The Boston Celtics need to make sure Terry Rozier is not getting stuck on LeBron James on defense
Terry Rozier has been one of the breakout stars of these playoffs, and a massive reason why the Boston Celtics have survived their injuries. He brings a level of energy and control that no one else can do on offense. He goes on runs completely by himself, never gets into turnover trouble, and has the size and athleticism to be a strong defender and elite rebounder.
In almost any scenario whatsoever, there would be no problems with Rozier in these playoffs. He has accommodated everything Brad Stevens has wanted to do on both ends, but that is becoming more difficult against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
We have seen that the Celtics are going to approach defending LeBron James as a unit. One of the most remarkable parts of this defense is their ability to switch, and to have five different players that are comfortable defending two or three different positions.
The Celtics want to make sure that their switching will not leave them stuck with a bad matchup that can be exploited, and they have been truly stellar at maintaining that kind of movement on defense without being exploited.
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It might be the biggest reason for their success in these playoffs, because it leaves the other team continually looking to adjust and find a different way to attack, while the Celtics are able to stay as fluid as possible with strong defenders everywhere you look.
Against Cleveland, the defensive priority is to have as many different options that can be used on James. The Celtics do not want to be in a position where the Cavaliers can isolate any individual player on James, and be exploited.
Right now, Terry Rozier is the only player who really cannot spend any time on James. The size and strength discrepancy is too overwhelming, and it is an automatic bucket with Rozier on him. That forces the Celtics to bring extra help, and that is the moment everything breaks down.
No one in the league is better at breaking double teams than James and we saw far too many open shots and easy layups because James found the extra space that was created. Normally, the Celtics love to have Rozier defending the ball handler, and he has proven to be capable against some of the most elite athleticism in the NBA.
The problem is that James is a different kind of monster, and Marcus Smart might be the only point guard in the league that is capable of providing any kind of resistance on him. Brad Stevens knows that having Rozier trapped on James is the only real weakness for this defense.
The Celtics need to have Rozier out there. He brings too much energy and is too valuable on offense to even think about reducing his role. That being said, the Celtics need to figure out how to hide him from James better, because he got stuck in that mis match far too many times in game four.
Boston’s defense knows that Rozier is not the reason for their pathetic game four, because it takes everyone for them to fail that much. That being said, most of those problems can be addressed by their intensity and communication.
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Rozier getting stuck on James is the one thing this defense really cannot account for. Maybe it means changing it up by starting Smart, but the Celtics will not be at their best if James is able to regularily attack Rozier.