Hardwood Houdini
Fansided

3 Takeaways as Boston Celtics scorch the Knicks 133-118

By Michael Ivanoskos

The Boston Celtics lit Madison Square Garden's rims ablaze with their franchise-record shooting, netting 27 of their 51 attempts on Saturday night Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Celtics lit Madison Square Garden's rims ablaze with their franchise-record shooting, netting 27 of their 51 attempts on Saturday night Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
Boston Celtics (Photo by Nick Grace/Getty Images)
Boston Celtics (Photo by Nick Grace/Getty Images) /

No. 2: 50 Bench points for the reserves

Depth was not a quality to be associated with the 2021-22 Boston Celtics. Things have changed with the addition of Malcolm Brogdon and the emergence of the sophomore sniper, Sam Hauser.  Grant Williams is coming into his own in a contract year, while players like Luke Kornet, Noah Vonleh, and Blake Griffin provide steady play out there.

The team is so deep that Payton Pritchard, once a promising young part of the rotation, no longer sees the floor. Justin Jackson who has been in NBA rotations for most of his career does not see the floor. Adversely, if one of the main guards goes down to injury, the C’s are admirably deep at that position.

Williams(12), Brogdon(14), and Hauser(17) all scored in double digits while Vonleh led the game in rebounds (7) and +/- of 20. When Robert Williams gets back this may be the deepest team in all of the association. This team is full of shooting, playmaking and decent to great individual defenders.

This second unit has the chance to be a special one as some nights it will be Malcolm Brogdon taking over, and tonight we saw each of the four players share a piece of the pie. Everyone contributed.

Presumably, once Timelord returns in the New Year, Derrick White will join that unit and Blake Griffin will be a vital part too. And if we even see a glimpse of Danilo Gallinari by playoffs, forget it.

Depth was a huge issue last year as Ime Udoka would only go eight deep partly because of his stubbornness, and partly due to the lack of reliable players beyond the front five.

Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla does a better job of managing the rotation’s minutes than his counterpart did. It’s still very early, but this is a positive trend of truly maximizing the available talents.

Home/Celtics News