Hugo González Moves to Center as Celtics Beat Heat Playing Small

BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla offered a defense of a small ball lineup that appeared on the verge of faltering again in the first half against the Heat on Friday. Miami led by eight points midway through the second quarter and commanded an 11-4 edge on the offensive glass by halftime — similar to the advantage the Pistons rode to a victory in Boston four days prior.

Yet the Celtics leaned into that identity, and played Hugo González for significant minutes at center in what became a 71-58 Celtics second half rout. Boston lapsed at moments, Mazzulla argued, but gained significantly more than what they lost by playing small.

“It’s easy to say what looked like it didn’t go well,” Mazzulla said. “But what went well was our offense, and they weren’t able to switch us, they weren’t able to steer us, they weren’t able to keep us out of the paint and we were able to create a ton of two-on-ones with our speed. I thought that was the tale in the second half. Obviously, we have to get better. We’ll watch film tomorrow when we wake up and there are 20 possessions that we have to get better at, but I thought the effort and intentionality were there.”

Boston went on its decisive run in the 129-116 win with Anfernee Simons, Derrick White, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta on the floor alongside González, who slid over to center for the game’s final six minutes. The Celtics already led by 13 points, riding a three-point barrage, but extended it to 19 as the González center unit finished +64.7 per 100 possessions and rebounded 77.8% of the Heat’s misses. González grabbed eight boards, shot 4-for-7 and Boston outscored Miami by 22 points in his career-high 29 minutes.

His steal on Simone Fontecchio to start the fourth quarter after allowing Bam Adebayo to cut the Celtics’ lead to two, set up Sam Hauser to break the game open with his second of four threes in the fourth. It marked arguably the height of his young NBA career, not to overshadow his own quick-release three in the corner that made it a 16-point game only five minutes later. Earlier in the game, he floated in a put-back several steps away from the rim and fully laid out for a loose ball that just escaped him. The highlight tape from his rookie season will rank among the best watches on the roster — from a player who faced an uphill battle to playing any minutes this year.

“I think he played 17 straight minutes or something like that,” Mazzulla said. “Not everybody can do that, and to play at the level of consistency that he did for those minutes.”

González emerged as a center on Monday against Detroit, where he got involved in the pick-and-roll and played the middle of the zone alongside Josh Minott. That defensive look returned on Friday and Mazzulla experimented with playing all three of his defensive disrupters, González, Minott and Jordan Walsh, for a second half stretch. Walsh keyed the first half, holding Abebayo and Jaime Jaquez to 1-for-6 shooting and blocking two shots without fouling before González took over with two steals and four fouls after half.

They’ve become like a tag team, trading similar defensive impacts and spelling each other’s effort-filled stretches.

And they’re learning on the fly how to play the five — Boston’s biggest hole that hardly feels like one at the moment between Queta’s steady contributions and three small ball looks emerging. Minott continues to play the primary backup minutes while Walsh and González have received opportunities to set screens, defend centers and receive the offensive breathing room that a big man ignoring them allows for. At practice on Wednesday, González spoke after with a gash across his neck — which he received from guarding the Celtics’ big men.

“We gotta be ready to play any position,” González said. “We got a lot of different lineups, we’re lucky that we got a lot of players that can play multiple positions and as Joe, I think, said the other day, it’s more what position you’re gonna play, who’s guarding you. You gotta know everything. You gotta know if you’re being defended by a guard, the one that we want to attack against the five, the big man and we’re just making reads off that. Just try to play and try to get advantages off my ability against the big men, whenever I got them on a closeout or whatever, just try to attack them, try to create an advantage, and then just space the floor in the corner.”

Since going away from Luka Garza as the primary backup five at Minnesota on Nov. 29, the Celtics have won 6-of-9, moved within 1.0 point per 100 possessions of Denver for the best offense in the NBA over that stretch, have shot 59.4 eFG% (2nd) and still rank fifth in offensive rebounding rate (33.1%). They’re generating 129.6 points per 100 possessions and posting a +6.6 net rating with no centers on the floor compared to the -9.3 Garza’s lineups posted to begin the year. They’ve shot 43% from three across those lineups. The 123 points per 100 they’ve allowed through those minutes, that haven’t burned them often, are worth monitoring.

They’re 27th in defensive rebounding, a tiny step up from their last-placed finish for the season. Effectively holding the line. Their defensive efficiency dip (18th), has been minimized on the scoreboard by the Celtics’ slow pace. They’re still second behind the Thunder in points allowed per game (111.0).

Mazzulla has said that he believes playing small actually provides the Celtics will more awareness of those deficiencies. The Heat devastated them on the glass overall, 17-6 in offensive rebounds, but finished only 39% from the field and from three despite generating 20 more shots than the Celtics. On Monday, Boston did all the little things and still lost as a brief two-game shooting slump continued. The threes rained down on Friday (21-43, 48.8% 3PT). It came as a product of the activity, versatility and speed of the Celtics’ new identity.

“There has been good and bad to the lineup,” Mazzulla said on Wednesday. “We’ve had moments of forcing more turnovers, we’ve had moments of being able to play with a higher pace, our layup attempt percentage has gone up. Our offense is obviously a little bit better. Our defense has to be better and that zone threw their rhythm off like that. So, it’s just a matter of finding different ways to be impactful and it could change every night depending on who we’re playing against.”