Player Grades: Spurs 95 – Celtics 93

Terry Rozier

Grade: A

6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal

2-12 shooting, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT

The fact that Rozier scored an “A” on 2-12 shooting (disregarding my arbitrary grading rubric) is telling of Rozier’s game: he’s fearless, gritty and most of all, clutch.

Watching the game, you’d have though Rozier dropped 20+ points. The respect he drew from defenders, despite going 2-12, illustrates the amount of confidence and swagger Rozier has. Most players get sheepish after a few missed shots, let alone nine – but not Rozier. When he hit the game-tying shot, it was a Kobe Bryant-moment: fearless in the final moments and ready to shoot. He disregarded his 1-11 shooting, and recognized how he was the best player on the floor – expected to take the final shot.

When he hit his first field goal of the game (above), instead of passing out to the flaring Jonathan Holmes, Rozier opted to split his defenders for what eventually became an easy put-back. While it was certainly a risky call, it showed that Rozier had no hesitation in being the go-to scorer.

It’s now understandable why Ainge was so infatuated with Rozier. He perfectly represents the culture that Ainge, Stevens and the team’s veterans have been trying to instill into this team.

The four assists Rozier recorded does not accurately reflect how effective he was as a ball distributor yesterday. His ability to collapse the defense repeatedly opened up shots for his teammates throughout the night. His team, however, shot a measly 8-28 from behind-the-arc, which – if higher – would’ve certainly inflated Rozier’s assist numbers.

Rozier was advertised as a plus-defender coming into the league, so, as expected, he gave the Spurs’ guards trouble all throughout last night. His agility on the perimeter allowed him to frequently cut off driving lanes for his assignments and force the ball out of their hands.

Rozier immediately reacts to the Spurs’ guard’s movement to his left. While the steal was lucky, he effectively cut off the guard’s dribble towards the elbow. Even if he didn’t steal the ball, #56 would have likely had to pick up his dribble, thus, disrupting the flow of the offense.

While Rozier will initially see fewer minutes than he deserves, especially with the logjam at the guard positions, he’ll eventually find his place with the C’s due to his tenacity alone. If Bradley’s not in the long term plans, a back court of Thomas, Rozier, Hunter and Smart is sustainable due to the quartet’s balance between offense (Hunter, Thomas) and defense (Smart, Rozier).

Next: Player Grades: Jordan Mickey