A simple tweak from Brad Stevens may have solved big problem for Celtics

Patience was understandably running thin for Terry Rozier within the Celtics fanbase heading into Wednesday’s game against the Raptors. The fourth-year guard was stuck in a 4-for-23 shooting slump during the team’s three-game losing streak and the Celtics routinely performed far worse as a team with him on the floor (something that has held true for a couple months now).

The calls for Brad Wanamaker to join the rotation grew louder after the 28-year-old performed admirably in spot duty against the Nets and Mavericks off the bench with Kyrie Irving sidelined, performances that gave Brad Stevens a seemingly decent alternative to Rozier in the rotation for the time being.

We looked at some options that Stevens could consider with Rozier at the beginning of the week to try to get him to snap out of this funk or at least minimize his impact on Boston’s struggles. A trade has always been unlikely during the season, and we considered an outright benching was a long shot as well. Despite his flaws, the Celtics need Rozier’s athleticism and rebounding in the long run, traits Wanamaker simply can’t match. Benching Rozier risked losing him entirely, even though a case could be made for it.

So if Rozier still needed to play, something had to change since the Celtics offense was falling apart when he was on the floor on most nights, particularly when he captained the second unit. So what did Stevens do to help fix this? A simple adjustment ended up going a long way on Wednesday night.

Rozier is not a natural point guard, but the insertion of Marcus Smart into the starting five in November, along with Stevens’ substitution patterns had forced Rozier into that role. A lot of the time, Gordon Hayward was playing alongside Rozier with these bench-heavy lineups, so the pair would share point guard duties, but the ball was in Rozier’s hands a lot and that wasn’t a good thing for Boston’s offense with the 24-year-old shooting 39 percent from the field. Any NBA player has a high confidence level but Rozier’s tendency to shoot first and pass second was clearly weighing down the offense.

On Wednesday night, Stevens did his best to counteract this problem by changing his substitution strategy. The head coach had routinely rested his two best point guards (Irving and Smart) together for long stretches in the first half. Smart would usually be the first guy subbed out of the game around the 3-4 minute mark of the first quarter, while Irving would play a minute or two longer before getting relief. However, both guys generally rested together for the end of the first quarter and the first few minutes of the second quarter.

That substitution pattern changed against the Raptors for the first time in weeks. When Hayward came in at his usual time (six-minute mark of first quarter) he subbed out Smart, instead of one of the usual suspects (Marcus Morris or Jayson Tatum). The adjustment allowed Smart to get an early rest so that when Irving was scheduled to take his usual rest five minutes later, it was a fresh Smart who was taking him out of the game. Smart played another eight-minute stint before getting a second rest for the final four minutes of the half.

So what exactly do these subs have to do with Rozier? Well, he came in at his usual time (three-minute mark of first quarter) and played roughly his usual minutes, but none of those in the first half came without either Irving or Smart on the floor next to him. Essentially, Stevens made it a point of staggering Smart and Irving’s rest. That’s a stark contrast from the past few games.

First-half minutes for Rozier without Smart or Irving on floor

Toronto: Zero minutes
Orlando: Seven minutes
Miami: Five minutes
Indiana: Five minutes

This was an important shift for a couple of reasons in Wednesday’s win. While Rozier still handled the ball plenty in transition opportunities for Boston, it allowed for other initiators in the half court to be present, which slid Rozier into an off-guard type role. The ball was in his hands less and that showed with his shot total (four tied his season-low for shot attempts). He also took just one two-point field goal attempt, a layup in the first quarter. Given his horrific midrange shooting numbers, this was a big plus for Boston’s scoring efficiency. Rozier is a solid spot up shooter, but it’s the rest of his offensive game (and shot selection) that has hurt Boston’s offense.

With point guard duties out of his primary responsibilities, the 6-foot-2 Rozier amped up his defensive intensity, which made a notable impact in the second quarter as the C’s climbed out of an early hole. Rozier elected to pick up full-court defense on Fred Van Vleet during most of his stint and it did not go unnoticed in the team’s comeback win.

“I think the most encouraging part of the night to me was we started out down 20-8 and we responded,” Stevens explained afterward. “I thought the bench, obviously Gordon scored but I thought Terry Rozier turned the game around. He kind of turned the environment around, to be honest. I thought that his energy lifted everyone around, from our team, to the building. I just thought we were ... it was contagious. And the way he picked up the ball, a couple of the plays he made, the spirit he played with ... I thought really got us going in the right direction, and everybody followed suit from there on out.”

Al Horford agreed with his head coach’s assessment after the game without prompting.

“I think it started with Terry and his energy, picking up the ball, making it tough on their point guard,” Horford said of the comeback. “That kind of got us all going, got us playing harder, and playing more up the court. That was a huge momentum changer, I felt like.”

Rozier did end up playing four minutes in the second half without Smart and Irving, as some of their rest overlapped together so both could be fresh for crunch time and that’s a trend that should continue. However, Stevens’ rotation adjustment is worth watching going forward. Putting Rozier in a better position to succeed is clearly a priority now over the less appealing option of benching him. Stevens did that on Wednesday night by changing the personnel he has around him, which allowed for Rozier to play to his strengths more and hurt the C’s less with his questionable shot selection.

Part of the credit here has to go to Rozier as well, for making a renewed commitment to playing with energy on the defensive end. That will be up to him to continue moving forward. However, a simple tweak here by Stevens may end up going a long way towards solving the C’s bench woes.