The Celtics are going to need to play some better defense if they want to win Thursday night’s Game 6 in Philadelphia and extend their season.
NBC Sports Boston analyst Brian Scalabrine has one idea that could help: Get Robert Williams and Al Horford on the floor together more often.
Making his weekly appearance on Jones & Mego on Wednesday, Scalabrine said not using the “double big” lineup more is one of his biggest second-guesses for this series in particular.
“I don’t understand why we’re not playing Rob and Al,” Scal said. “I’ve had arguments with Joe [Mazzulla] on the plane or in the back room and I never would bring it up. I just trust that their numbers – they have so much more access than I do. The net rating of those two guys is amazing. I don’t understand why they’re not on the floor together. They must know something more than I do, but I would think that those two guys need to play together, especially against a big, physical team like the Philadelphia 76ers.”
Statistically, Scal has a case. In the regular season, Williams and Horford played 332 minutes together across 28 games (remember- Williams played just 35 games total this season) and the Celtics had a 103.1 defensive rating with them on the floor together, a noticeable upgrade over their 110.6 team defensive rating for the season. The offense did not suffer either, with the Celtics’ 119.0 offensive rating with them together also a slight upgrade over their 117.3 team mark for the season.
Interestingly, the effectiveness of the double big lineup differed a bit based on who the point guard was. A five-man lineup of Williams, Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White was arguably the Celtics’ most dominant five-man lineup statistically. In 69 minutes together in the regular season, they had a 121.2 offensive rating and a 76.4 defensive rating for a plus-44.9 net rating, the best mark among any Celtics five-man unit that played at least 40 minutes together.
Sub Marcus Smart in for White, though, and the numbers flip to the negative: a 106.7 offensive rating and 119.0 defensive rating for a minus-12.4 net.
The double big lineup with White has played just 20 minutes together in the playoffs, but the results have not been as good as in the regular season, especially offensively: a 74.4 offensive rating and 84.1 defensive rating for a minus-9.7 net.
Mazzulla has used Williams and Horford together, in any iteration, for just 57 minutes this postseason. The Celtics have broken even in terms of net rating, but there’s no doubt that the defense has been better with both of them out there, with their 104.6 defensive rating together a marked improvement over the Celtics’ 114.2 mark as a team this postseason.
Scal thinks the C’s need more of that kind of interior defensive presence in this series, especially with Joel Embiid on the other side.
“They’re trying to manage Rob’s minutes all year. Rob’s the key, at least I thought, Rob’s the key to us winning a championship and all that stuff,” he said. “I understand managing his minutes, but in the playoffs you’re gonna have to play those two. … It feels to me like both those guys need to be out there for us to have a dominating presence.
“…Our defensive rating is great when they’re on the floor. Our rebounding percentage is great when they’re on the floor. We get to the playoffs and they’re not on the floor. My opinions aren’t as good as the assets and the data they have, so I just assumed they knew what was going on. But I’ve always thought that those two guys together make us unbeatable.”
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