Celtics dispelling concerns about depth with latest winning streak
Payton Pritchard posted 20 points and nine assists starting in place of Jrue Holiday on Friday night.
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The Celtics’ loaded top-six has been a dominant force in the NBA this season. The additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday are elevating Boston to even higher levels as a unit than it has seen in its recent — and highly successful — seasons without them.
However, if there was any bit of concern fans and media alike could draw up about this iteration of the Boston Celtics is their lack of depth. After all, there seemed to be a fairly significant drop-off in terms of skill level after Al Horford in the lineup.
Boston’s latest eight-game win streak is dispelling many of those concerns.
The Celtics have been without numerous different key players through their most recent stretch of action, and still aren’t missing a beat.
The most recent Boston starter to be sidelined is Holiday, who’s dealing with a shoulder injury. Payton Pritchard wasted no time stepping up in his place. Pritchard notched 20 points and nine assists in Friday’s win over the Detroit Pistons, and he’s averaging 19 points per game over his last four games.
“[Pritchard] came in on fire, in the first half I was like ‘it’s his show, let him keep running it,’ he was playing well, making the right plays,” Brown said. “When we got our guys rolling like that, that’s important. We want to empower our guys to continue to play like that and reward them.”
Porzingis has been in and out of the lineup with different ailments throughout the season as well. During those stretches, it’s been fan-favorite big man Luke Kornet stepping up to play increased minutes.
Sam Hauser has also played a vital role as a catch-and-shoot forward who holds his own defensively as well.
Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics aren’t afraid to rely on their depth pieces to get the job done, and they’ve proven capable enough to deploy a nine or 10-man rotation even into the postseason.
The ‘next man up’ mentality continues to benefit the league-leading Celtics as they gear up for a postseason run as title favorites.
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