BOSTON -- A collection of news and notes before the Boston Celtics hosted the Los Angeles Lakers in a Sunday showdown at TD Garden:

Doc: Celtics' bench troubles not too troubling

While Boston's reserves haven't been terribly sharp as the Celtics have dropped 10 of their last 16 games, including back-to-back losses to Eastern Conference powers Atlanta and Orlando, coach Doc Rivers said the bench's struggles are not a great concern to him.

"They're not playing well, but it's nothing big, nothing deep -- there's no conspiracy," said Rivers. "Our continuity has been awful. It's, by nature, a group that's more offensive minded and, when they're bad defensively, they're worse offensively because it leads to the other end. That's what's been going on. But they'll be back. That group is a good group. I still trust them. The Atlanta game was as glaring as any game, the starters had a plus, and we lost by 10. That's not a good game for the bench."

Boston's five-man bench combined to go 6-of-18 for 18 points against Atlanta, but the plus/minus numbers really told the story. Tony Allen finished at a team-worst minus-22, while Glen Davis was a minus-19. Brian Scalabrine was the best of the bench at minus-5.

Rivers said much of the bench's struggles could be attributed to the absence of guard Marquis Daniels, who does so much, including handle the ball for the second unit. Daniels could return as early as next week's visit to New Orleans, Boston's final game before the All-Star break.

Giddens at the Garden

Celtics second-year guard J.R. Giddens, who was recalled from the Maine Red Claws in a procedural move Friday as he prepares for minor surgery on his left knee, wore street clothes as the team went through a pregame walkthrough. In the locker room, he remained upbeat despite the setback.

"It's a bummer, but you sit back and look for a positive," said Giddens. "I can work on other areas of my body and maybe my legs can be stronger than before."

Giddens tweaked his left knee in a win over Bakersfield, but said that had nothing to do with the injury that will require surgery. Giddens, who came out after seven minutes following the original injury, returned the next night in Utah to hit 8 of 9 shots for a team-high 22 points. But during that game he landed awkwardly during a dunk attempt, noting he was nearly upended and came down hard on the left leg.

He continued to play, but soon realized the injury needed some attention. Tests revealed a small tear in the meniscus and Giddens is set to undergo surgery next week.

Giddens is expected to miss a month, but expects to be back at practice as early as three weeks after the surgery, which is supposed to be a simple scope, according to coach Doc Rivers.

Rich get richer

Rivers noted that championship teams rarely get better, but that's exactly what he felt the Lakers did this season, especially with the addition of Ron Artest.

Asked how that played out for the Celtics after winning a title in 2008, Rivers indicated that the team was significantly weakened by the loss of both James Posey (signed by New Orleans) and P.J. Brown (retirement).

"I thought we took away, losing Posey and P.J. Brown hurt us," said Rivers. "But we addressed that [this year], bringing in Marquis and Rasheed [Wallace]."

Loose balls

The Celtics didn't practice Saturday, giving the team a chance to catch its breath after the grueling back-to-back on the road. How did Rivers relax?

"I got a great night's sleep, that was terrific. The kids went to see Mariah Carey, so I had the house to myself," said Rivers. "Then we watched tape as coaches, but nothing special. We lost two games, we're not going to overplay it. The one game in Orlando, we obviously handed that back, and Atlanta just beat us. So you can't get them back. This group is always moving forward."

A lot of pregame chatter about how the Lakers put Kobe Bryant on Rajon Rondo defensively, allowing Bryant to start fresher as Los Angeles has often challenged Rondo to beat them with his shot. The Celtics hope that Rondo's development on the offensive end is clear Sunday.

"Rondo's been phenomenal at counteracting that," said Rivers. "I'm sure Kobe will guard Rondo, probably to start the game, and at times. The last couple of years it's affected Rondo, but each year he's gotten better and better at it. This year, for the most part, he's been better at it. He works on it every day. When you're the point guard, and you're not a great shooter, it allows teams to do different things defensively. Some are really good at it, but Rondo sees it every night and he's getting really good trying to counteract."

Celtics guard Ray Allen said he'd rather see Bryant chasing him around all those screens at the other end of the floor, but that's unlikely to happen. So does Allen think Rondo can do enough now to tire out Bryant in the defensive end?

"We're about to find out," said Allen.