Is it time for the Celtics to make a lineup change?

Is it time for the Celtics to make a lineup change?

NBC SPORTS BOSTON By A. Sherrod Blakely March 03, 2019 7:20 PM

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics continued their downward trending ways on Sunday with a 115-104 loss to the Houston Rockets.

With the loss, Boston (38-26) has now dropped five of its last six games, and seven of the last 10 games.

Teams that struggle as much as they have lately are prone to trying to shake things up a bit, maybe go with a lineup change or a potential lineup tweak.

“Obviously, we’ll look at everything,” said Celtics Brad Stevens. “We’ve been looking at everything, after every game, every night. Every minute you wake up, you’re thinking about that. There’s things that are helpful in that and things that are not helpful.”

Making too radical a lineup change at this point could cause even greater fractures within a team whose cracks have seemingly grown as we get deeper into the season.

In addition, it’s not like you can point to one or two starters as being the reason for the team’s most recent struggles.

While some of Boston’s starters have had their share of problems impacting the game in a positive way lately, they still rank among the NBA’s best starting five-man units in several categories.

But listening to Stevens talk, you get a sense that he’s reluctant to make a change to the starting lineup right now.

“If it’s the root of your issues, then a small tweak can help,” Stevens said. “I’m not sure that’s our root.”

Boston is averaging 28.1 points per game in the first quarter, which ranks 13th in the NBA. The Celtics' defense has allowed 25.3 points per game to be scored in the first quarter which is the third-fewest points allowed in the first in the league.

Raising even more speculation that a potential lineup change might be in the works, was how little Stevens used Marcus Morris on Sunday.

The veteran wing averages 27.8 minutes per game this season, but was limited to just under 18 minutes per game.

On Sunday, Morris went scoreless for the first time this season while missing all three of his shots from the field.

Stevens explained his decision to keep Morris on the sideline for the remaining 17 or so minutes of play.

“It was nothing to do with Marcus per se,” Stevens said. “But then we were down by 30. I wanted to see (Aron) Baynes and Al (Horford) play together a little bit. I wanted to see that pairing and I wanted to get (Daniel) Theis a chance to play.”

When asked about possible lineup change again, Stevens added, “If I thought who we start the game with was going to make a huge difference or give us the spark we need. Then we’ll continue to consider it and do it and maybe just try it for the hell of it, right? I don’t usually fly by the seat of my pants like that. I like to think and have a thoughtful process; just keep plugging away.”

112288

yeah..plant Irvings ass deep on the bench and keep him there #1.

#2 play Hayward limtied minutes unless his game is on that night

the rest will take care of itself.

Yes, has been the need for awhile....can’t believe the shitty starting line up and the lame rotations that don’t maximize our best players that BS has been using all season.

I do not think that the Cs biggest problem is with their line up decisions other than Kyrie Irving.

And, it is not that he isn't a good player but more that he is killing this team with his attitude and 'me first' approach.

I would be willing to not only sit him down as KDP mentioned, but go even further by telling him to just stay at home for the rest of the season. There is no way he signs with Boston and there is no way that he helps this team this year. His "leadership" is nothing but negative and it is likely to get even worse before it gets any better.

Ainge should have traded him at the trade deadline, and not trading him when at least something could have been brought back was the greatest mistake made by any GM in the league this year.

At this point in the season a stylistic change will not happen. I think Brad should tweak the lineup.

One thing however stands out. Jaylen Brown needs to play more. Too many guys on this team are useless if they are not making their 3 pointers. Brown is the only guy on this team that will take his game inside and score at the rim when outside shots are not falling. His defense looks solid and he has been fully engaged.

Baynes should get some starting assignments against the big teams.

Is it time for the Celtics to make a lineup change?

On another thread I threw out the idea of perhaps starting Baynes with a short rotation featuring Morris and Brown off the bench, but I don't think it's an absolute necessity. Just looking to be stronger up the gut and on the boards.

Better shot selection, going deeper into the shot clock while positioning on the offensive boards, and stronger communication on defense, which seems like its been lacking lately, could also help without tweaking the lineup.

At this point bigger lineup changes may be best left for the off-season.

Jaylen has indicated that, after all the noise at the beginning of the season, he is more comfortable coming off the bench. The only thing I think needs to happen is that he needs more minutes. As far as I am concerned he is outplaying Tatum, (different roles, I know) but Tatum still gets the accolades even though Brown is playing better.

Morris has said he would be willing to go to the bench if that would help jump start something with the starting lineup.

None of this will change anything unless Kyrie turns the other cheek and starts playing at both ends of the court. I am sorry, it is a scary thought to me that there is a solid chance Rozier may be our point/shooting guard on this team next year. Sorry, just do not see it happening.

NYCelt wrote:Is it time for the Celtics to make a lineup change?

On another thread I threw out the idea of perhaps starting Baynes with a short rotation featuring Morris and Brown off the bench, but I don't think it's an absolute necessity. Just looking to be stronger up the gut and on the boards.

Better shot selection, going deeper into the shot clock while positioning on the offensive boards, and stronger communication on defense, which seems like its been lacking lately, could also help without tweaking the lineup.

At this point bigger lineup changes may be best left for the off-season.

NY,, I saw on TV this morning that Boston is shooting 25% when they shoot contested threes and about 38 on uncontested. Big difference. I believe this is after the break. I think it is pretty much that way for the whole year though. We don't seem to get a lot of wide open shots like Houston did yesterday. I hope Jaylen gets to start for his mentality. I think he feels like it should have been his starting job, then he goes to the bench and watches bad basketball and wonders why he isn't playing. His minutes are not near enough for me. If he got over 30 minutes I don't care if he starts or not. I wish Brad would change our plays. I have been complaining about having one player stuffed in the corner not being involved for a while now. Rosalie just mentioned Hayward also. Without good ball movement people don't feel involved. I have played in the same situation and its not fun and hard to stay engaged.

So many DIFFERENT opinions, by members of this board, as to what should be done to correct the unexpected current lackluster performance - seems to me to reflect the difficulty of coming up with a specific reason - No solution thus far and apparently COMPLEX ENOUGH TO EVEN HAVE MANAGEMENT BAFFLED.

swish

swish wrote:So many DIFFERENT opinions, by members of this board,  as to what should be done to correct the unexpected current lackluster performance - seems to me to reflect the difficulty of coming up with a specific reason - No solution thus far and apparently COMPLEX ENOUGH TO EVEN HAVE MANAGEMENT BAFFLED.

 swish

+1

Swish that' why we can play this game all we want, move around whoever we want, but Danny and Brad get the big bucks for doing whatever they think is right!!!

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Swish   that' why we can play this game all we want, move around whoever we want, but Danny and Brad get the big bucks for doing whatever they think is right!!!

I fully embrace the right for everyone to voice their opinion.

swish