BOSTON — In the Celtics win over the Los Angeles Clippers last Sunday, Anfernee Simons suited up for just 12 minutes. Josh Minott played 11 minutes, and Sam Hauser tallied a season-low 7 minutes.
But exactly
one week later, the trio of bench players combined for 55 points on a scorching 74% shooting, contributing critical buckets in a 139-128 win over the Magic.
All three Celtics players — among several others — have experienced substantial fluctuations in their minutes throughout the first few weeks of the season.
Some of that has been performance-based, some dependent on specific match-ups and schemes, and some has simply been the result of Joe Mazzulla frequently relying on an 11- or 12-man rotation.
“We talked about the depth that we have — guys can bring different things,” Mazzulla said. “So you just have to give the game what it needs. I think our team has an understanding of that.”
Anfernee Simons, Josh Minott, and Sam Hauser are all in completely different situations and moments in their careers
Simons has been a star in this league — just two years ago, he averaged 22.6 points per game on the Portland Trail Blazers — but he’s nonetheless trying to prove that he can impact winning (while playing on an expiring, $28 million contract).
At 22 years old, Minott is young and unproven, having racked up DNPs in Minnesota for the first three years of his NBA career without ever consistently cracking the rotation.
And, Hauser has the most job security (he’s on a four-year, $45 million deal with the Celtics), but has struggled to find his rhythm on this season’s new-look Celtics, and is shooting a career-worst 32.3% from three.
What the three players have in common, however, is that they’re on a team where each game brings a completely different opportunity. And, right now, they’re trying to capitalize as much as possible when the opportunity does come, despite the mental challenge of that sometimes being unpredictable.
But on Sunday, all three players put their best foot forward.
Simons tallied 23 points on 8-11 shooting in 22 minutes, Hauser posted 14 points on 5-8 FG (including 4 for 7 from three) in 27 minutes, and Minott finished with 16 points on 7-8 shooting in 20 minutes.
That made the difference in a game that saw the Celtics explode for a season-high 80 points in the first half and lead by as many as 26.
Simons had played until 20 minutes three times this season, sometimes being pulled for extended stretches after a slew of defensive mistakes. But, as the year has progressed, Simons has tried his best to focus on what he can control and not worry too much about his minutes.
“The human side — it’s not easy,” Simons said. “Just feel like — what I could have done better in those times, but also, like I said before, just controlling the controllables and living with the results after that. And I think that’s what I’ve been trying to hammer down over the past couple of games — just controlling the controllables and letting everything fall into place. And so I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of dealing with all that, and dealing with the emotional side of it, and just knowing that if I’m playing 15 minutes, as long as I did what I had to do in those 15 minutes, and we’re coming out with wins, that’s all that matters.”
Minott started 9 straight games earlier this season before being relegated to the bench for the past five games. In his final start — a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers less than two weeks ago — he played just 8 minutes. On Friday, he played 7 minutes, setting a new season-low.
Was Minott upset after his move from the starting lineup to the bench?
“If you were poor, and I gave you 20 bucks, and then instantly took 20 bucks, you never really felt like you had it, right?” he propositioned with a smile. “It was nice, but I’m used to this position.”
And Hauser, who entered the season as one of the Celtics’ most veteran players, acknowledged that dealing with inconsistent minutes can be challenging, but that he reminds himself to focus on the team above the individual.
“Of course, it’s hard, but you kind of just have to, like you said, roll with the punches and take advantage of the time you are out there — and still try to help the team win,” Hauser said, before referring to a Mazzulla slogan about putting the team first: “Try to be external, and don’t be internal. It’s hard in the moment.”
Strong performances on Sunday don’t mean that the trio’s minutes will now become predictable; one player getting an increased opportunity inherently means that another saw their minutes slashed.
In Sunday’s win, backup big men Luka Garza and Xavier Tillman both received DNPs, despite Neemias Queta going down with an ankle injury in the first quarter. And, Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez played less than 10 minutes apiece.
Mazzulla expects players to continue to be in and out of the rotation depending on the night. The Celtics’ head coach has maintained that the team’s depth is a strength and that a confluence of factors determines lineup decisions every night.
“We have to give the game what it needs every single night, and that could call for whatever the case may be, dependent upon lineup situation, sub patterns, foul trouble, matchup — all kinds of things,” Mazzulla said. “I think that they’re learning and understanding what the responsibility is, regardless of what the minutes are.”
