Bob Cousy a big fan of Terry Rozier’s overall game

http://www.telegram.com/news/20180503/celtics-bob-cousy-big-fan-of-terry-roziers-overall-game



Celtics: Bob Cousy a big fan of Terry Rozier’s overall game



By Bill Doyle
Telegram & Gazette Staff


Posted May 3, 2018 at 10:13 PM
Updated at 12:45 AM

 
BOSTON — Terry Rozier is a very confident young man. How confident?

When told before the Celtics won Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, 108-103, at the Garden Thursday that Celtics legend Bob Cousy thought he was better than Isaiah Thomas, Rozier replied, “Isaiah Thomas who? Which one?”

Rozier was informed that Cousy had referred to Rozier’s former Celtics teammate, not the ex-Pistons star Isiah Thomas, a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

“That’s a great compliment from one of the greats,” Rozier said. “Everybody knows Bob Cousy if you know basketball.”

The fact that Rozier thought Cousy could have been rating him as better than a Hall of Famer shows how much faith he has in his own ability.

Cousy was a big fan of Thomas when he played for the Celtics, but he likes Rozier’s game even better.

“There’s no question what he (Thomas) did offensively at crunch time,” Cousy said Thursday from his home in Worcester. “To this day, there’s nobody that can stop him when he wants to do his thing, but in my mind I wouldn’t give him the same degree of authenticity as I do from what I’ve seen from Rozier the last month. Rozier touches more bases. He’s a much stronger defensive player, we’ve talked about his rebounding, he sees the floor, he creates opportunities better.”

Cousy, the NBA’s first superstar point guard, never would have guessed he’d rave so much about the third-year Celtics point guard after watching him play in college for Louisville.

“I didn’t see a lot of him,” Cousy said, “but he never got my attention. I didn’t watch him and say, ‘Oh boy, he’s going to be an effective player in the pros.’”


Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he has no idea what Rozier’s field goal percentage was in college — it was only 40.8 percent overall and 33.1 percent from threeland during his two years at Louisville — but he and Danny Ainge liked his shooting technique. So the Celtics took him with the No. 16 pick in 2015.

“His work ethic is elite,” Stevens said, “his athleticism is elite and his competitiveness is elite so you would think that a guy like that would continue to improve.”

He’s improved more than a lot of people expected.

“I think I opened a lot of peoples’ eyes,” Rozier said. “I’m not too big on people that didn’t like me then and like me now. That doesn’t sit too well with me, but it is what it is. You just got to show who you are some times and I just appreciate the love.”

Rozier has taken advantage of Kyrie Irving’s knee injury to show he can not only be effective, but dominant at times. In his first career start on Jan. 31, he recorded a triple-double. In his next start, he scored 31 points. When Irving was lost for the season on March 11, Rozier started 13 of Boston’s final 15 regular-season games.

On Thursday, Rozier overcame a slow start, but finished with 20 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds and on turnovers in 38 minutes to vastly outplay Sixers rookie point guard Ben Simmons, who had 1 point, 7 assists, 5 boards and 5 turnovers. Celtics fans chanted “Not a rookie” at Simmons, but he played like one.

“We know he’s looking to pass first,” Rozier said. “He’s got a lot of great shooters around him so we try to take the shooters away and make him score the ball. Not saying he can’t score, but he wants to pass.”


Rozier missed his first four shots and made only three of 11 through the first three quarters, but sank three of four in the fourth when he scored eight points.

The Celtics trailed by 22, 48-26, in the second quarter, but rallied to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

After the Celtics fell behind by five midway through the fourth, Rozier’s 3-pointer pulled them within, 93-91. Another of his 3-pointers gave Celtics a 99-95 lead. His drive over Joel Embiid made it 101-97. Then he grabbed a rebound and broke away on a 2-on-1 and lobbed a pass to Jayson Tatum for a dunk to make it 103-97.

In the playoffs, Rozier is averaging team highs of 19.1 points and 6.9 assists to go with 5 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 44.1 percent overall and 43.8 percent from threeland.

Those are great numbers for someone who averaged only 1.8 points as a rookie, 5.5 points, and 11.3 this regular season. He’s become Scary Terry.

While Cousy doesn’t rank any other Celtic as an effective as Irving as a go-to scorer late in games, especially at taking the ball to the basket, he marvels at how Rozier has excelled in the playoffs.

“Mediocre talent in sports will generally collapse under too much pressure,” said


Cousy, a six-time NBA champion and 1957 NBA MVP, “but if you’ve got exceptional talent it will actually thrive under the greater pressure. Usually, the great ones will up their game under the pressure. I don’t know if we can put that term on him (Rozier) at this point, a great one, but he’s displayed his talent. I never thought of him as a good shooter, never mind what he’s shown us lately.”

In Game 1, Rozier made 7 of his 9 3-point attempts and led the Celtics with 29 points, the most of his playoff career. In Game 2, he sank 4 of 9 3-point tries.

“For Rozier to start the season as the backup point guard,” Cousy said, “you would never expect him to have made this kind of progress.”

Actually, Rozier began the season as the third-string point guard behind Irving and Marcus Smart.

“Marcus has made a believer out of me,” Cousy said before Game 2.

Two months ago, Cousy wanted Smart to stop shooting so much. Now he’s willing to put up with those missed shots. Thursday, Smart made six of 13 shots and scored 19 points to go with 9 assists and 7 rebounds.

“If I’m the coach,” Cousy said, “Marcus has to be in the game. He’s just one of those unique players that makes things happen on so many levels.”

Cousy believes Tatum (21 points) and Jaylen Brown (13 points) can become All-Stars because they’re triple threats. They can shoot 3s, take the ball to the basket and post up defenders.



bob
MY NOTE: Is TRo's confidence sky-high, or what?!! Which one?! That's funny and, what makes it even funnier, is that he was serious. Zeke is HOF and perhaps the best point guard of his era. Love it. Go get'em, Terry, go get'em.



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