With Jae Crowder out, the Boston Celtics' need for Kelly Olynyk grows

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With Jae Crowder out, the Boston Celtics' need for Kelly Olynyk grows




Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) talks with fans during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The Pacers defeated the Celtics 103-98. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on March 16, 2016 at 2:00 AM, updated March 16, 2016 at 2:10 AM



Though the play resulted in the Boston Celtics' first made basket, it also displayed why the away team found scoring so difficult Tuesday night in Indiana.

As Isaiah Thomas probed in transition, the Pacers sent one, then two, then three defenders his way. Indiana clearly didn't care if Jared Sullinger landed an open jumper or Marcus Smart caught the ball with room to work. Thomas was driving toward the hoop, and only one of his teammates, Avery Bradley, deserved serious attention on the perimeter. The Pacers confidently abandoned everyone else.

After getting stripped, Thomas scrambled to recover possession, scanned the court and delivered a pass to Sullinger on the opposite wing. The big man stepped into an open look and made it, but Indiana didn't mind surrendering that shot if it meant keeping Thomas away from an easy hoop.

So it was Tuesday night for the Celtics, who, during a 103-98 loss, drove too many times straight into a help defender. As long as Jae Crowder and Kelly Olynyk both remain out of the lineup, opponents will game plan to take advantage of Boston's lack of outside shooting.


Still close

We should probably take a break here to remember Boston held a one-point lead with eight minutes left. On the road, against an Eastern Conference playoff club, with Paul George doing Paul George things (25 points, 9-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists, four steals), the Celtics gave themselves a chance to overcome Thomas' 1-for-8 start and a stale performance from most of the bench. Without a couple of unfortunate turnovers, like Marcus Smart throwing the ball off a teammate's shoe or Thomas simply losing possession while driving baseline, who knows what might have happened. Even while shooting 38.2 percent from the field, Boston competed at a high enough level to keep the game close almost the entire way through.

That's admirable in a way, but the need for more outside accuracy -- or even just the threat of it -- was so obvious it almost crashed through the screen during a rewatching of most offensive possessions. The difference between a 34.8-percent 3-point shooter (Crowder) and a 26.6-percent 3-point shooter (the forward's replacement in the starting lineup, Smart), isn't just found in a few ticks on a chart, but in the respect each player commands from a defense. The Pacers roamed freely off most Celtics, including Smart.

With a few more makes, Boston could have hurt Indiana for helping so aggressively and forced the defense to pay more attention to shooters. But in one fitting late-game possession, the Celtics swung the ball to Smart. The Pacers had left him wide open in the corner, and a make would have brought the Celtics within two points. He can sink that shot -- the bruising guard occasionally goes on bright streaks from behind the arc -- but the ball bricked off the front rim and Indiana scored seven of the next nine points.

For the night, the Celtics hit just eight of 32 attempts (25 percent) from behind the arc. Smart finished one for eight from that distance.


Stevens knew he'd need more shooting

Hoping to keep enough shooting on the floor, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens called on Jonas Jerebko as the first big man off the bench. Jerebko had averaged 14.5 minutes per game, but finished with 26 against Indiana -- a season high. A lot of Boston's most powerful lineups have featured stretch big men (either Crowder, Jerebko or Olynyk), and Jerebko was the only regular available in that role.

Showing the desperation for floor-spacing, Stevens gave Coty Clarke -- an undersized, 3-point shooting power forward on a 10-day contract -- a first-half stint. Clarke played in front of James Young and R.J. Hunter, but that might not have been an indictment of the former first-round picks. After Jerebko took advantage of Indiana's bigs early, Stevens wanted to stay small. Other than Clarke, the coach didn't really have any options at stretch power forward.

"With Jonas and Coty, we just needed shooting," Stevens said. "We have to space the floor with somebody."

Earlier this season, Stevens once said most of his lineup decisions would be based on offense. Why? He trusts his team will get stops with most combinations of players, but knows certain lineups will struggle to score. Over the last couple of months, the Celtics settled into a rotation that lifted their offensive production, but the formula crumbled when Crowder joined Olynyk on the injured list.

Without those two guys, the starting lineup included three non-shooters (Smart, Jared Sullinger and Amir Johnson), and some bench lineups featured as many as four.

As Smart told reporters in Indiana, "We were getting in the paint and nobody was cutting, nobody was open for us to make an extra pass to. We were just all on top of each other tonight."

Units with Avery Bradley alongside four reserves have resulted in plenty of killer spurts when everybody's healthy, but shot just 4 for 17 over eight minutes Tuesday. The spacing isn't nearly the same with Tyler Zeller in for Olynyk and the talent isn't nearly the same with Terry Rozier in for Smart. Rozier's minutes could be taken by R.J. Hunter or James Young in the next game, but Boston would still be rolling out an inexperienced, unproven player.


Two important stats

1. Since Olynyk's injury, sustaining offensive production without Thomas has been a major issue. The problem continued against the Pacers with even more vigor than usual. According to NBA.com, Boston scored 69.0 points per 100 possessions over the 13 minutes Thomas sat on the bench. At risk of being slightly dramatic, that's approximately the same offensive rating the lowly Philadelphia 76ers would notch if they prepped with four minutes on the dizzy bat and a trip to the neighborhood pub. The Pacers have an elite defense, but Boston's offense staggered, stumbled and stagnated for part of the night.

2. Over the 12 straight games Olynyk has missed, the Celtics are shooting 31.0 percent from behind the arc, a mark that would rank last in the NBA over the entire season. Without Crowder now, Olynyk's return is only more critical. His injured right (shooting) shoulder has progressed, but still bothered him a bit when he went through a pregame shootaround Tuesday.

With 15 games left in the regular season, the Celtics are now tied with the Miami Heat for third place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Atlanta Hawks and 1.5 in front of the Charlotte Hornets. Homecourt advantage for the first round remains a possibility, but the remaining schedule is far from forgiving and Boston needs to find enough shooting to open up the floor.


bob
MY NOTE:  Brad knew he needed more shooting, and he put Coty Clarke in before James Young, a player who can do nothing but shoot. I know he played Clarke at stretch 4, and that's not Young's position, but Clarke is only 6'7", 225#. Not much of a PF if you ask me, more the size of a 3 than a 4.


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