Rising star’s emergence could lead to Boston Celtics going small vs Hawks

The rise of Derrick White for the Boston Celtics during the 2022-23 season will facilitate the Cs going small against the Hawks in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs according to MassLive’s Brian Robb.

“I expect the Celtics to start small with Al at the 5 in this series,” Robb prefaced before saying, “They’ve played their best basketball all year with Derrick White in the starting five and that alignment gives them two strong defenders to put on Trae Young and maximizes the team’s offensive spacing.”

White started the second-highest number of games during the 2022-23 season behind Jayson Tatum, finding himself in the first five for 70 of the 82 games he appeared in. Horford started all 63 games he appeared in.

Boston Celtics reserve wing could ‘punish’ Hawks defense with 3-point shooting

Sam Hauser is expected to get minutes from Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla according to Robb, who believes the reserve wing could “punish” the Hawks’ defense in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals No. 2-No. 7 seed matchup.

“As far as bench depth goes, I think this could be a series where we see some Sam Hauser in spurts to punish the Hawks’ defense with his 3-point shooting,” Robb prefaced before saying, “Boston got plenty of open looks from 3 during the regular season and if Grant Williams isn’t making them pay on that front (he struggled towards the end of the year with his jumper) Hauser should be ready to jump into the fold.”

No other reserve figures to see the floor per Robb, barring injury or foul trouble for the Celtics over the course of the series.

“I don’t expect to see anyone else on the deeper end of the bench (Griffin, Muscala, Kornet) barring foul trouble unless the C’s are having trouble on the defensive glass against Atlanta’s crashing,” Robb wrote.