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Celtics Wrap: Kemba Walker Is Clutch In Win Over Pacers, 118-112
Boston got back to its winning ways


NESN by Alexandra Francisco

It wouldn’t be surprising if fans shut that game off once the Boston Celtics started trailing by 14 points just five minutes in. So allow us to fill you in on what happened after that point to lead them to a 118-112 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Kemba Walker looked as much like his old self as ever, as the team didn’t need to rely so much on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with great contributions from the bench. They moved the ball fairly well and got to the free throw line. In times of adversity, they showed grit and defense helped give them the edge while neck-and-neck with the Pacers.

Walker had a game-high 32 points with six assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Daniel Theis had 17 points and four rebounds, Brown had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Tatum had nine points, nine rebounds and four assists. Jeff Teague, in perhaps is best game as a Celtic, had 14 points.

Robert Williams had a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double with four assists.

Domantas Sabonis (24 points, nine assists, six rebounds), Myles Turner Brogdon (17 points, 10 rebounds), and Justin (19 points) and Aaron Holiday (15 points) provided for a balanced offense, but the Pacers fall to 15-16.

With the win, the Celtics improve to 16-17. Now, we see if this winning stays consistent.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
Kemba Walker ran the point with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum out on the wing. In Marcus Smart’s continued absence, coach Brad Stevens went with the double-big man lineup filled out with Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson.

KEMBA LEADS A COMEBACK
We blinked, and Indiana hit all five of their 3-point attempts to get off to a 18-4 run led by Myles Turner during the first five minutes of play. He had a game-high 13 points in the first.

The Celtics called a time out after that horrible opening stretch, and Walked helped them make up some ground immediately at the line and from deep to cut the lead to 20-16.

Walker took complete control of the offense, finishing the quarter with 10 points going a perfect 2-for-2 from the perimeter. He also drew a number of fouls, recorded a rebound and steal and facilitated well with two assists.

For all the criticism the Celtics have received about their ball movement of late, Boston really started to piece things together after that crucial timeout.

Tatum had a quiet quarter, but a deep two back-to-back with a floater from Jeff Teague on the next offensive possession gave Boston the lead at the half.

They trailed by as many as 14 points early, but were up 32-21 after one.

BENCH BUILDING MOMENTUM
Indiana stayed neck-and-neck with Boston, but between Robert Williams, Teague and Payton Pritchard, the bench offered some solid energy and contributions with a combined 27 points in the first half.

Williams had eight of those with three blocks, eight rebounds and two assists as he won out minutes from the two starting centers with his play. Pritchard hustled through the entirety of his team-high 18 minutes. Teague’s 10 points followed up Walker’s game-high 18 points at the half.

Tatum had a quiet half, but perhaps provided the most highlight-worthy moment of the game. Like, is he kidding us with his pass?

Boston extended its lead to as many as six points at one point in the second, but didn’t shoot well from deep going 4-for-13 in the first two frames. Thanks to a heady play in the paint from Brown at the end of the quarter, the Celtics led 61-60 at the break.

ROLLERCOASTER OF RUNS
Finally Boston managed some separation getting out to a 10-point lead in the opening minutes of the half. Not that it lasted long, because it’s the Pacers.

Stevens called a timeout just inside the four-minute mark after Justin Holiday hit a 3-pointer to make it a two point game. But they came out of that regrouping with stingy defense that propelled them to more small runs.

Walker continued to lead the offense, but Tatum got in on the scoring a bit to add onto his three assists and five rebounds.
Boston showed grit and managed to close out the quarter 92-84.

CLOSE IT OUT
Another lead disappeared almost instantly at the start of the fourth, but Walker was clutch in keeping the momentum on their side.

After Indiana came within three points, the Celtics went off on one final run to make the final push. Brown stepped out of bounds on offense in a two possession game, but Sabonis missed a 3 and the Pacers didn’t capitalize.

Theis did, though, and hit a triple on the other end to essentially win the game.


NEXT UP
The homestand at TD Garden continues for two more games. On Sunday, Feb. 28 the Celtics will host on the Washington Wizards, tipping off at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Tuesday, March 2 they take on the Los Angeles Clippers at 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

Nice win by the Celtics. there was more player movement on offense for us then ping pong balls in Lottery Drawings. About time.

Great bench work by Wiiliams and Pritchard.

112288

Just this once,our three headed point guard and three headed center conglomerates were excellent. Jeff Teague even resembled a live person.

So I am halfway through the second quarter and I am already not liking this game. I guess we won in the end but the offense we run is sooooo predictable and me ball oriented it is not fun to watch for me at all.
OFFENSE:
So when our 2 (3 with Kemba now) guys have the energy to dirbble their way into a tough shot and make it we are fine. It is all dribble hand-offs and then 1vX.
This is fine I guess as you do have 3 very gifted offensive players. But NOT as your fundamental offense plan... I mean it is the same play every single time. IT just differs a little on the shot selection - Kemba wants to herky jerky a long 2 or a drive or pull up 3. JB wants to get to his mid range, JT wants to take a contested 2, his lazy step aside 3 or drive a lane.
All those playes start the same way and develop the same way.
At least Kemba looks explosive again. Still do not like the type of plays he likes to run, but running those successfully is still much better than failing at them and still trying the same thing over and over.

DEFENSE:
I will edit this after I watch the entire game, but I asume we won because we were more consistent on defense than usual. Our bigs are doing great job rotating, our "big 3" are the problem here it seems. They have stretches where they just look disinterest or lazy on defense. ESPECIALLY JT. I rerun some of the 1Q last night from the start of the season. JT looks COMPLETELY different on defense to me. MUCH more energy on defense from him before Covid.

Finally: based on 2Q so far I can also clearly see that Jason Tatum is NOT ok. I am willing to give him a lot of slack on this if true, but it seems to me he is constantly fatigued. This might be why he puts no effort on defense, he just does not have it in him.

Case in point:
I am watching right now minute 7:20-06:55 in 2Q where JT gets the ball after defensive rebound and to me it seems he tries to bring it fast across the court, but looks tired already.
Then tries to penetrate, goes past 1 and his momentum slows BY ITSELF, he slows down sees he is not going to make it in time and dribbles away to the 3 point line to take the lazy 3.
If you can watch it on replay notice he is guarded by Sabonis. They are literally right on top of one another.
Ball is rebounded from his miss and Sabonis takes off. Meanwhile JT does not even look at him, he is still looking at the rim and rebounding action. He react a FULL 2 seconds too late. Sabonis is comically alone in front of the Celtics rim by then.
This is either incredibly poor coaching to not have it drilled into your guys to run back, very lazy performance from JT(but he is having those consistently now...) or to me at least a sign of heavy fatigue. When you are trying to catch your breath you are not just slow physicaly, your reaction time is longer.

Why is Brad not running those minutes with JB and pair JT with Kemba instead of JB as he is doing now? This is practically late in the 2Q and early in 4Q for several games now...?

There was a tweet posted somewhere saying that the agent of Marcus Smart has a super easy job now. Just show them tapes from those games where Marcus was not playing. No commentary needed.

I hope this is the start of an uptrend for the team, although I do not see anything much has changed. I would take gradual improvement as well.

Good game.  Kemba comes alive!  Confounding still even in victory.  Now make Marcus happy.  Withholding judgment until a winning streak develops.  See you then!

db

Hi,
I guess defense does win. I was really surprised when I saw the box score - two Js combined points = 24. I wouldn't call their performance terrifying because of their defense. But, obviously, we all know that they're capable of much better. on both ends of the floor.
Overall, last night there were some signs of fresh air inside completely flatten balloon aka Celtics. We shall see if it's the turning point and this balloon's going to get more air and starts to get off the ground or if it's just my wishful thinking.
Another question (on individual side) is Kemba back?


AK

I have just three words for the two J's. Cordyceps. Cordyceps. Cordyceps.

worcester wrote:I have just three words for the two J's. Cordyceps. Cordyceps. Cordyceps.

Worcester,
Explanation, please.

AK

The best thing about the game last night was that we won.

During the broadcast, they mentioned a statistic that I did not know about.  Before last nights' win, Boston had lost 13 out of 20 games where the spread was 5 or less points with 5 minutes remaining in the game.  The teams inability to close out games has had a huge impact in winning or losing.  Last night was another 5 or less point spread to close out.  Boston was up by 5 with 5:10 remaining.  The game actually got down to a one possession situation when Sabonis canned a 27 foot 3 pointer making the score 115-112 with 25,7 seconds left.

Boston continues to struggle defensively.  Yesterday was no different.  They could not really stop the Pacers offense but they were able to make a few more buckets.

Kemba Walker had his first 30+  point game in a year.  We really needed that performance with both JT and JB mired in a funk but it does not change much in my opinion.

The Celtics have 3 games remaining before the break. A 4-0 record would be fantastic or a 3-1 showing would be acceptable. The Celtics found their way out of the crawl space and back into the light at #6

The PG rotation was very solid and productive  (55 points and 9 assists along with 4 turnovers.  Our 3 headed center rotation was not great because TT was well below average with 6 points and 5 rebounds.  The best player on the court last night was Robert Williams who collected his second double double of the year while scoring 14 points and banging the glass for 11 rebounds (including 3 off the offensive glass to get us another possession)  He also had 3 block and a steal.  His fit on the court on offense was on full display.  He  had 4 assists and only 1 turnover.  He shot his usual 6-8 from the field.

I see no reason to get deep into details about other stuff.  My take away from the game is that our defense needs Marcus and that Robert Williams needs more opportunities.  

One of my main criticisms of Brad Stevens is how he has utilized Rob.  If you have a guy who consistently puts the ball in the basket you have to get him more looks.  Robert only gets 4.1 FGA per game.  He makes 72% of them because they are high percentage opportunities and he is skilled.  There is simply no excuse for not running more plays for Rob.  I  would like to see him get at least 10 shots per game.  He can get those if you run more screens for him and you look for him in the post.  Rob is our #1 go to guy in the post.  A smart coach would recognize that.  I would start Robert Williams at center right now.  It is not just about his scoring ability and ultra athleticism.  He has consistently done a great job playing up top in the offense in moving the ball and setting precise screens to open up the offense.  His trigger is split second fast when he has the ball and makes a pass, or when he goes up for a rebound or goes up to score.  I was watching him grab a defensive rebound and there was no delay in him getting the ball out to start the transition.  He does that better than any of our centers.  For example, Tristian gets a rebound, does a Kardasian booty shake and then makes the pass.  I'm like, pass the goddamn ball, why are you molesting it?  

After playing Rob 14 minutes B2B in favors of Grant Williams, he logged 22 minutes last night and Grant was back on the bench where he belongs.  

It is unfortunate and negligent that coach Stevens has taken so long to embrace his emergence.

I thought this game was a nice test.  Yeah, I know Indy isn't one of the better teams in the league but, then, neither are we.  What this game showed us is two things, two things that I think we really needed to see to have continued faith in this roster.  One, we went down early by 14 points and rallied back to actually win the 1st quarter.  Would we have preferred to see them come out all fired up by our 3 game losing streak and kick ass and take names from the tip?  Sure, of course, but that didn't happen and given our last few weeks we could have just had all the air escape us and go through the motions on the way to the slaughtering house like we did in Atlanta.  That didn't happen, and that is a very hopeful sign.  Secondly, this game was relatively close after that first quarter differential.  Our largest lead was 10 points, which means Indy was always within reach with a good run and maybe some turnovers or a cold spell from us.  It was a dogfight from the 2nd half of the 1st quarter on, a dogfight we won.  While my nerves would have appreciated a blowout as a basketball observer I think winning a close(ish) game like this was a better test for a team that had been failing tests for a few weeks now.  Between our 1st quarter rally and our sustained fight through the rest of the game I saw something I haven't seen in a week or two, and that's ganas.  One win doesn't a trend make, but we have to start somewhere, we have 3 more games until the All-Star break, and we passed Test #1.  Test #2 is Sunday vs Washington.

We almost lost this game because of the Js or we won this game despite the Js.  Your choice.  They damn near killed us on both ends.  They were a combined 9-30 for 24 points, Tatum being 4-18.  We took 82 fgas, Tatum took 22% of them and he shot 22% on them.  No discipline.  He doesn't give up the ball.  He's a black hole on offense.  Some of his misses were blown bunnies, some of them were him taking difficult shots.  Jaylen shot better, 5-12, but he had 4 of our team's 11 turnovers.  His handle the last week or two has been horrible, I think it was Cowens who said on the Game On! thread that his handle was back to "2018 Jaylen".  Might be even worse than that.  When he wasn't turning the ball over he was scrambling to not turn the ball over and that took a lot of seconds off the clock.  We gave up 14 points on turnovers.  As my memory serves most of Jaylen's turnovers were live turnovers, which means they ran on us.  I said on the Game On! thread that what I was seeing from the Js was terrifying me.  What terrified me is not that they were missing, or even that Tatum didn't stop shooting even though he couldn't throw the ball into the ocean from the edge of the pier.  What terrified me, and still does, is that I'm thinking that what we're seeing here from them is an inability to handle pressure:  the pressure of being "da man", the pressure of being named an All-Star (both) and being elevated to a starter (Tatum).  I'm thinking their issues are mental more than physical, and the biggest single differentiator as you go deeper into the playoffs is the 4" muscle between the ears.  I'm not convinced these two have the mental toughness to get us to #18.  Someday?  Sure, we all grow with age but how many more years will that be?  There's a reason why young teams don't win Championships, teams with grizzled veterans with thousand yard stares who only want one thing and one thing only from the rest of their careers and that's a ring do.  "Youth is wasted on the young" - George Bernard Shaw.  "Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance" - David Mamet.  "You get the picture" - Bob Heckler

What can be done about this?  If a player(s) are psyching themselves up, and out, too much from the pressure you can calm them down, right?  "Relax, kid, it's only basketball.  This is supposed to be fun."  Well, I don't think there are two calmer people than Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge.  In fact, one of the knocks against them is that they don't kick ass enough.  How else can you right these ships?  Bringing in those cold-eyed veterans.  Thompson needs to settle them down.  Theis, with his German MVP and two Championships.  That's who we've got.  Unfortunately, they were never the caliber of NBA player who could point to their own careers and say "be like I was".  They're not a Vince Carter or even a Derrick Rose who can say "I was great once, let me tell you why" so they're not really "peers" of the Js, even at this stage of their young careers.  I'd be just fine if we traded one or two of our young end-of-benchers for a 10 year veteran for a short-term rental.

Other than Aaron Nesmith, who only played 7 minutes, every Celtic player shot OVER 50% except for the Js.  

Yes, that includes Jeff Teague, who played a helluva game on both ends.  I've been as down on Teague as anybody but you have to give credit where credit is due.  14 points on 3-5, 7-8 from the line.  8 ftas is All-Star level whistles.  On defense he was ball hawking every time he thought his man was being lazy or inattentive.  He played 19 minutes.  Give me 19 of these minutes and I'll start to reconsider my opinion of Jeff Teague.  One game, though, isn't a trend for him neither.

The Time Lord made the most of his time.  22 minutes and he had 14 points on 6-8.  He had 11 rebounds, 3 offensive.  3 blocks, 4 assists and only one turnover.  This was a great game by RWill on both ends.  His defensive rotations, which he sometimes blows, were excellent.  He didn't bite on every head fake, which is his biggest single flaw.  This kid can now play, and he needs to.  He's averaging 15.6mpg so far this season.  Brad needs to work him up to 20-22mpg.  I don't know if he's ready for 30mpg, but this game proved he's good for 20-22 and, more importantly, he showed up at the Gahden for this game loaded for bear.  Big Game Bob.



PP 9 points on 4-6, 4 rebounds with 3 of them offensive.  The smallest guy on the floor getting 3 offensive rebounds.  Know that old saying about how "it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog"?  Poodle Payton Pritchard was going toe-to-toe with pitties last night and he didn't give a shit, he wanted that flip* ball more than them.  We all remember TJ McConnell from Philly, right?  He's always been an effective player against us.  He had 6 points on 2-5, and he was guarded by PP for most of them.  PP played 30 minutes.  Brad has taken some heat because some say he doesn't change his substitutions to reflect what's happening on the floor.  Playing Pritchard 30 minutes says that's not correct, at least not for this game.

Bottom line, we don't win this game if Kemba doesn't have the best game of this season, one of the best games he's had as a Celtic.  He was the Kemba of old, Cardiac Kemba.  32 points on 10-19, 4-10 from 3, 8-8 from the line, 6 assists and only 1 turnover.  He took charges on defenses and got deflections.  I've been off the KW bandwagon for a while but, just like with Teague, credit where credit is due and we would not have won last night if Kemba only had a "really good game".  We needed a "great game" from him to offset the Js and we got it.  Also just like Teague, one game does not a trend make, but Kemba can no longer say his problems are physical.  He had game last night.



Theis with 17 points on 6-9 and 3 blocks.  GREAT game by Theis.  He was even 2-3 from 3.  He was in "da funk" the last week or two also so this was nice to see.  Unlike Kemba and JeT we've seen more games like this from Theis so this is more like him rather than perhaps just an aberration.



https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401267665


Bob


.

bohh, great summary here

I am not worried about the J's and the bad patch they are going through as I see it as part of the learnin curve.

I will take every win no matter who or what makes it happen.

I thought the game made a strong case for Rob to be given not just a consistent 20-22 minutes per game but also more shot opportunities. 72% is pretty good.

The Pacers were without Lavert and TJ Warren.

This team despite the much needed win is still in the dog house. How they wrap up their remaining 3 games will let us know if this game was part of turning the corner or just the logical result of losing 3 straight and therefore due for a home win vs a team missing 2 starters.

Ok so bear with me this will be a long winded post. I am not sure how many of you can watch the plays I am referencing here either so feel free to just skip this post

So I am really not liking how stagnant our offense is and would like to point some good and bad points I am seeing from this game:

The offense seems to be initiated predominantly with dribble hand-off outside the arc and relies mainly on the individual skill of our star players to create the offensive flow/opportunity for everyone else. So here are some example of how this works or doesn't:

---> Example of a good dribble hand-off posession: min 2:30 2Q - 3 hand-off in a row keep defense at least partially guessin leading to brown being defended with enough separation for him to stop and drill a jumper without much resistance.

---> Example of bad dribble hand-off possession: min 0:45 2Q - Tatum keeps the ball after first dribble hand-off instead ogiving it up to JB, gets himself in the corner for a pound pound fade away contested shot for which any other play should be benched immediately

---> Example of a dribble hand-off play where Tatum is fresh: 10:15 3Q - Tatum gets the ball and unsurprisingly is trapped immediately. He just seems quicker to me when he is "fresh" however so he goes right to free the space in the middle and when pressured immediately finds Theis for a bunny from the free throw line.
Next possession he tried to push the ball after rebound exactly like the example

---> A Good example of a set play off the hand-off dribble - 08:20 3Q JB gets the hand off from Tristan gets immediately trapped as usually happens with him and JT. Recognizes that Tristan was left with a good free corridor to the rim and a nice bounce pass

---> Another set play that for me highlights the risk of all this dribble hand-off strategy that we are playing - 05:30 3Q Jt and JB do a double hand-off which leaves JB to penetrate. He goes in and gets swarmed. Now I understand that this is INTENDED and the whole point is that at this point in time there should be 1 guy open at the 3 pt. line, 1 guy that was doing the pick for Jaylen rolling to the basket with him and 1 more at the weak side 3pt line. The premise being when he gets 2 on him ONE of those will be open. Al nice and cozy sounding from X/O perspective. To me this is just putting a lot of pressure on your star players to make split second decisions with so many variables and make them right EVERY time, otherwise it's a TO most likely. In this case you have the 3 guys 2 of them are covered so perfect defense. JB tries the closest one the rolling Tristan and causes a turn over. It is on JB by all means, but are we expecting him to be able to KNOW/SEE which one of the 3 options is the right one EVERY SINGLE TIME when this play is RUN CONSTANTLY?

Simply put I think our DESIGNED offense by Brad Stevens is WAY too complex while being too simplistic at the same time. Why would every single offensive possession have to involve a dribble hand-off? Why always the plays are developing outside the arc for the team? Why not mix it up? Inside-out for example? More cutting something? POST-UP? You know that can be played WITHOUT having a great center right? I am not a basketball coach I do not have the answer . I just see a stagnant, easy to predict and plan for offense that I as an amateur can pan against...

---> A Different Example: The single post up I saw was perhaps incidental - 06:50 Q4 on a defensive stop JB is way out at the 3 pt line and runs away from the defense and is in a good position in front of the ream. The defense recovers and he actually gets double teamed after Kemba's pass. But he is within 5ft of the basket and scores anyway as he did not have to work through the entire defense to get there...

---> I know Kemba carried the load but here is a possession I just HATE to see - 3:25 Q4. Kemba gets the ball and dribble dribble gets a screen, gets the extra defender aaaand "cardiac 3". We are up by 7 points with 3 minutes to play.. ATTACK the basket Kemba. If you want to chuck 3s then JB was WIDE OPEN because you had 2 on you. if they had recovered to him that would have left JT wide open in the corner. You CANNOT get better shots than that from 3...

I do not understand why would you guys say we won despite JT, JB. All I saw in the last 3-4 minutes was Kemba pound ball with the exception of that drive by Tatum which worked perfectly fine but he missed the bunny at the end, which was ofc unfortunate. Otherwise there was a forced last sec shot by JB which was all Kemba pounding the ball, a turnover by JB which in my opinion was caused again by Kemba NOT giving him the ball when he wanted to POST UP and then he was pushed by the defender out of position.

I very much like Kemba's effort on defense AND offense. I do not like how he is being utilized, especially at the end of games.


Fatigue or No Effort?
I find the following 2 examples a bit of "red fllags" for Tatum. I stil believe all of this is caused by post Covid symptoms. Some of it is mental already though, I have to agree about that as well:

---> End of 3Q: He enters and immediately does an "not what you want to see" fade-away with a hand in his face. Difference is, he sticks it, has the legs. 1 or 2 possessions late though he has 2 consecutive just atrocious efforts on defense just playing through the motions. He ALREADY looks fatigued (or lazy) to me at 02:00 in 3Q. Still at 00:35 3Q his version of the pull up 3 looks OK. Still seems to me he puts and extra effort to launch it tbh.

---> Example of "no effort" (to me): 10:30 4Q - MConell pushes the ball down the floor, Celtics defense scrambles. He kicks it out to the 3pt line, JT recovers to cover the shooter... or does he? WTF was that move Tatum? Please do not pretend you were "playing the pass" you just welcomed the guy into your paint with a bow no less... So here is another of Brad's problems as a couch (in my opinion) - When JB did that in his first 2 years he was BENCHED like ASAP. ACCOUNTABILITY Stevens, lack of it DESTROYS teams. Pease do not learn that AFTER it has destroyed yours. The very next possession is another lackluster effort by Tatum on defense. I mean if the guy has problems he SHOULD BE RECOVERING. Not playing. Certainly when he plays he should be held accountable on BOTH defense and offense. JT as much as I like him to be is NOT Lebron James. He does not get to take defensive possessions OFF to save himself for the offensive end.

Also I have a general question: What happened to that post/article that said RWill is being limited because he CANNOT play a full game due to his medical condition?

Was that true? I mean he looks great out there these days, just what we need with his energy and athleticism. But it would explain why Brad Stevens has kept him within limited minutes the last 3 years and also would severely limit his usefulness to the team in the future.

sinus007 wrote:

worcester wrote:I have just three words for the two J's. Cordyceps. Cordyceps. Cordyceps.

Worcester,
Explanation, please.

AK

Cordyceps is the herb almost all China's Olympic athletes take to enhance lung function, oxygen levels, and performance. Health Concerns of Utah has a good brand, but there are many other suppliers.

Vankisa wrote:Also I have a general question: What happened to that post/article that said RWill is being limited because he CANNOT play a full game due to his medical condition?

Was that true? I mean he looks great out there these days, just what we need with his energy and athleticism. But it would explain why Brad Stevens has kept him within limited minutes the last 3 years and also would severely limit his usefulness to the team in the future.

I do not think Rob has the stamina to play 30 MPG game in and game out.  He can play 20-25 mpg.  He has nicks and bruises just like everyone else but everytime I see him I see energy.    His medical condition may cause cramps in his calf area.  If he has cramps he would struggle  to get up and down the floor in a hurry and he wouldn't be able to jump.

Clearly he is fine and is being limited by Stevens.   He runs up and down the floor every game and plays well above the rim at both ends every game.   Brad has to keep Grant from rusted out like some abandoned car and when he does Robs plays less minutes.  Rob has earned the right to more playing time.  

Everybody on this forum has seen him play.  We have watched him develop.  It seems clear that as his reps increase so does the quality of his execution. His physical profile continues to get stronger.

dboss,

As efficiently as he plays, does RWIII even need to go full minutes?

If Brad's job is now to maximize (team, talent, etc) across the board, I'm thinking he's pegged RWIII.

db

RWIII is often late on weak side help, bites on head fakes but often makes up for this on athleticism and length. He’s a real rim protector in a zone or hybrid zone situation. Offensively he’s more complete as he brings a viable high post passer, decent base line mid range shot and of course awesome play above the rim. Haven’t checked the advanced stats but i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a better offensive than defensive rebounder. Now that his overall defensive game has improved he’s getting well deserved playing time.