Boston Celtics: 1 stud and 1 dud from C’s hard-fought loss to Raptors

Boston Celtics stud: Aaron Nesmith

Ime Udoka was working with an incredibly depleted Boston Celtics roster Monday night, especially at the wing position, so, out of necessity, the rookie head man went on to slot sophomore talent, Aaron Nesmith, into the starting lineup at the three.

Though his season as a whole has been rather underwhelming, to say the least, the 22-year-old went on to take the most of his starting opportunity by putting forth easily one of his best performances in 2021-22.

Seeing a career-high 38 minutes, Nesmith would go on to provide impressive hustle and a sound scoring touch for the C’s, finishing the game with 13 points, four rebounds, and three steals on 62.5 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent shooting from deep.

As we stated, this year has been an incredible struggle for the second-year baller, and, frankly, since being drafted 14th overall back in the 2020 NBA Draft, he’s been a relative disappointment, as he has not been able to consistently showcase the shooting stroke and overall scoring skills that made him a player worthy of being taken with a lottery selection.

That said, with his play against Toronto, we saw a tremendous display of his abilities to put the ball in the basket, both when in catch-and-shoot scenarios as well as when creating for himself (that steal in the second at the top of the key that let to a strong drive to the basket for an old fashioned 3-point play was exactly the hustle he needed to put forth on a night like this).

During these next six contests, we hope to see similar efficiency from the youngster.