The Celtics' bench players buoyed them in a 126-101 win over the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday, but it's the depth of Boston's backcourt that's likely to raise eyebrows around the rest of the league.
Both veteran guards Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon were out with relatively minor injuries, leaving the bulk of ballhandling and distribution to rotation players Derrick White and Payton Pritchard.
They understood the assignment. White showed a level of confidence and ball control that waned at times late in the Celtics' run to the 2022 NBA Finals, finishing with an impressive 16 points, 10 assists, and five rebounds.
With significantly less time on the court, Pritchard finished the game with 14 points – including back-to-back 3-pointers that put Boston up 62-53 at halftime.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown bring the ball up and dish it around as much as any other elite wings in the league, but it's difficult to pinpoint many other teams with four guards packing as much punch as Boston.
Golden State boasts perhaps the most elite starting backcourt in NBA history in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Their positional depth includes young Jordan Poole, Donte DiVincenzo, and Moses Moody.
The Clippers also feature a deep backcourt with starters Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard backed up by John Wall and Norman Powell.
But in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics' backcourt rules all. Through 15 games, Celtics president Brad Stevens' decisions to add Malcolm Brogdon and bet on improvement from existing playmakers look shrewd.
That was no guarantee for the Celtics, whose bench struggled mightily down the stretch of the team's last playoff run and performed a vanishing act in the Finals. White and Pritchard, in particular, turned into ghosts in Games 5 and 6.
Those performances clearly haunted them in the offseason. Pritchard has played limited minutes to start the season but has made his case recently with hustle plays, offensive rebounds, and steady shooting in Sam Hauser's shadow. White has also stepped his game up, scoring in the double-digits in his last four appearances and playing rangy, proactive defense.
Boston improved its winning streak to eight games, and although it's early in the season, it's the depth shown by the Celtics on nights like Wednesday that will carry them deep into the playoffs.
