Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr already made his lineup change in the middle of the NBA Finals.
Now, is it Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s turn to do the same with Boston facing a must-win situation in Game 6 on Thursday night at the TD Garden?
After the first three games of the series, two of which the Celtics won, Kerr opted to start Otto Porter Jr. for big man Kevon Looney and the Warriors went on to win the next two contests with Looney proving to be a reliable factor off the bench — the big man has a plus-33 rating in those two wins.
During his media availability on Wednesday, Udoka was asked if he would consider removing Robert Williams from the starting lineup since the Warriors are trying to get him away from the basket, and have the Time Lord’s minutes match up more with Looney. As Udoka explained, it’s not something he plans to do.
“Even going back to the last series, coming off of injury, we run (Williams) shorter stints,” Udoka told reporters, as transcribed by ASAP Sports. “We take him out pretty early in the game anyway. We can come back and match him with Looney, no problem. I think obviously the spacing, they wanted to have him guarding somebody more space oriented. For us, other than last game, we really hadn’t gotten off to a poor start. No matter what they did lineup-wise, we were good to start the game for the most part in the first four games.
“As far as that, we’re rotating Rob out pretty quick to get him back in anyway. That’s not something we’re looking at as far as changing the starting lineup. It’s more so who we want coming in for who — the second unit.”
But Udoka didn’t rule out entirely making modifications to his rotations, and he could go to a smaller lineup to counter act the athleticism and shooting the Warriors can put on the floor all at once.
“We’ve talked about it and looked at some of the counters they’re trying to make with the guys we bring in,” Udoka said, per ASAP Sports. “I think small ball has worked for us. We’d obviously like to get a little more out of Payton (Pritchard) and Derrick (White) than we did in the last game. Grant (Williams) has been a big part of what we’ve done this year. We know what they’re trying to do as far as when they substitute. We can combat that with some lineup changes we’re looking at.”
The Celtics will look to force a decisive Game 7 when they host the Warriors on Thursday night. Tipoff for Game 6 is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET.
