I?”
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