It is anyone’s best guess nowadays as to who will step up for the Boston Celtics on a given night.
With injuries plaguing the C’s in nearly every way possible, players like Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Morris have needed to contribute big.
In Friday night’s 111-104 win over the Chicago Bulls, it was Jaylen Brown and Greg Monroe.
Brown was unstoppable in the win, and it was apparent from tip-off. He dropped 12 points in the first five minutes of the game, and finished the night with a career-high 32 points. Above all else, he showed a good variety in his game, making him difficult to guard on offense. He shot confidently from a distance, going 7-for-10 from beyond the arc. But he also took the ball to the rack well, and didn’t struggle to finish around the rim.
Greg Monroe came off the bench and by night’s end, did something that no Celtics center had done since Robert Parish in 1987: he dropped a triple-double.
Monroe scored 19 points while grabbing 11 boards and dishing out 10 assists. And on the defensive end, he continued to control the paint and force the ball out to the perimeter.
Even though the opponent Friday was a lowly one, something was quite clear: the crop of Celtics remaining are not going to mail the rest of the season in. It doesn’t matter who the personnel on the floor is, this is a team that thinks they can win come June.
But these still are trying times for the Boston. Though they’ll enter the playoffs as the No. 2 seed (which now is official with the Toronto Raptors’ win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday), they are going to need players to step up higher than they otherwise would each time they take the floor.
And if Friday is any sort of indication, it looks as though there is far more than just one player willing to do that.
Here are some other notes from Celtics-Bulls:
— The Celtics signed Jonathan Gibson to a 10-day contract Friday morning, and he got some minutes in the fourth quarter.
And he didn’t just see time on the floor, he thrived. The 30-year-old recorded nine points, all on 3-pointers, and all in the first four minutes he was on the floor. He was more than willing to shoot, and he showed why the C’s brought him in to lengthen the bench for the final few games.
He will not be postseason eligible, but on Friday and the two games to follow, he showed that he’ll be serviceable and a spark.
— Jaylen Brown wasn’t the only Celtic to record a career high in points Friday. Jabari Bird tallied 15 points off the bench in the win.
The 23-year-old rookie out of Cal previously had appeared in just nine games for the C’s this season, recording his previous career high of three points back in October.
But he looked like he belonged on the floor after going 7-for-10 from the field and knocking down one of his two three-point attempts. He also added three rebounds and as many assists.
— Boston climbed to 54 wins this season, the most in the Brad Stevens era.
— Tatum and Al Horford both did not dress for Friday’s game so they could rest.
— Marcus Morris was ejected from the game alongside the Bulls’ Bobby Portis. The two pushed at each other and then kept chirping, resulting in the ejections.
