Terry Rozier Should be Running the Second Unit

Terry Rozier has earned a bigger role on the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics have seen the Washington Wizards steal every bit of momentum from this series. After a great start at home, two blowout loses on the road have the team searching for a lot of answers, and home court is not going to be all of them.

You can look to each and every player, and find something that needs to change from those two games in Washington. Nobody was playing at the level they did in Boston, except for one sophomore player who is starting to make a name for himself in these playoffs.

Terry Rozier looks like a new player. Somehow being in the playoffs has taken all the chaotic and out of control play, and turned it into a contributing player on both ends. Not only does Rozier look comfortable on both ends, but he is having an impact each and every time he sees the court.

+/- numbers can always be misleading, but it is fascinating to see Rozier up in the leader boards as a +75. Rozier has also reached that with almost half as many minutes as anyone around him. The Celtics have been one point better every two minutes Rozier has been on the court, and not all of it is about the competition he is playing, although there has been some pretty awful second units.

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One of the biggest differences in Washington is that the second unit stopped going on runs when John Wall hit the bench. In their two victories the Celtics faced massive deficits, but they managed to neutralize that by making sure they had an advantage every time Wall saw the bench.

The biggest issue for the Celtics in this series is always going to be turnovers, and Marcus Smart has killed the second unit production with his turnovers. The worst part is how many of these are unforced for Smart. He has been out of rhythm on offense, and is not making the kind of plays we have been used to seeing.

There was a time Brad Stevens could not afford to take Smart off ball with the second unit because he was the one and only player who could run the offense. That is the kind of play the Celtics need Smart to get back to, but they cannot afford to keep giving him this much control while he is in this slump.

With the way Rozier is playing, Smart is no longer the only choice. There will certainly be a balance, but it is time for Rozier to take the reigns and become the primary ball handler. His ability to rebound will help the Celtics in transition, and he has been both a play maker and a shot maker.

Rozier has never been selfish, so he is not going to dominate the ball. Rozier has been doing a great job of instigating ball movement, and he has never been afraid to shoot in any situation. There are times where he gets a bit overaggressive driving into the paint, but if he can start finishing better he will cause a lot of problems because of his freakish athleticism

Stevens has not shied away form changing roles and the rotation in the playoffs, and with how much better Rozier has looked with the ball in his hands over the last two games, he has earned that opportunity to take on that bigger role.

The best part is that we know this is not a problem for Smart. After taking himself out in the fourth quarter because of how poorly he was playing, we can see how aware Smart is. He knows better than anyone else that he has been hurting the team with his turnovers, and this will allow him to have a bigger impact in other areas.

Smart is far too important is so many areas to be taken out of the rotation. This will not impact any minutes that he is playing, but he could benefit from changing his role to allow him to focus more on making those extra plays that this team desperately needs right now. The great thing about Smart is how many different ways he can have an impact. If he is struggling as a ball handler, he can focus on impacting in other areas.

There is always risk with a player like Rozier. He has been far too inconsistent to trust, but he has earned that chance with the second unit. It is not as if Rozier is taking over the main ball handler responsibilities. It is a secondary role for the bench player that has been playing the best for a great portion of the playoffs.

The Celtics need to find that second unit boost again and it will always be a collective effort. Rozier, however, has been the best player over these last two games at getting the players around him to be better while not hurting them in any ways.

On defense too, Rozier crashes the boards better than anyone else on this team, and he will not back down from any matchup, even if the Wizards have one of the toughest back courts he will ever see.

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Rozier has been a surprise breakout these playoffs, and now is the time to see if it is for real. Rozier has consistently had a minor role with that second unit, and now he has earned that promotion to the main second unit instigator, which has proven to be one of the most important roles for the Celtics in these playoffs.

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