3 reasons why the Boston Celtics must ditch the double big lineup

Reason No. 2) Space tighter than an airplane bathroom

Ideally, this pairing could have worked much better if Al Horford’s shooting was not colder than a New England winter. The big man is shooting a measly 29 percent from distance, which is his lowest mark from deep since his early days back with the Atlanta Hawks.

Robert Williams has yet to develop much of his game outside of the paint. Adversely, his game inside the paint has him shooting a blistering 74 percent from the field, a mark that, if it holds, would be the highest in NBA history, surpassing Mitchell Robinson‘s current record of 74.2 percent.

You cannot have two centers playing heavy minutes together in a league going smaller. It clogs the paint and limits the space your stars have to operate with as a result.

Horford and Williams are the equivalents of a peanut butter-mayo sandwich — they may work well separately, but together these condiments do not complement.

The olden days of the Celtics having tremendous success with the double big lineups such as Kevin McHale and Robert Parish or even more recently with Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins are long gone.

The league has changed to playing smaller lineups where you operate with more space and greater pace. It is either adapting or dying. Grant Williams gives Boston the prototypical stretch four.

Now, when the opponent doubles either of the Jays they can kick it out to a lethal 3-point sniper in Grant which, in turn, would force opposing defenses to pick their poison instead of the predictable “it’s my turn, your turn” isolation ball.

The Boston Celtics need to force teams to keep guessing.