The Celtics kick off their second round series this week with a date with the Knicks for the first time since 2013. Any injury concerns around Jayson Tatum have faded away after a strong finish against the Magic, but there are still intriguing lineup decisions to consider with the pending return of Jrue Holiday. More offseason buzz has emerged about Boston this week as well, so let’s tackle questions on that and more in this week’s mailbag.
What type of series are we going to see from the Celtics against the Knicks from a personnel standpoint? Does Joe Mazzulla still play nine guys if Jrue Holiday is back healthy? Will double big lineups be needed against the Knicks or are they better off going smaller with a single big? — Ben F
The news on Jrue Holiday’s status has been encouraging thus far. He was spotted on the practice floor in team video on Friday and Joe Mazzulla confirmed he did everything in practice on Saturday. The team won’t officially release an injury report until Sunday afternoon but it would be a bit of stunner if Holiday isn’t upgraded after a two-week layoff since his last action.
With Holiday back, the expectation here is the Celtics still go nine players deep in their rotation in this series, at least to start. The Celtics had great success in the regular season against the Knicks with their double bigs and the Knicks personnel shouldn’t scare Joe Mazzulla away from using one of their best lineups all year.
The return of Mitchell Robinson to the Knicks bench (he wasn’t healthy for most of the year) also adds another wildcard to the matchup. He can be a force on the offensive glass along with Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart so the Celtics may be best served going with double bigs more than expected to protect the paint and the glass. Celtics are going to need a better series from Kristaps Porzingis on that front if Boston wants this to be an easy series.
Is there any reason for concern with Kristaps Porzingis after a rough showing against the Magic? He wasn’t able to feast on mismatches down low like usual and the 3-point shot was largely off? Did Orlando’s physicality just throw him off? Or is this more of a sign of a guy that hasn’t been consistent in the playoffs for much of his career? — Alex C
Count me among those that are a little concerned about Kristaps’ performances. He has not ever played more than seven games in his three postseason appearances and obviously wasn’t a big factor in the midst of the NBA Finals run last year due to his injuries. He didn’t hold up very well on the glass against the Magic or in some dribble penetration situations against Franz Wagner.The defensive task will be much tougher in this series with Jalen Brunson likely trying to get him into isolation on countless occasions along with plenty of big bodies to deal with on the offensive glass in Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns. The good news for Porzingis is that the Knicks have been a favorable offensive matchup for him during the past two seasons, including average 24.5 points per game this year. The open 3-point looks the Magic took away should be back in this series but he should see the same level of physicality as Orlando in mismatches. Porzingis needs to do a better job of adjusting to that to be more efficient on the offensive end. Otherwise, his defensive flaws could keep hm on the bench a little more than expected against this group.
What did you make about this Shams report about looming offseason trades? This wasn’t a surprise right? Did the ownership stuff becoming finalized this week impact anything? -- Mike T
We’ve been doing about the offseason reckoning for over a year at MassLive so it shouldn’t come as a big surprise to any regular readers. This was always going to be a unique two-year window for this group to thrive and it’s already been a success after last year’s championship. Accomplishing a repeat would be historic but it wouldn’t necessarily change anything about this summer from a budget standpoint. Barring a stunner, moves are going to have to be made to trim salary unless ownership is willing to pay a historic price tag for this group.
Where the surprises could come in this offseason is when it comes to how the front office approaches this problem. How the Celtics finish out this playoff run this season will undoubtedly influence how Brad Stevens handles this roster and what types of sacrifices he’s willing to make while still maintaining a contending group. Bigger names like Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday will be obvious trade candidates, but there could be some surprises in there as well. It all will come down to the type of value the Celtics can secure in any deal for the present and the future.
As for the new ownership group led by Bill Chisholm, it was no surprise to see things get finalized from a financial standpoint since the Celtics would have never made the deal public if they weren’t confident in that. Having all the financial pieces in place will be crucial for this summer though since it will highly influence what Stevens tries to do this offseason with this roster. There will be a budget for this group that the front office will know about and will have to tailor their moves accordingly to maximize this group.
