Reverting back to Ime Udoka’s lineup ‘might have helped save’ Celtics’ season

The Boston Celtics were able to overcome a 3-2 defecit in their Eastern Conference semifinals against the 76ers — and as NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg pointed out, it was largely in part due to the starting lineup switch Joe Mazzulla made to revert back to the double-big lineup his predecessor Ime Udoka rode to the 2022 NBA Finals. In crediting Williams for helping save the C’s 2022-23 season, Forsberg also provided proof that the ‘Timelord’ had a massive hand in helping Boston the entire series.

“Shuffling Williams III to the starting lineup might have helped Boston save its season, but Time Lord was impactful throughout the series,” Forsberg prefaced before saying, “In his 148 minutes of floor time, the Celtics had a team-best net rating of +19.4 (next closest: Malcolm Brogdon, +13.6). That included a defensive rating of just 101.4, which was 6.5 points better than Boston’s series average. In fact, Boston’s defensive rating spiked to 109.8 in the 193 minutes that Williams III was off the court.”

Williams appeared in only 35 games during the 2022-23 season due to arthroscopic knee surgery prior to training camp. One of Joe Mazzulla’s major coaching adjustments during the regular season was to move to small-ball with a lineup of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford. Even when Williams returned to the lineup, he still started only 20 games, oftentimes due to Horford sitting out the second half of a back-to-back.

Derrick White was demoted during Boston Celtics-76ers series

One of the most notable difference between the Celtics’ series against the Hawks and 76ers in the first and second rounds, respectively, is the demotion of White. After multiple 20-point efforts against Atlanta, White’s minutes dipped by six per game in the Philadelphia series.

That is nothing to worry about on White’s end, though. With Joel Embiid anchoring the Sixers’ offense and P.J. Tucker being stronger than most power forwards in the league, it made sense matchup-wise to lean on the double-big lineup from the Udoka era.

Moving forward, expect White to remain a critical component in the hunt for Banner 18 as the Heat, and then potentially the Nuggets or Lakers, enter the crosshairs.