The Boston Celtics have become the second top seed to ever fall down 2-0 in the first round, and they have countered with an all-time panic move: inserting Gerald Green into the starting lineup. Green hasn’t started a game for the Celtics since April 13.
Celtics will start Gerald Green in Game 3 in all-time panic move
Brad Stevens is making a big change to his starting lineup no one could have seen coming.
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
That would mean April 13, 2007.
Only four teams who came into the playoffs ranked No. 1 have lost in the first round: the 1999 Miami Heat, the 2007 Dallas Mavericks, the 2011 San Antonio Spurs, and the 2012 Chicago Bulls. Before 1984, teams had first-round byes during the opening rounds of the playoffs.
After losing twice at home to Chicago, the Celtics are countering with Green’s scoring punch in the starting five. Through two games, Boston is only scoring 101.7 points per 100 possessions, rather than the nearly 109 offensive rating it recorded in the regular season. Some of their struggles has just been the Celtics missing open shots, but the more you look at their team, the more you see the flaws of building around a single player — Isaiah Thomas — with no one else reliably being able to create offense.
Green in the starting five could help that, although the real trouble begins when Thomas leaves the floor. The 2005 Celtics draft pick has one quantifiable NBA skill, volume scoring, and he will get buckets if you give him minutes. It may not happen within the flow of the offense, or efficiently enough for Boston’s liking, but Green certainly could add a dimension that Boston lacks outside of Thomas.
Still, this season, the Celtics have played Green in 47 games, where he has scored about six points on 41 percent shooting and 35 percent on threes. Boston envisioned Green in a slightly bigger role than occasional offensive boost off the bench this season, something he wasn’t really able to provide.
The 31-year-old does have a cool story, dropping out of the league for a couple seasons before finding his way back in.
We’ll see if the coaching move from Brad Stevens works for Boston, which clearly has its back against the wall.
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