Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Bucks

3. Great minutes for Marcus Morris

Marcus Morris has been a pleasant surprise these last few months. What started out this season as a major disappointment ended up being a great addition to the team. Morris sat out about 50 percent of the games during the first half of the season and just couldn’t find anyway to stay healthy.

He still misses games every so often, but they’re never for an extended period of time like earlier in the year. Morris came over in a trade during the offseason that sent Avery Bradley to the Detroit Pistons for salary cap purposes.

Morris continued his late season success Sunday against the Bucks. He played more minutes than any bench player on either team, tallying 35. A lot of key minutes came late in the game, including overtime.

In his 35 minutes, Morris went 8-for-20 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range. One big basket came late in the fourth quarter when the shot clock was winding down to put the C’s up by four with a little under two minutes remaining. By the end of Game 1, Morris had totaled 21 points and seven rebounds.

His minutes were even more important to Boston’s success because the bench ultimately didn’t show up. Shane Larkin logged 16 minutes (second-most off the bench), but in that time he only finished with five points.

The points don’t tell the full story, but when he did play, Larkin didn’t look like he was comfortable. He was a major contributor to the turnovers in the second quarter and finished the game with four overall.

Boston will be without Irving and Hayward the rest of the way out, which means that Morris will need to continue to play big minutes.