Starting lineup by committee is a welcome change for these Celtics

Everything about this Celtics team has been inconsistent this year and that includes the production of what was the team’s usual starting five before Tuesday night.

When healthy, Brad Stevens started the Irving/Smart/Tatum/Morris/Horford unit together for 33 games (19-14) over the past four months. To a degree, that lineup saved the Celtics' season as Boston rode the hot shooting of Morris and terrific all-around play by Smart to right the ship after a 10-10 start. However, for the past couple of months, Boston’s defense has fallen off a cliff and the starting five has played a bit part in that decline. Marcus Morris has been one of the main offenders on that front, so he was sent to the bench after 52 straight starts on Tuesday night before the Celtics took down the Cavs 116-106 in Cleveland.

The win, which came without Kyrie Irving, was nothing special. It featured a host of defensive miscommunications and errors, per usual, along with iffy shot selection from the usual suspects. Any victory is important when it ends a four-game losing streak, though, and this one also signaled something more crucial to this group turning the season around: The start of a committee approach by Stevens when it comes to the starting five.

On Night 1 of that philosophy, against a big traditional front line of Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, it was likely an easy choice for Stevens: Go big with his former starting frontline of Aron Baynes with Al Horford. The duo helped the Celtics hold their own on the glass (only three offensive rebounds for Cavs) and limited the hosts to 92 points per 100 possessions in the 19 minutes they played together (plus-4 together).

“It helps me a lot,” Horford said of starting with Baynes. “He’s a great defender, always protecting the rim. It was good to play with him. I got to play with him a little more tonight than usual.”

Baynes and Horford had only shared the floor together for 76 minutes prior to Wednesday’s game despite having the best net rating on the team among duos that have played more than 50 minutes. We’ve covered the untapped potential of that duo at length here at BSJ and with the defense springing leaks all over the place, Stevens turned to the familiar faces that anchored the top defense in the NBA last year. However, the head coach made clear that this would not be a grouping that’s set in stone for a set period of time, unlike the Horford/Morris duo that lasted months.

“That will be a game-to-game decision on who we start, I told our guys today,” Stevens said after the win. “We need guys like Morris who are flexible like that.  ... When we can start double big, we can certainly clog things up the way we need to at that end of the floor.”

That type of attitude is the right one for Stevens amid a season that has been filled with uneven play and matchup problems with certain opponents.

Given the lack of reliable defensive depth on this roster, the Celtics are best mixing and matching based on how their opponent likes to play. If they face two true bigs or face a center who isn’t a 3-point shooting threat, Baynes deserves a nod for his defensive benefits. If the center is a 3-point shooting threat, Horford might be better off getting the start at center to better defend the perimeter with a stretch four being inserted into the lineup with him. Baynes and Horford should be playing minutes together every game no matter what, it’s just going to be up to Stevens to find the best time in the game to do that. Sometimes it will be with the starting group, other times it will be against reserve units or later in the half.

This type of adaptability will be crucial for the Celtics to have a chance to survive what will be a tough road gauntlet through the East playoffs. Shifting to that mentality now is perhaps a blessing in disguise for Stevens as well, based on his previous track record. In past postseasons, the head coach waited until later in matchups to make an obviously needed adjustment to his starting five. He didn’t change anything against the Cavs four years ago until a 3-0 hole hit. Three years ago, he waited until a 2-0 hole to bench a struggling Jared Sullinger for Jonas Jerebko against the Hawks. Two years ago, it was a 2-0 hole against the Bulls before Gerald Green got the start over Amir Johnson.

He’s progressed better on this front last season by giving Semi Ojeleye a chance in a 2-2 first round series against the Bucks to start over Baynes, a move that helped Boston contain Giannis Antetokounmpo and win the first round series. The shifting continued against the Sixers (Baynes started) and Cavs (Morris started).

Now? All hands will be on deck from Game 1 of the postseason with so many question marks about this team right now. The coaching staff will have ample time to prepare for the Pacers and with a couple of matchups looming against them in the regular season, there will be plenty of film and data to dissect to pinpoint the best groupings. Stevens is finally being proactive with his philosophy, which is a long overdue but needed shift.

The question that now remains is how Stevens approaches the starting unit when he wants to go small with Horford at the five. The Pacers have a couple of stretch bigs in Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner, which makes Baynes a somewhat risky starter at center. Will Stevens turn back to Morris or look for a more versatile defender in Gordon Hayward to get the nod at power forward? I’d expect both players to get ample opportunity next to Horford, but it’s obvious Hayward brings far more to the table from a defensive standpoint (except for rebounding). An Irving/Smart/Tatum/Hayward/Horford combo should be a useful two-way group against Indiana.

There is still plenty of work to do in the next seven games to put the right pieces of this puzzle together, but Tuesday night proved to be a small step in the right direction as a commitment to change was made.