Celtics Have Figured Out Their Best Lineup, And It Only Took Five Games
The Boston Celtics are riding high after a 125-105 home victory on Wednesday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team many feel is the cream of the Eastern Conference. While Jaylen Brown and Sam Hauser led the Celts in scoring with 30 points and 21 points, respectively, the most encouraging narrative of the evening for Boston was the play of its starting frontcourt, Neemias Queta and Josh Minott.
Both players finished with double-doubles. Queta had 10 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, and three steals on 3-of-5 from the field. Queta was a game-high +25 in 26 minutes.
Minott, the former Minnesota Timberwolves forward whom the Celtics signed this summer, had 11 points, 14 rebounds, and three steals on 4-of-9 from the field (2-of-3 from three).
Notably, both Queta and Minott outrebounded Cavs center Evan Mobley (11 rebounds). Boston as a team outrebounded Cleveland, 52 to 42.
If the Celtics end up rolling with a starting frontcourt of Queta-Minott for the bulk of the season, Wednesday night’s win will have been the turning point when it became clear that this was Boston’s optimal 4- and 5-man pairing.
It certainly looked like that against Cleveland. There are other things to like about the lineup vs. the Cavs. With Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and Brown filling out the rest of the starting five, the bench was powered by two elite shooters in Hauser and Anfernee Simons (14 points), giving head coach Joe Mazzulla very nice roster balance, at least offensively speaking. Hauser and Simons are starter-level NBA players.
The Queta-Minott pairing works because these are two wildly different players who don’t really get in each other’s way. This isn’t a “double-big” lineup, either, as Queta is a true five, whereas Minott is more of an athletic forward big enough to bang down low but fast enough to play like a wing on both ends when needed.
The Celtics may have found their ideal, non-Tatum lineup, and it only took five games to figure it out.