Baylor Scheierman has found himself in the Boston Celtics’ starting lineup in six of the team’s eight games in February. Up until this point, he’d started in two of his first 74 NBA outings. Not only has he carved out a regular place amongst the starters, but, this month, he’s playing a career-high in minutes at nearly 24 per appearance.
He’s earned this opportunity on the defensive end, an area of his game that he drew attention to ahead of training camp.
“I'd probably just say defensively,” Scheierman responded at Celtics Media Day when asked what part of his game would surprise people most this season. “Just being a defensive playmaker and being able to use my instincts to impact the game in a positive way on the defensive side of the ball.”
Now, he’s not only seeing regular playing time, but he’s consistently being tasked with slowing down the best the opposition has to offer. In Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Scheierman spent time guarding both LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
The Nebraska native’s primary assignment was Doncic, an All-NBA-level talent. He guarded the Slovenian star for 36 partial possessions and held him to just seven points on 3-8 shooting. The Lakers as a team scored just 24 points during the seven minutes that Scheierman stood in Doncic’s way, for an average of just 0.66 points per possession.
“I think it just comes from the trust that Joe [Mazzulla] sees in us and just our continued growth and development on the defensive end, and kind of just understanding one, our assignments, and then two, what we're trying to do as collectively as a team out there,” the second-year wing told reporters at shootaround Tuesday.
It truly has been a team effort for Boston on defense. Sunday was a great example. Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, and Jordan Walsh all took turns hounding Doncic and James, making them earn every dribble they took.
“Any great team has great role definition,” Mazzulla explained following the win. “And in order for us to be great, we have to have those guys impacting the game at a high level, on the margins. They do a great job of that, and they take pride in that.”
Scheierman echoed the team-wide pride in showing up to work and taking care of business defensively.
“It's kind of something that's being carved out for us on this team, and just being able to take those assignments and kind of impact the game in that way,” he added Tuesday. “We just take pride in that.”
Baylor Scheierman's preparation is paying off
Another point of emphasis that the 25-year-old carried with him heading into the season was preparation.
“I think it was just to use the preparation,” he said of his biggest rookie lesson back in September. “Just prepare like you're going to play every night, even if you're not going to play that way. When you are thrown into the game, you're prepared and ready to go, because you never know. That's probably the biggest thing I learned over the course of year one.”
The preparation and attention to detail he’s emphasized all season enabled him to play clean defense on Doncic, who shot zero free throws while Scheierman chased him around.
“With Luka, you know he wants to drive right when he's going left, he wants to get to that step back,” he explained. “He's going to try to foul bait and try to get to the free throw line. So you try your best to make things difficult on him and make him make shots and not get to the free throw line.”
Jaylen Brown offers defensive wisdom to Boston's young players
Jaylen Brown has become someone that Scheierman and some of the team’s other young players can look to for advice. Brown pulled several players aside on Saturday to share some wisdom about defending Doncic, who JB notably slowed down in the 2024 NBA Finals.
“Obviously Jaylen is, you know, one of the best two, two way players in the game,” Scheierman praised. “He's guarded Luka before, and so, giving us advice there definitely helps going into the game Sunday.”
Scheierman added that Brown gives advice often, which has helped him and his teammates remain confident regardless of who they’re matched up against.