The Celtics keep winning, as they’ve now rattled off four straight after losing on opening day, but they’re largely doing so in spite of their big men. Boston beat the Bulls for the second time this week on Friday night, 125-111, in TD Garden. But yet again, they got crushed on the glass and did a poor job protecting the rim.
The Mitchell Robinson experience continues to underwhelm, as he has been close to a disaster on both ends of the floor so far this season. For whatever reason, he has kept the starting role, but he’s not rebounding, he’s not blocking shots, and even his screening and finishing on lobs have been lackluster.
Robinson and Queta still haven't hit their stride
He did a better job of getting up and down the court on Friday night, but he’s still a step slow to every ball, and even in a wire-to-wire blowout win, the Celtics were -3 during Mitch’s 18 minutes; he was the only member of the rotation not to be in the positives, and he’s now a team-worst, -26 on the season.
Neemias Queta has clearly been better this season, and the team has fared much better in his minutes, including on Friday night, but he was still disappointing. He seemed out of sorts and was constantly getting beaten to rebounds, eventually seemingly getting benched by Joe Mazzulla.
The fact that this Bulls team was able to pull down 20 offensive rebounds to the Celtics’ 9 is downright bizarre and has been tough to watch. Jalen Smith, the Bulls’ starting center, is hardly a rebounding machine, yet he pulled down 12 boards while Neemy and Mitch combined for just 10.
Celtics need more from center rotation
The Bulls are just not a team that should be smoking Boston on the glass and scoring at will around the rim. It’s troubling to see, and at this point, it’s becoming a trend. This was supposed to be an area of strength this season, but so far, it has been anything but, and if they can’t straighten this out, it’s a major worry.
I’m not sure if Mitch is out of shape, hobbled by his ankle, or just struggling to fit in on a new team, but it makes no sense to see him inept at all of the things he was great at with the Knicks for years. Queta doesn’t worry me as much, but he has had some very shaky moments as well. Interestingly enough, the only guy who has met or exceeded expectations in that room is probably Luka Garza, who may be earning a longer leash.
At what point does Mazzulla decide this experiment isn’t working out and go back to roles that were much more familiar last season? Queta was an excellent starting center for the Celtics, while Robinson was a dynamic bench energy guy in New York. Why those roles have flipped is beyond me, but I think it may be time to consider a change if things don’t turn around soon.
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