Celtics bench has provided a surprise boost against Raptors

Outside of Marcus Smart, the Celtics bench wasn’t supposed to matter much once the postseason rolled around. The starters minutes would skyrocket from their regular season numbers and that would only leave a few minutes for Brad Stevens to divvy up among his seven reserves beyond an effective sixth starter in Smart. With a healthy top-6 in place for Game 1 against the Sixers, Boston’s remaining bench players combined for a total of 33 minutes in the victory and the bulk of those minutes came at the center spot with Enes Kanter and Rob Williams providing support covering Joel Embiid over the 6-foot-9 Daniel Theis. Those minutes would go up considerably for Theis against any other center in the East.

Once Gordon Hayward went down with a Grade 3 ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of Game 1, the equation changed quickly for Boston’s reserves. With Smart entering the starting five, the Celtics' second unit featured strictly under the radar veterans (Brad Wanamaker), veterans with huge flaws (Kanter) and young guys that were not playoff tested. Instead of just spot minutes, Brad Stevens was going to have to mix and match in order to find the right formula to complement his core stars for 48 minutes each night. It wasn’t the scenario the front office had envisioned heading into the postseason but it was certainly one the C’s bench had been prepared for after the C’s starting lineup was intact for just over 33 percent of their regular season games.

In Round 1 against the Sixers, the Celtics bench played well but ultimately wasn’t needed against an undermanned Philadelphia team that didn’t have a chance against Boston’s star power on the wing in a convincing sweep.

The Raptors (on paper) were going to be a far different story with two key rotation players that averaged over 15 points per game in the regular season in Norm Powell and Serge Ibaka. With Smart in the starting five, this looked like a potentially big mismatch for the C’s bench entering the series against Toronto's firepower. A lack of moves at the trade deadline to beef up the veteran talent level looked had the potential to come back to bite the C’s in this spot with Hayward out.

However, as the Celtics prepare for a chance to close out the Raptors in Game 6 on Wednesday night with a 3-2 series lead, one area that has faded from a list of concerns in this series is Boston’s reserves. In fact, a look of the numbers indicates that the Celtics have not only been winning the bench battle against Toronto on a whole but they’ve been one of the most efficient units across the NBA this postseason.

The Celtics bench is averaging just 19.4 points per game, a very solid number considering their 14.4 combined field goal attempts. The C’s reserves actually lead all second round playoff teams in FG percentage (52.8 percent) and rank third in 3-point shooting percentage (34.4 percent). A closer look at the impact individual C’s have made in this series off the pine are a big reason why the Celtics are on the verge of moving onto the Eastern Conference Finals.

Brad Wanamaker: The veteran point guard is averaging 6.8 ppg while shooting 50 percent from 3-point range against Toronto, a team-best.

Rob Williams: A pair of double-digit scoring games and 87.5 percent shooting from the field has provided the C’s with a needed-offensive boost.

Semi Ojeleye: The Celtics have a team-best 91.5 defensive rating with him on the court against Toronto

Grant Williams: His +8.0 net rating is the fourth-best among Celtics rotation players in the series.

At least one of these players has managed to make a measurable impact in each game in the series thus far.

Game 1: Rob Williams: 10 points, 5/5 FG
Game 2: Rob Williams, 11 points, 5/5 FG
Game 3: Grant Williams, Team-high +11 in 18 minutes
Game 4: Whole bench: 24 points on 9/15 FG
Game 5: Brad Wanamaker, 15 points on 5/9 FG

Compare that to the Raptors production and it’s been strangely even. Toronto is scoring more points per game thanks to Ibaka (11.3 ppg, 50% FG) but Norm Powell (8.6 ppg, 35% FG) has been a complete no-show in this series beyond garbage time in Game 5 and some credit has to go to Boston's guards (including Wanamaker) for slowing him down. Elsewhere, no one else on Toronto’s bench has been solid enough defensively for Nick Nurse to trust for meaningful minutes, which stands in sharp contrast to solid defenders like G. Williams and Ojeleye for Boston in spot minutes. Instead, Nurse has had to ride his starting backcourt for huge minutes, something that appeared to come back to bite him in Game 5 as Toronto came out with a flat performance in a crucial contest.

The bottom line: It was going to be very tough for Toronto to win this series if they didn’t end up with a major edge in the bench department and that hasn’t happened through most of five games. The Celtics reserves collectively are +5 in the series. Meanwhile, Toronto is a minus-10.

If you zoom out and look at the entire postseason, the Celtics reserves find themselves in elite company when looking at all 16 playoff teams beyond just the second round .

47.9 percent shooting from the field (4th)
40.4 percent from 3 (3rd)
+22 (3rd)

With Hayward back in the bubble and approaching the four-week mark of his recovery from a sprained ankle, the Celtics might not need big minutes from most of their bench much longer if they manage to get past Toronto in this series. With Ibaka (sprained ankle) questionable to play in Game 6, the Celtics reserves could help swing the tide in a series closeout game against an inexperienced backline (Chris Boucher, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) if Ibaka can't go or is limited. Big performances from Wanamaker and Rob Williams have already been difference-makers in two Celtics wins in this series. One more of those efforts from anyone on Boston's bench should help Boston punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.