MINNEAPOLIS — There haven’t been many surprises with this year’s Celtics but one has come in the form of Neemias Queta. The Portuguese big man gave the team crucial minutes with Kristaps Porzingis sidelined to begin the year, earning the trust of Joe Mazzulla and his teammates in the process.
Queta’s minutes have been inconsistent though in recent weeks after Porzingis returned to the floor ahead of schedule. However, as more injuries have piled up for the big man, Queta saw an uptick with an extended chance during Tuesday’s win over the Raptors. More importantly, Mazzulla has started to turn back to some looks where the team found success earlier this season with Queta.
Double big lineups have worked well plenty with Al Horford on the floor with Boston’s bench bigs but the duo of Queta and Horford have worked particularly well together this year. They had a +10.7 net rating in 98 minutes together in November, pushing Boston’s offense to elite numbers in those stretches with Horford serving as a stretch power forward and Queta feasting on the offensive glass.
The duo’s appearances diminished after November however once Porzingis returned to the floor, playing just 14 minutes together in December. As the team has struggled through an inconsistent stretch of late, Mazzulla reshaped his rotation a bit last week with Porzingis out and repaired the duo together.
On Thursday night against the Wolves, the pair was an integral part of Boston’s win, posting a +58.3 net rating in 14 minutes together, including several in crunch time.
Joe Mazzulla talked after the game about why he liked that look.
“Just size,” Mazzulla said. “With their switching we were able to get some lobs, and we could get to some defensive stuff. But on the offensive end they were switching and doubling and we got a couple of those help-ups. I thought that gave us good versatility on both ends of the floor.”
The Celtics’ defense floundered for much of the night with a single big on the floor. In contrast, the combination of Queta and Horford helped Boston get a few necessary stops in both the second and fourth quarter to win a shootout. Queta was particularly valuable as a rim protector, holding up well in isolations situations against Julius Randle and in help defense against Anthony Edwards.
“I give Neemi a lot of credit, he played a hell of a game tonight,” Jayson Tatum said. “I say it all the time, tough position that he’s in, never know when he’s gonna play, when his number’s gonna get called. The minutes that he gave us tonight off the bench, plus 17 in 21 minutes, he was very, very impactful.”
With Porzingis on the verge of returning to the lineup again a four-game absence, the Celtics should still try to carve out time for Horford and Queta to play together even once Horford returns to the bench. It’s not a combination that will work against every opponent (smaller shooting teams like the Pacers can expose them). However, the duo has chemistry together and Queta can take some pressure off Horford in the paint while holding up better on the boards than Luke Kornet.
With Porzingis in and out of the lineup so much, Mazzulla needs to find ways to win games while taking some pressure off Horford. Queta showed Thursday night once again he can be an appealing option on that front.
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