Previous to Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics ahead Drew Peterson had performed simply seven minutes this season. The 2-way man greater than tripled that complete at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Sunday, logging just below 25 minutes off of Boston’s bench with each Jaylen Brown and Derrick White out of the lineup.
In actual fact, the second-year ahead performed all 12 minutes of the second quarter — an important stretch for the Cs. They discovered themselves down as many as 11 factors to the hosts, however Peterson’s spark helped preserve Boston within the recreation. He wasn’t afraid to shoot, hit the glass arduous, and introduced an added defensive vitality that they’d lacked all through the opening body.
For a man who had performed lower than ten minutes all yr, he seemed fairly assured. Simply check out his first shot of the evening.
He pulled up in transition to sink three of his eight factors on the night and there was no hesitation in any respect for the 24-year-old after being known as up from Maine. This make was a part of an 18-6 Celtics run, which very effectively might’ve stored this one from being a blowout.
“It was nice to see him on the market,” mentioned Kristaps Porzingis postgame. “I favored that he wasn’t shy. One of many first performs, he form of got here off (on the lookout for his shot). We didn’t have the identical firepower as normal, so we would have liked everyone to be aggressive. I instructed him straight away to search for his stuff as a result of he’s a great offensive participant. Yeah, he wasn’t shy all evening lengthy. He shot his pictures and performed good protection… In a high-level recreation like this, it was actually cool to see.”
His vitality didn’t wither as the sport went on both. He continued to play every rep prefer it may very well be his final.
Peterson spent a number of possessions focused by Cleveland’s elite guard duo of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland and managed to carry his personal. Check out this stand towards Mitchell (who was within the midst of catching hearth within the fourth quarter). His persistence and positioning led to one of many lone stops that Boston was capable of power towards Mitchell within the fourth.
“I assumed he had some actually good defensive possessions, defending with out fouling. He was bodily — he’s sensible. He has a knack for the ball, whether or not it’s offensive rebounding or shifting with out the basketball to get open, and I feel he works actually arduous,” Joe Mazzulla mentioned.
Peterson performed with unbelievable poise all recreation lengthy, which his head coach credited to the constant work that he and the remainder of the Celtics’ “keep prepared” crew put in usually.
“You attempt to discover moments all through the season the place you may validate the work that the fellows put in, no matter who it’s, Jordan (Walsh), Drew, Jaden (Springer), JD (Davison), and people guys,” he defined through NBC Sports activities Boston. “So, I simply felt like he’s had actually good reps these days, and I assumed he put us able to assist us win.”
With little alternative in Boston, Peterson has gotten his reps in with the staff’s G-League affiliate. In his second season with the “Lobster Lads,” the previous USC standout has achieved a little bit of the whole lot. He’s averaged 19.6 factors, 7.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals whereas taking pictures 45.9% from the sector and 33.3% from deep.
It’s unclear if a spot within the huge membership’s rotation will open up, nevertheless it was encouraging to see a participant like Peterson so ready when his quantity was known as. On the very least, he handed his first Mazzulla pop quiz.
