LOS ANGELES — The Celtics know the type of talent they have as part of their top-6 on the roster. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the headliners coming off All-NBA seasons. But Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis have all made All-Star teams, while Derrick White is having a career-year as a glue guy.
But there’s something about the type of mismatches Porzingis creates for the Celtics. It’s why the front office elected to pay a hefty price — Marcus Smart and draft picks — in order to get Porzingis to Boston. It was a gamble, but Porzingis continues to shine as his impact was on full display as the Celtics dispatched the Lakers 126-115 on Christmas Day.
“He’s a monster,” Jrue Holiday said of Porzingis. “You don’t really know what to do with him. You can’t really guard him with bigs. You can’t really guard him with a small because he’s going to shoot over top of them. Just adding the firepower around him that we have, at any given moment, anybody can take over.”
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Holiday pointed out Porzingis’ versatility as a powerful tool — he can beat defenders in the mid-post, by raining 3-pointers or bang down low. Porzingis was seemingly everywhere Monday in the win as he put up 28 points and 11 rebounds on 11-for-19 shooting.
Of course, Porzingis’ two-way play should also get some recognition. Holiday says he can guard confidently on the perimeter because Porzingis is that extra security blanket near the rim. The C’s have changed up their defensive schemes with Porzingis out there where he plays drop coverage instead of the switch-heavy looks from past seasons.
At this point, Porzingis has been exactly as advertised for this talented Celtics team. He had a stellar past season in Washington, rebuilding his image after taking some lumps in Dallas. With the Celtics employing so many talented players, Porzingis has been a complementary ceiling-raiser for a team looking to hang Banner No. 18 thus far.
“I think we haven’t had a low-post presence like that since I’ve been on the Celtics,” Jayson Tatum said. “I think it just creates so many problems. Are you going to switch us? Are you going to be in drop? Because if you’re in drop, when the big gets back to KP, he’s planning the closeout and he can move so well. Put somebody smaller on him, obviously he can shoot over the top.”
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