The Boston Celtics saw much success during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals with the convenient return of Gordon Hayward.
Monday, Celtics guard Marcus Smart gave his opinion on Hayward's return from a Grade 3 ankle sprain:
Marcus Smart on Gordon Hayward's return: "It just shows the type of team we can be. Gordon is great and brings a lot to our team. Even if the stats aren't there, he has a great impact."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 21, 2020
Hayward's presence came just in time for the Celtics, who found themselves quickly down 2-0 in the series with the Miami Heat after blowing consecutive leads in the first two games. The need for extra playmaking and shooting was obvious, and Hayward's versatility proved crucial in Game 3. While he only had six points on 2-of-7 shooting, he added five rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block.
Smart then gave his opinion on the deployment of the Celtics' “Best Five” lineup:
Marcus Smart on the "Best Five" lineup: "It's just different. We've got a lot of firepower in that group. We've got a lot of length and versatility. If you lock in on one or two guys, all the other guys can hurt you."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 21, 2020
This group features Smart, Hayward, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum. While this lineup lacks a traditional big man, which could be trouble against Heat star Bam Adebayo, it features a lot of firepower, defense, and playmaking.
This unit played seven minutes together in Game 3, and the Celtics outscored the Heat by 13 points in that time. Boston scored a whopping 26 points in seven minutes.
For a variety of reasons, Brad Stevens didn't deploy this lineup that much in the regular season. In fact, they only played 18 minutes together and got outscored by six points. Stevens talked about the lineup on Monday:
Brad Stevens on the "Best Five" lineup: "The hard thing about that is that we never really had all five of them available at the same time. The idea was that we have to get those guys on the court together as much as possible. I thought their defense as a group was great."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 21, 2020
With Hayward back, don't be surprised if Stevens goes to this lineup more and more in this series, especially if the success continues. While it's a small group, it may make sense to just throw the Celtics' best five players out there and see what happens.
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