Boston Celtics wing ‘will be targeted’ defensively in playoffs

According to MassLive’s Brian Robb in his latest Celtics Mailbag, should the Boston Celtics give Sam Hauser any minutes — and Robb predicts that head coach Joe Mazzulla will — then the wing “will be targeted” on the defensive end of the floor.

“There’s no doubt that Hauser is not one of the best defenders on the Celtics and he’s certainly a guy that will be targeted if he sees some run in a postseason series,” Robb wrote. “That is an indicator that his defensive rating shouldn’t be read into much but it’s a positive sign for the Celtics I guess that the team can still play well defensively as a whole with Hauser on the floor. Given how useful his 3-point shooting could be in a playoff series, I’d expect him to get some chances against Atlanta off the bench.”

A Celtics Mailbag reader had pointed out Hauser’s top defensive rating on the Boston Celtics, but Robb refuted the point — pointing out that the wing’s propensity to only receive garbage time is a major contributing factor to that misnomer.

“Sam Hauser having the highest defensive rating is a misleading number,” Robb stated. “It’s a stat that is tied into how well the Celtics perform defensively when Hauser is on the floor which obviously is only tied into Hauser’s performance minimally.”

Sam Hauser predicted to receive minutes from Boston Celtics in Hawks series

Robb believes that despite the defensive weaknesses from Hauser, the Boston Celtics wing still figures to receive minutes against the Hawks in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. “Given how useful his 3-point shooting could be in a playoff series, I’d expect (Hauser) to get some chances against Atlanta off the bench,” Robb wrote.

If Boston overwhelms Atlanta from the 3-point line as they are expected to, Hauser could be a big reason why.