The Boston Celtics are now 2-0 in the one portion of the NBA season that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Yet, nights like last night truly felt exciting, with much of that being because of the preseason debuts of Paul George and Mitchell Robinson.
Neither of them is considered an NBA star at this juncture, but how they fit into Mazzulla-Ball seems readily apparent. George is an elite three-point shooter, while Robinson is an elite offensive rebounder, and both force turnovers, adding some reinforcements to an already elite Celtics defense.
That was all on paper. Last night, George and Robinson didn't just make themselves stand out, but they played in the exact fashion their optimists believed they could. George's five steals swung the momentum Boston's way, as they led to two fast-break threes (one of which came from him), while Robinson gobbled up offensive rebounds, and his presence allowed other Celtics to go for boards.
Again, neither of them is considered a star, but they are believed to be difference-makers, as they were previously the players who swung Boston's last two playoff series against them. With how Joe Mazzulla likes to play and how they are expected to factor into that, this was a pretty good test run.
Ironically, their statlines didn't look that good
This is one of those "eye test beats the box score" examples because the box score doesn't look too great for either George or Robinson. George shot three-for-10 from the field to go with three turnovers. Robinson's free -throw shooting woes are still prevalent, as he missed all three free throws he put up to go with a plus-minus of minus-two.
Yeah, there's room for improvement there, but even if they could have put up better numbers, the fact that it was quite obvious what Boston has in mind with those two, despite both not having the best games, demonstrates that this truly is just the beginning for them.
More importantly, it's not like Boston heavily depended on them on their way to a blowout victory. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Even though they didn't have the best overall performances, they still showed enough to reward the fans' faith in them while also allowing others like Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard to dominate.
Expect George and Robinson to take it up a notch from here while also revealing that Boston appears to be proven right to believe in them going forward.
Add us as a preferred source on Google