Pritchard’s Sixth Man quest among four Celtics early-season surprises

Pritchard’s Sixth Man quest among four Celtics early-season surprises originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics will reach double digits in games played with Friday’s visit from the Brooklyn Nets.

Three weeks of regular-season basketball seems to be a large enough sample size to pluck some early-season surprises for a team coming off such a dominant season that it’s not always easy to exceed expectations. But here are four Boston players that are doing just that:

Getting steamy for Neemi

With Kristaps Porzingis sidelined to start the season and a need to pace 38-year-old Al Horford throughout his 18th NBA season, it was fair to expect that Boston’s depth centers would get a greater opportunity to start the year. But few could have envisioned the way fourth-year center Neemias Queta has embraced his early uptick in play.

Over the last five games, Queta is averaging 8.4 points and 6.6 rebounds over 21 minutes per game, including two spot starts. Here are some numbers that leap off the page with Queta:

Boston’s defensive rating plummets to 95.4 in his 125 minutes on the court. The Celtics are 13.9 points per 100 possessions better with Queta on the court. His +22.7 net rating is the best on the team and 5.7 points per 100 possessions better than Derrick White, a perennial leader in the net rating category.

The 25-year-old Queta isn’t doing much different from his brief cameos last season. But his combination of youthful energy, physicality, and athleticism has paired well with any lineups he’s been thrust into.

The five-man pairing of Queta with White, Horford, Jayson Tatum, and Jrue Holiday is Boston’s second-most common five-man unit this season and has posted a +29.0 net rating in 34 minutes. It’s a super small sample, but of the 42 five-man lineups with at least that much time together this season, that ranks third in the NBA entering Friday’s action.

The Queta/Horford duo has logged 55 minutes together in double big lineups and has a +22.2 net rating. In 72 minutes with Queta as the lone big, Boston’s net rating spikes to +30.6. Queta is second in the NBA in offensive rebound…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/pritchards-sixth-man-quest-among-163156304.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-11-08 16:31:00

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