For much of this season, the Boston Celtics’ bench has been the team’s glaring weakness.
While no one will confuse the current reserves with the C’s bench during the 2007-08 NBA championship season, they are starting to show that they can deliver when called upon.
Boston, a day after beating the Orlando Magic at TD Garden, pulled out a 108-98 road win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. Sure, Kyrie Irving’s 25 points and Al Horford’s 21-point, six-assist performance had a lot to do with the victory, but the bench deserves just as much love — if not more.
The Celtics were without Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris on Saturday. Brown traveled to Atlanta to attend a friend’s funeral, and Morris stayed in Boston to nurse his sore knee. As a result, head coach Brad Stevens deployed a starting lineup of Irving, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Horford and Daniel Theis.
Smart and Theis played great in their starting-five cameos, with Smart scoring 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and Theis chipping in with five points, five rebounds, two assists and one block.
Terry Rozier, fresh off a career-high 23 points against the Magic, dropped 17 points off the bench, shooting 7-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range. Semi Ojeleyes cored six points in 19 minutes and Aron Baynes recorded eight points and four rebounds. This is an encouraging follow-up to Friday’s game, in which the bench accounted for a season-high 49 points.
Most importantly, the Celtics proved they can win a game where Irving doesn’t do everything.
The C’s trailed 54-45 at halftime, but they outscored the Pacers 37-16 in the third quarter and never looked back. During that electrifying run in the third frame, Irving scored just two points.
As good as Irving is, he can’t be responsible for leading the Celtics to victory each and every night. In some games, the bench is going to have to rise up and steal a game. And, though we’re not entirely sold quite yet, the C’s reserves are giving us reason to believe they’re capable of doing just that.
Here are some other notes from Celtics-Pacers:
— Here’s an interesting nugget on Boston’s starting lineup:
Tonight's starting lineup of Irving, Smart, Tatum, Horford, Theis has been on the court for 4 minutes over 2 games this season. Too small a sample to read much into it …. BUT THEY HAVE A -46.8 NET RATING!!!! 🙀 https://t.co/VvTLjYkz3j
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) November 25, 2017
— The C’s had five players score in double-figures for the second consecutive game.
— The Marcus Smart roller coaster continues.
I know that 7 3-pointer game will be considered Marcus Smart's best as a Celtic, but tonight he may have been his most efficient. 7-8 FG, 6 reb, 5 ast. plus-10.
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) November 26, 2017
— Boston was outscored in every quarter except the third.
#Celtics beat #Pacers 108-98, outscore IND 63-44 in second half. Irving 25, Horford 21, Rozier 17, Smart 15.
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) November 26, 2017
— Smart on his season-long shooting woes:
Marcus Smart to @ChrisMannixYS: “My teammates and my coaching staff has kept telling me to shoot the ball…It’s hard, especially when you’ve been working and things don’t fall. You just have to stick with it.”
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) November 26, 2017
— Here’s why Irving’s being mentioned as a possible MVP candidate:
Kyrie Irving (21 pts) has recorded his 15th 20-point game this season, tying him for 3rd most in the NBA (18-Harden; 16-Curry; 15-Irving, Antetokounmpo, Cousins, Durant, James).
— Celtics Stats (@celtics_stats) November 26, 2017
— The Celtics now have played 21 games and held opponents under 100 points in 14 of them.
