Brad Stevens never has shied away from mixing and matching with his starting lineup, so don’t think the Boston Celtics head coach will hesitate to make changes under the bright lights.
The Celtics were knocked down a peg Saturday night in their 30-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. Given how poorly Boston played in the lopsided defeat, Stevens hinted there could be some lineup tweaks coming in Monday night’s Game 4.
“Right now, with the way they’re playing, we’re going to need some other guys to be ready to go come Monday,” Stevens said after Saturday’s game, per The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach.
Stevens effectively echoed this thought during Sunday’s shootaround in Cleveland.
Brad Stevens on whether he’s thinking about tweaking the lineup: “I think you do that every game.”
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) May 20, 2018
Boston rolled out the starting five of Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris and Al Horford for the first three games of the series. Considering the Cavs torched the C’s in the interior in Game 3 to the tune of a 45-34 rebound advantage, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Aron Baynes inserted back into the starting rotation.
Stevens’ decision-making has translated into great results for Boston thus far in the postseason. We’ll have to wait and see if this trend continues Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
