The Boston Celtics traveled to the Windy City on Saturday minus the top two point guards in coach Brad Stevens’ rotation. Rajon Rondo successfully had a screw removed from his hand that he broke in September and rookie Marcus Smart is expected to be sidelined for the next two to three weeks with a left ankle sprain and bone bruise.
No point guards, no problem?
The Celtics wound up with their most impressive victory of this early season with a 106-101 win. After six games, the team is now 3-3 and aside from the blowout loss suffered in Houston, they have been competitive in each game.
Here’s what we can take away from the performance on Saturday night:
1. Never mind a stretch 4 – Kelly Olynyk is a solid stretch 5
In a generation where centers are not as dominant near the basket as they used to be, we’ve seen many big men extend their style of play out to the three point line. Olynyk, one of two seven-footers on the roster, has continued to develop his very unique style of play.
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Matched up against Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah, he was able to limit their effectiveness of defending the paint, knocking down two threes in the process. The second-year player finished with 18 points and tied Noah for a game-high 11 rebounds in what was arguably his best game of the season.
Olynyk came up with the biggest rebound of the game with 24 seconds remaining, grabbing a missed layup by Evan Turner and throwing the ball back out to Avery Bradley forcing the Bulls to foul, securing the win in the process.
His numbers for the season: 13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 53 percent from 3.
2. Unselfish play, ball movement the key to their success
Six games into the season, the Celtics lead the league (25.0) in assists per game. It starts with Rondo individually, who is also the league leader at 11.2 per game. Headed by a locker room presence and captain like Rondo who is known for his unselfishness and affinity to find the open teammate, the rest of the team has followed suit.
On Saturday night, five players finished with four or more assists, led by Turner who replaced Rondo in the starting lineup with six of his own. Jared Sullinger, Jeff Green, Tyler Zeller and Phil Pressey were the others.
Another key fact – the Celtics only trail Golden State and Dallas in points, putting up 106.3 per game, a correlation to their ball movement.
3. ‘Do your job’- role players making contributions on both ends of the court
Stevens is no stranger to rolling 10 players deep into his rotation, and Saturday demonstrated the perfect example as to why that is.
Marcus Thornton, Zeller and Pressey each have been given a defined role off the bench for this team. When they need instant offense, enter Thornton who is known as a microwave type of player capable of scoring in bunches.
He scored 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting in just 15 minutes, and that’s the type of game plan that Stevens will deploy him in going forward.
As the only other 7-footer on the roster, Zeller will be counted on heavily in games just like he was Saturday against Gasol and Noah, or any other team with skilled, competent big men.
In 21 minutes, he finished with 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, seven rebounds and contributed the four assists mentioned earlier. Zeller has great length, a very soft touch around the rim with either hand and can give the team a presence in the interior defensively. It was valued against Chicago.
Pressey is one of those high energy, defensive specialists that has become a nuisance for opposing ball handlers with his ability to apply ball pressure the length of the court. Listed at just 5-foot-11, the 23-year-old played 16 minutes, dishing out four assists with a steal and a block.
Players like him always have more of an impact of the game than what the stats show and because of that, he’ll remain an option in the rotation.