Romeo Langford shows Celtics he's developing ahead of schedule in win over Hawks

Romeo Langford had shown the NBA world flashes of potential during his rookie season back in December. However, thanks to some good health and opportunity for others, that progress came to a halt for much of January. Langford played a total of 26 minutes during mostly garbage time over five contests, sitting idly by with a few contests in Maine mixed in over the past six weeks.

Langford did not even get on the floor at all as recently as Monday’s win over the Hawks in Atlanta but opportunity came knocking on Wednesday amid a surprise start for a shorthanded backcourt. Langford held his own defending Evan Fournier over much of his 28 minutes and Stevens turned back to him Friday night with another crafty scorer in the mix (Kevin Huerter).

The shooting guard scored 25 points on the night for Atlanta in a 112-107 Celtics win at the Garden but he was not efficient in doing so, largely thanks to Langford. Huerter was just 8-of-22 from the field and had key misses late thanks to some strong contests by the 20-year-old Celtics rookie. Langford got as much playing time on the evening with Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown sidelined as he did during all of January, earning a vote of confidence from Stevens on the defensive end with crunch time minutes during his second straight game.

“It really is a different game,” Langford said. “Kind of the same with Huerter and Fournier, shooters coming off screens. But really just focused on it's a new game plan. I wasn't even worried too much about the matchup, because we're playing a game coming up. So I went and watched film of Atlanta and got their plays down, their player tendencies down. So that helped me tonight."

“First of all, size and length,” Stevens said on why he stuck with Langford late-game. “I thought Romeo played well last game, at the end of the game as well. We’re pretty short on bodies tonight, we knew this was going to be a really tough game. I was going to play it by ear by who had played well, but I thought he had defended well the whole night and obviously took advantage of some offensive opportunities. When they did a smart thing and trapped and ran and jumped because we’ve got a couple of guys that aren’t usually in there, and Romeo did a good job taking advantage of it.”

We covered Langford’s defense in greater depth here back in December and the promising signs were apparent all night long again as he scored 16 points in a career-high 29 minutes.

Not only did he lead the team with three blocks and a steal on the defensive end but he piled up the most rebounds off the bench (five) out of anyone) along with a charge taken, producing the kind of effort that got notice from his teammates in Boston’s sixth straight win overall.

“I think when someone goes down, people are just stepping up,” Enes Kanter said. “Especially, I want to give a huge shoutout to Romeo and Vincent. I think that they’ve been playing unbelievable. Especially Romeo, both ends of the floor – offensively, defensively – he’s playing hard, he’s having fun, he’s learning. So I’m really proud of him. It’s nice to see him grow like that.”

“It's fun to watch,” Kemba Walker added. “It's always fun when young players play well, especially when you constantly see them in the gym, working out early in the morning and getting shots up and watching film with their positional coach. To have it to be pay off is special to watch. I've been there so for me I know how much hard work really pays off. Romeo, he's been in the gym and you can see it.”

It’s hard to find a guy that has put in more work than Langford over the past few months. The Indiana product is the first Celtic on the floor before home games, getting in a workout with his positional coach in Joe Mazzulla to work on all aspects of his offensive game. The Celtics have invested countless hours into reworking his shooting form and building up his defensive knowledge and instincts after summer and fall plagued with injuries.

With no help coming Boston’s way at the trade deadline and potential buyout additions like Marvin Williams already picking other contenders over the Celtics, an internal improvement from youngsters like Langford has only become more critical during the stretch run to help the C's win shorthanded regular-season games like this one and improve seeding.

“I felt like I’ve always played defense,” Langford said. “It’s just a matter of doing it. Coach Stevens tells us young players that the way we get on the court is with defense, and him trusting us in the defensive end. That’s what I work on, as well as my shooting.”

Shooting was probably the biggest development in this contest from Boston’s perspective. Langford was just 2-of-10 from 3-point range before Friday night in his NBA career before knocking down a pair of corner 3s (2-of-5), including a crucial trey in the final five minutes of the game on his way to a career-high 16 points. His first 3 produced a high-five between Celtics assistants on the bench, knowing hours of reps were paying off.

“I just felt like the guys trusted me more put there tonight,” Langford said. “Marcus passed me the ball those two times. I just listened to what Gordon said and let it fly and take care of itself.”

Langford certainly won’t be playing a career-high 29 minutes every night moving forward this season with Hayward and Brown expected to be back in the lineup next week. However, his days of DNP-CDs should be coming to an end with this type of consistent defensive effort in back-to-back games. The Celtics were on the hunt for veteran 3-and-D guys at the deadline and it’s evident their internal work with Langford behind the scenes has produced a young talent that may be ready to help more now than initially expected as a defender.

Langford was a high volume scorer at Indiana but he’s happy to be a secondary shooter in the offense while focusing his time on the defensive end.

“It's really not that much of an adjustment,” Langford said of a defensive role. “From high school to college, my coaches knew what I was capable of doing and the little things were what they got on me about. Especially in college with my help-side defense being in the right spots at the right time. Just knowing the defensive gameplan and all that translated to here with Coach Stevens, because that's what he values. I knew I had to take that in and just take the stuff I learned from high school and college that Coach Miller taught me and just building on that here with the Celtics.”

The promise is clearly there for some bigger things down the line but for now, knocking down open 3s and playing strong defense would be a big bonus for this group’s versatility. For two straight nights now, Langford has been up to the task, creating plenty of intrigue not just for the present, but the future.