Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from C’s major victory over Cleveland

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 2) The fifth starter

It seems that coach Ime Udoka is prioritizing Boston’s starting lineup of Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Robert Williams, assuming everyone is healthy.

Unfortunately, not everyone has been, causing Dennis Schroder to enter the starting five on many occasions.

Yet, on Wednesday night, the Cs went with a different look, starting Romeo Langford instead of Schroder.

Romeo had perhaps his best game of the year, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds while playing extraordinary perimeter defense. His shooting has always been his biggest question mark, but he has improved to a 35.6 percent 3-ball clip this season, proving himself to be a reputable shooter in the league.

The starting five with Schroder in the lineup has shown horrid results in 196 possessions this season, making it their most used group of personnel. The five have a horrendous -16.9 point differential, only scoring 92.9 points per 100 possessions.

In comparison, Boston’s healthy starting five holds a +18.3 points differential, placing it in the 87th percentile of all lineups in the association.

Schroder clearly operates better with the ball in his hands, as he has struggled as a spot-up shooter throughout his career. Many of his good possessions — ball-movement-wise — end in an open trey, an area where he shoots only 33.1 percent from.

With a 3-and-D wing in his place on the floor, the Celtics’ starting lineup can become more successful and free-flowing offensively, straying away from the slow, methodical pace of the former Laker.

Schroder has the ability to steal his team a win with an offensive explosion, but his limited spacing and inconsistent play hinders the offense far too much, with him being far more suited to play in a microwave bench type of role.

Boston already wants the ball to be in the hands of Smart, Brown, and Tatum — adding Schroder to the mix makes the offense far too cluttered.