I don’t want to be hyperbolic, but the Celtics are really good. In fact, they are closing in on being one of the best Celtics teams ever. If they win 62 games, which is a Mitt Romney-esque Conservative-ish projection, that would tie them for the 5th most wins in Celtics history. If they manage 64 wins, they’d be 4th. Stars alone don’t drive a team to that type of success, so today we are talking bench.
Stat of the Week: +11.9 net rating
Entering the season, the Celtics bench had questions. Maybe not as many as 50 Cent, but fans and analysts were rightfully skeptical about the bench’s ability to contribute to high-level basketball (outside of Al Horford, who is more like a 6th starter and perfect in most every way). The two poster boys of this external doubt were Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser.
Both were coming off up-and-down seasons where they waxed and waned from the lineup, in Pritchard’s case mostly waned, and saw very little action in the NBA Playoffs. Their weaknesses were bandied about constantly. Can they defend? Can they do anything other than shoot? Are they athletic enough?
At the time, those questions were fair, but they missed the point, blinded to what actually matters. Who cares what the answer to each question is individually; what really mattered was whether Pritchard and Hauser could contribute positively. The manner of that contribution is otherwise irrelevant so long as it brings a benefit when they are on the court. Well, these two have answered that with a resounding yes.
In fact, the Celtics are about 2 points per 100 possessions better with Sam and Payton on the court than off.
These two dudes have answered the bell this year. Came into the season with legit questions about the bench after Al, and the Cs have been BETTER with them on the court than off (obviously part of that is matchups/going against other benchs). pic.twitter.com/DSTwS2CSVW
— Wayne Spooney (@WSpooney) February 27, 2024
Context is obviously important here. They play lots of their minutes with Jayson Tatum and matching-up with other bench players. Tatum has long carried bench heavy units to absurd net ratings (it’s also a reason why Jaylen Brown’s on/off differential and advanced stats lag behind his actual impact).
Even accounting for context, Pritchard and Hauser have been a resounding success off the bench. It would benefit the Celtics if they played teams to a draw while on the court together, allowing the starter heavy units to dominate (which they do). But that’s not what’s happening. The starters are bludgeoning teams like a mid-prime Robert Baratheon, and then Pritchard, Hauser, and Al come in and start raining from deep, like Daenarys on her dragon, and outscore opponents at an even higher rate. Just look at the top-10 3-man lineups for the Celtics. It’s littered with Hauser and Pritchard.
Have Pritchard and Hauser answered all the preseason questions about their games? No, but they’ve answered the only one that matters.
X’s and OOOOHHhhhhs: Timeless Al Horford
It’s legitimately incredible what Al Horford is doing defensively at his age. I’m allowed to speak about Al like he’s elderly because I’m much younger than him, almost a whole 9 months younger in fact. Horford has long been one of the best, and probably most underrated, defensive players in the league, and that’s holding true this season.
As he’s aged, the way he plays defense has changed though. He’s no longer the switch everything giant he was under Ime Udoka or Brad Stevens. But the athletic decline has coincided with one of the smartest centers ever reading the game at an even higher level. Al’s BBIQ is like Vince Carter dunking on Frederic Weis: just when you think he’s reached the peak, he keeps on climbing. He helps on drives before the ballhandler even knows where he’s going.
The second Coby White takes a left-hand dribble, Al floats down to the baseline and cuts off the drive. Then, he’s immediately back to Vucevic forcing him to swing it. This isn’t the furious defense of Marcus Smart endlessly flying around. It’s the defense of a man that knows what’s happening before it does.
That’s not to say Al is incapable of moving his feet. He still can, but it’s really his understanding of space, and his inch perfect knowledge of how far he can sag off and still contest that’s keeping him elite. He gives Lavine plenty of space here, but Al is always under control, almost baiting Lavine to try him at the rim. He does. It doesn’t work.
Al is so good at reading the game, so quick to understand what an offense is trying to do, that he might just go full-Brady on us and play into his mid-40s.
Non-basketball Stuff of the Week: West Virginia’s team
I live in Morgantown, West Virginia, which is a fairly unremarkable place all things considered. It’s primary claim to fame is being the home of West Virginia University. Morgantown, and West Virginia in general, essentially had zero ties to the Boston Celtics, and then Joe was promoted to head coach. If you are somehow unaware, or don’t care, Mazzulla spent half a decade in Morgantown playing at WVU.
West Virginians, and WVU fans, are a loyal people. “Once a Mountaineer, Always a Mountaineer” isn’t just a platitude, it’s an oath. And West Virginia loved Joe when he was at WVU. He was exactly the type of scrappy, hardworking underdog that West Virginians see themselves as. It doesn’t hurt that he pocketed John Wall and dropped 17 in the Elite 8 either.
Because a Mountaineer is the head coach of the Boston Celtics, Joe Mazz has turned the Celtics into West Virginia’s team. I have friends that haven’t watched an NBA game in years asking me if I caught the Celtics last night. It’s a collision of my two homes, Morgantown and Mass, that I didn’t see coming. Joe might not be a native son of West Virginia, but just like me, he’s an adopted one, and West Virginians love their children unconditionally.
