The Boston Celtics emerged from the NBA trade deadline with an unchanged roster. But an underrated piece of their offense was missing Friday night, and it showed.
Celtics forward Kelly Olynyk injured his right shoulder in the team’s final game before the All-Star break and could miss three to four weeks. So what did Boston’s frontcourt look like in its first game without the long-haired Canadian sharpshooter? We’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t good.
The Celtics’ starting big men, Jared Sullinger and Amir Johnson, combined for just 11 points. Tyler Zeller and Jonas Jerebko, who will be most responsible for picking up Olynyk’s slack, scored four points each on a combined 2 for 8 shooting.
It was an off-night all around for Boston, but the greatest indicator of what the Celtics are missing without Olynyk manifested itself in the defense of Utah big men Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.
With Boston lacking a viable 3-point threat in Olynyk to pull them out of the paint, Gobert and Favors camped out by the hoop and imposed their will, combining to block seven shots and limit the Celtics to just 30 points in the paint.
Not having a floor-stretcher can make things difficult on offense, especially when it comes to shot selection. Just ask 5-foot-9 point guard Isaiah Thomas.
“We were a step slow on both ends, whether it be passing to the right guy or just not taking the right shot,” Thomas said on CSN New England. “Or passing up a shot that, you’ve got a good shot and try to go into the trees and take an even tougher shot.”
Head coach Brad Stevens will need to find a way to fill Olynyk’s void, or it could be a long few weeks until he returns.
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Let’s hit a few other notes from Celtics-Jazz:
— The latest on Olynyk’s injury is that it’s a partial separation in his right shoulder. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday he thought Olynyk would miss two weeks or more, but the 24-year-old said Friday he could be out up to a month.
“Hopefully sooner,” Olynyk said, via ESPN.com’s Chris Forsberg. “Just see how it feels, day-to-day, basically.”
— In other injury news, guard Avery Bradley appeared to come down awkwardly on his left leg after a made layup in the third quarter. Bradley said after the game he banged his left knee and likely will be a game-time decision Sunday against the Denver Nuggets.
— Friday night marked a super reunion for Butler University basketball.
On the Celtics’ sideline, of course, was Stevens, who coached at Butler for six seasons. On the other was Jazz star Gordon Hayward and recently-added guard Shelvin Mack, both of whom were on the 2010 Bulldogs squad that made it to the NCAA title game before falling to Duke.
Hayward and Mack are the only two Butler alums currently in the NBA and are two of just five Bulldogs ever to make it to the league in the school’s history.
— The Jazz made pretty cool gesture by hooking Celtics swingman Jae Crowder up with a pair of sneakers worn by his father, who played his first NBA season with Utah. Crowder revealed before the game that he called his father to tell him the news, and things got emotional.
“He said he was tearing up over the phone,” Crowder said, via Mass Live’s Jay King. “It was just something that came out of nowhere for us. And for him to still have his shoes 20 years later is unbelievable. So we’ll take care of that, I’ll take care of that, and put them in a glass box for him, and have that for a long time.”
— The Celtics have added another nationally-televised game to their slate. The team’s March 9 game against the Memphis Grizzlies has been moved to 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Thumbnail photo via Russ Isabella/USA TODAY Sports Images
