The Celtics were in Chicago, riding a three-game winning streak, and on such a roll in the first quarter that Brian Scalabrine and Sean Grande spent much of the broadcast laughing in awe of the Celtics' greatness.
“And the second group came in there and laid an egg and did not play well and let them back in the game and it was too late,” Malcolm Brogdon recalled. He should know, because he was part of the problem that night. “They had too much momentum and they ended up beating us.”
That started a two-game skid where the talk went from the Celtics being world-beaters to beating themselves with bad defense.
“That Chicago game kind of opened our eyes to the energy we have to bring on the floor every night when our starters come out,” Sam Hauser said after Boston’s big win over Washington. “It’s something we talked about as a (second) unit, just coming in and making sure there’s no drop off when the starters come out. It’s our job to keep the energy up and bring in fresh legs.”
The Celtics' bench has been a strength so far this season, but their last couple of outings have not been great. The performance against the Bulls, though, seems to be an early flashpoint for the second unit led by Brogdon. He’s the one who initiated the conversation about the bench’s responsibilities, and he’s the one who made sure there was no comeback this time.
“It gives us some stability,” Marcus Smart said. “You’ve got a guy who has been doing this, who knows how to play the game, coming in and taking anything, rolling with that leadership role in the second unit to really get them going. We have some young guys experience-wise in that second unit so to have somebody like Malcolm to be able to come in the way he does, it makes it a little easier for them to feel comfortable.”
Brogdon is still getting used to this whole bench thing. There's less time to feel the game out, which adds some pressure to get going early on both ends. A bench player doesn’t start in a 0-0 game, so he has to essentially hit a moving target every time he checks in. But for Brogdon, this is still an opportunity to apply the things he’s always done well.
“I've been starting my whole career. so to go to the bench, I want to bring that energy to the bench,” he said. “I want us to believe we're a starting group as well. When we're in there, we play like starters. We play with that energy, we play with that confidence every night as soon as we step on the floor and that's what we've been doing for the majority of the season thus far.”
For all the talk about these Celtics being mostly the same team that went to the Finals last year, it really only applies to the starting unit. The Celtics finished the first quarter with Brogdon, Luke Kornet, and Sam Hauser on the floor joined by Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard. Kornet and Hauser were on the team, but they didn’t play. Noah Vonleh and Blake Griffin, both newbies to the Celtics, have also gotten meaningful minutes in the early going.
There are still growing pains, but Brogdon is hoping to galvanize the group.
“I think the guys, they respect me and they know I play both ends of the ball,” he said. “I think you gotta practice what you preach before you start preaching and they've seen me give effort on both ends and they're willing to listen and work with me. For me, having a voice on the bench, it's trying to rally the guys.”
Boston’s bench accounted for 48 of their 112 points, nearly 43% of the offense. Brogdon scored 23 of those bench points, and his assists accounted for nine more, so he helped generate most of the second unit’s contribution to the win.
That's what Brogdon is here to do. And while it won’t always go as well as it did against the Wizards, what he hopes for himself and the bench he leads is that the debacle of the Bulls loss is something that stays in the past.
“I don't want to see that happen again,” Brogdon said. “The second team doesn't want to see that happen again. So it's about rallying the troops and making sure we're all in alignment and ready to come out and play. At the very least, play hard and play with energy.”