BOSTON – It does not do justice to refer to the Boston Celtics’ bench as the “second unit.” It’s much more fitting, rather, to simply call it “Unit 1A.”
The talent level of Boston’s substitutions is not much different than that of the starters; thus, when members of the second unit enter a game, there is rarely a drop-off in play. Whether the Celtics need to gain a lead, sustain a lead, or extend a lead, their second-stringers can regularly be relied upon to come through.
Friday night, the C’s were hoping for a lead extension from their bench, as the visiting Orlando Magic stuck right by their side up until the end of the third quarter.
So, Boston put in its second unit – or Unit 1A, if you prefer – and a lead extension is exactly what it got.
The Celtics were barely hanging onto a five-point lead midway through the third quarter when they gradually began inserting their second-stringers into the game.
Kelly Olynyk entered first, followed by Marcus Smart and Evan Turner. Jonas Jerebko clocked in as the final piece of the puzzle with 37 seconds left in the third, when Boston was clinging onto a nine-point lead.
Once the fourth quarter began, those four subs completely blew the game open, keying a 22-4 run during the first six minutes of the final frame, en route to a 113-94 win.
Olynyk, Smart, Turner and Jerebko combined for 60 of Boston’s 62 bench points, nearly doubling Orlando’s second unit effort (35 points among eight subs). Each member of that foursome notched at least 13 points, while no Orlando player – starter or reserve – scored more than 14.
“I thought they were clearly the difference in the game,” coach Brad Stevens said of the second unit. “In the first half I thought they had pretty good rhythm, and in the second half they got into a really good rhythm. They’re playing well together. Each of those guys is doing a lot right now and really trying to play to their strengths.”
One reason why Boston’s bench has been so strong lately is because Smart has been gradually returning to form following a month-long absence from the court.
Smart returned from a lower left leg injury at the tail end of December. His hound dog defense has been huge for Boston ever since, and over the last few games, he seems to have re-discovered his long-range shot as well.
During his first 14 games back from the injury, Smart shot just 15.6 percent from deep. But over the last four contests, he has hit 47 percent of his 3-point attempts, including a 3-of-4 performance Friday night.
“He’s starting to feel better about shooting it,” said Stevens. “He didn’t get much time in the gym when he was out, just because of the nature of his injury, as far as shooting the basketball. So now he’s clearly in a better rhythm than when he first came back.
Stevens added, “More importantly, the guys that are playing with [Smart], I think they’ve adjusted nicely to each other … There’s times where they’re playing well enough where you want to play them for 18 straight minutes, or 16 straight minutes.
“But Marcus is a guy that adds value to the group defensively for sure. And then, the way we like to play – I like having multiple ball handlers on the floor at once.”
The other ball handler in that group, Evan Turner, says his opportunities have opened wider now that Smart’s tenacious presence is back by his side.
“We just play with energy, and Smart is going to force the issue in general,” said Turner. “He’s going to make something happen. He breaks the door open and I just walk in.”
Smart broke the door open Friday night by nailing his first three attempts from downtown, which accounted for nine of his game-high-tying 16 points. Turner added 15 points and eight assists, Olynyk scored 16 points, and Jerebko tallied his first double-double in nearly a year (13 points, 10 rebounds).
Those four outscored Boston’s starting five, 60-51, despite totaling 34 fewer minutes on the court.
That type of effort does not surprise Turner, however, as he told media that the second squad regularly beats the first unit during practice.
One reporter asked him to elaborate on how often they beat the starters, and out rolled a classic Turner response.
“What did the UConn girls go… like a year and a half [without losing]?” Turner pondered, referring to the Huskies’ historic 90-game winning streak from 2008-2010. “We’ve been at that level, for real.”
That may be a bit of an exaggeration on Turner’s part, but it’s certain that Boston’s second-stringers are capable of going toe-to-toe with the starters.
And when there is barely any discrepancy between the units, it makes for a seamless transition when players are subbed in and out. In Friday’s case, that transition resulted in an offensive explosion, as Boston’s bench led it to its season-high fifth-straight win.
