The Celtics bench has been a weak spot for Brad Stevens over the past few years in terms of offense. Whether it was due to a top-heavy rankings with the starting five or a short leash for some of Boston’s young talent with a bigger offensive upside, Boston’s second unit regularly rounded out the top five teams in the league. in terms of production.
Amid the free fall of Boston in the leaderboard last month, the issue has become a conspicuous problem as some fights of the starter have exposed a lack of steady firepower from the bench (30.1 bench ppg stands In NBA in February 27th). Surprisingly big contributions early in the season from people like Payton Pritchard and Robert Williams began to fade, while both promising youngsters in games offensively started to procrastinate a little too much to Boston’s stars. This, combined with the downfall of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum over the past few weeks, has made the offense look fast for big pieces of games.
While Brown and Tatum struggled against the Pacers on Friday night, the Celtics were in danger of dropping their fourth consecutive game if no one else from their supporting cast would reach the challenge outside of Kemba Walker (32 points). Instead, an aggressive second unit from Boston, led by Pritchard and Williams, looked more like the group that helped make Boston an 8-3 start to the year, and it was 39 points en route to a 118-112 victory.
Williams played one minute of his season high in the win with 22 minutes and filled the score (14 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists 3 blocks) while earning a few minutes in the process.
“It’s a big advantage for me, of course, because I know they trust me and believe in me,” Williams said. ‘They especially let me know that they need me in such situations. It increases my confidence even more. ”
There are a lot of growing pains for the center for the third year, especially at the end of the defense over the past few weeks. Boston’s formula for success this year, however, comes with the offense of Williams and the reserves most nights. The best defensive Celtics are simply not good enough to delay teams this year (Grant Williams, Javonte Green, etc.), making it seem like an offensive first time to lean more towards Brad Stevens. Williams is a big part of the strategy that succeeds as he expands his game.
“I feel like I was really very comfortable and I felt like it taught my teammates,” Williams said of his offense. “To learn if Kemba is driving under the basket, how to circle and give him an outlet, to know when they need help or to know when I can take the shots, so it all plays out.”
In addition to Williams’ management, Brad Stevens helped unlock the best version of Payton Pritchard on Friday night (9 points, 4 rebounds, +13 in 30 minutes) by pairing him with his early-season running mate in Jeff Teague. . The duo have a top-three net rating in the team (+11.5) among the lineups with 100 plus minutes together, mainly based on the strong offense they create together.
While Pritchard struggled (39 percent shot in February), a new creator with him along with Jayson Tatum helped the newcomer return to a burst of energy for the bench with timely backs, attacks and offensive rebounds.
“I’m very happy with him,” Teague said. ‘And, you know, he was down and stopped a little bit because he said he missed a few tries recently, but you know, he’s a great shooter. And he comes to work every day and I’m happy for them, honestly. ”
The Teague / Pritchard combination looks set to go nowhere in the next three games before Boston’s fullback gets reinforced. The connection the pair built in the preseason was still intact, even after Teague fell out of rotation for some time.
“I think we all know he’s a talented player, he’s a good player,” Teague said of Pritchard. “And I think we play well apart. I think we had a connection early in the season as we were in the second team in practice. He’s my guy, man. We talk all the time. He will come talk to me whether I play now or not. We keep keeping our relationship close and I think it’s playing on the floor. ”
While Stevens tries to stabilize the ship for the 16-17 Celtics in the All-Star Break, he will simply have to play with the guys who offer the highest level of skills and a good record of success. Williams and Pritchard did it consistently more than anyone else off the bench and the aggression they showed
“It’s really important,” Stevens admitted he had a boost. ‘Teague and Payton both played very well in the second game in Indiana that we won, and led the return in the late third early fourth series. Teague was probably our most encouraging performance on Wednesday, he hasn’t played that much yet and has played pretty well offensively. I thought he was great tonight. Payton was really good, very engaged, and Robert definitely gave us what he could give. We don’t need that score every night, but we do need the way they played every night. ”
Eventually, next month more reinforcements will come with healthy bodies and trade. Until that happens, though, Pritchard and Williams are probably the best chance to keep Stevens out of the fort for this second unit night and day.