Boston Celtics: Player grades from C’s dramatic Game 1 win
Boston Celtics player grades – Al Horford: A+
This may seem like a lot of A’s, but each one of these four players undoubtedly deserve it. Coming into the series, it was clear that the Nets had a size disadvantage, especially when Andre Drummond was off the floor. When Drummond picked up four fouls, Al Horford was able to capitalize down low even more, with six of his 15 rebounds being offensive.
Playing alongside Daniel Theis, Horford almost always had a mismatch on him. He was able to pop out to the perimeter and his both of his three-point attempts, while also scoring in the post and in the paint. He finished with 20 points on 8/13 shooting, putting back a crucial bucket to tie the game at 111 with just a minute left.
He ended up playing 41 minutes as a 35-year-old veteran and was simply fantastic. He held up on the defensive end against quicker opposition, not being particularly exposed as a weak link in the C’s stellar team defense.
It’ll be interesting to see how he follows up this brilliant performance on Wednesday.
Boston Celtics player grades – Daniel Theis: C-
This was always going to be a difficult matchup for Daniel Theis, as the German big man switched onto any one of the Nets’ perimeter players would be a mismatch. He got a little foul happy, picking up three quick ones to sit on the bench for the majority of the first half. Ime Udoka went back to him in the fourth quarter when other bench players weren’t succeeding and he showed better composure.
It was an overall puzzling game for Theis, who had multiple missed layups around the rim after making nice plays on the offensive glass. He only finished with four points and six rebounds on one-of-six shooting. He was getting taken advantage of too often on the defensive end, but without Robert Williams, Boston needs to play Theis to a certain extent.
He missed both of his shots from the perimeter – if he begins to make those, he’ll play more than 20 minutes. However, he had an overall poor performance on offense and is simply too slow to keep up with a Kyrie or Durant on a perimeter switch.
It wouldn’t be shocking to see Theis start Wednesday’s Game 2 on the bench.