Terry Rozier Making Strides For The Celtics

Terry Rozier showed his potential on Friday night as he got unexpected minutes in their loss

Up until Friday’s 102-98 defeat at the hands of the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics first at home in 15 games, many Celtics’ followers were convinced that choosing Louisville point guard Terry Rozier, with the 16th overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, was a rare blunder by general manager Danny Ainge.

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However, the inability for Rozier to make an impact on Boston’s success thus far this season has been due to a lack of opportunity, not a deficit of talent and ability, which was put on display in the latter stages of the loss to Houston. The 6’2″ made undeniable strides in his 10 minutes off of the bench on Friday night.

With small forward and rotation staple Jae Crowder nursing a sprained ankle, and the team performing at a lackadaisical pace, head coach Brad Stevens opted for an underutilized option off of the bench with the Celtics down by five points with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter: Terry Rozier.

While the 21-year old appeared to be tentative to assert his will on the game at first (understandably so, as Rozier has averaged just 5.2 minutes in 25 appearances with Boston this season), he soon upped the ante and explored his comfort zone for the first time in his NBA career.

Terry Rozier had 38 inch vertical at combine. Might have already added inches. pic.twitter.com/jlrk1YIyVt
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) March 12, 2016

The 190-pounder erupted for three points, seven boards, and three steals, remaining in the contest throughout the remainder of the third quarter and the first 7:45 of the fourth quarter. He caused feisty Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley fits on the defensive end in the process. This performance solved myriad issues surrounding Rozier’s ability to perform at the highest level.

Many critics have knocked his ability to shoot from deep, with the playmaker hitting just 19 percent of his three-pointers on the season.. However, he converted on a critical corner trey at the beginning of the fourth quarter, off of a feed from Evan Turner, slicing what had been a six point deficit in half.

Due to his slender build, Rozier’s ability to box out and grab rebounds from larger board-crashers has garnered skepticism as well.

He debunked that myth on Friday. He played with reckless abandonment on the glass, while also playing alongside four other guards for much of the beginning portion of the fourth quarter.

While the team must be aware of their need to keep their half-game lead over the surging Miami Heat for the third seed in the Eastern Conference, they shouldn’t put themselves in jeopardy of having to face the dominant Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference semifinals. With the dog days of March approaching, Stevens must make an effort to provide some valuable in-game experience for rookies such as Rozier, Jordan Mickey, and R.J. Hunter.

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All three of these draft picks have proven their ability to make an impact on a critical situation at some point thus far in the season, and it is up to Stevens to give them the chance to develop themselves even further as the season progresses.