Celtics Need to Cut Veteran's Minutes After All-Star Break
By Cem Yolbulan
The Boston Celtics are entering the All-Star break in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 39-16 record. They are currently 5.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
While it would be nice to have home-court advantage against every opponent, the Celtics need to worry more about being healthy come the playoffs. Boston is an excellent road team and shouldn't fear any team, even in a road Game 7 situation.
That is why they must be diligent about playing time in the final 27 games of the season. This is especially true when it comes to aging veterans like Jrue Holiday and Al Horford and injury-prone starters like Kristaps Porzingis.
The 34-year-old Holiday is still playing 30 minutes per game despite having his worst season as a pro. He has a career-low 16% usage rate and a below-league-average efficiency with 56.4% True Shooting.
His 34.2% accuracy from downtown leaves plenty to be desired, especially when he seldom goes to the free-throw line. As a result, the former All-Star guard hasn't scored in double digits in his last six games.
When Holiday is on the floor, the Celtics offense scores 10.8 points per 100 possessions less than when he is off, per Cleaning The Glass. Holiday's lack of scoring threat has become a liability this season as he has one of the worst on/off ratings on the Celtics.
Holiday is still a valuable player who will be important for the Celtics in their playoff run. At the same time, Boston needs to keep him fresh for the postseason. Therefore, head coach Joe Mazzulla should give some of his minutes to the likes of Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser in the final two months of the regular season.
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