Rajon Rondo and the second unit’s scoring will be important, per usual
A trend started when Rajon Rondo was relieved of his starting point guard duties and placed on the bench unit with Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Cristiano Felicio. Unlike the starters, this grouping composed some semblance of offensive rhythm. Rondo control’s the offense pretty well, receiving picks from Felicio and finding shooters and cutters in Mirotic and McDermott.
Again, with Dwyane Wade not guaranteed to play, Jimmy Butler will shoulder the weight of shot creation in the first unit. With Defensive Player of the Year candidate P.J. Tucker (according to Jared Dudley) guarding him, it won’t be easy.
Kawi Draymond and Pj Tucker!!! It's a 3 man race!! He's been locking up All Stars! Don't let our record discourage you from voting for him!
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) January 23, 2017
That’s why it’s all the more important for the second unit to play well, especially against a Phoenix team whose depth is lacking.
Of course, this comes down to Doug and Niko’s ability to make shots, something they’ve shown inconsistency in doing. Mirotic, despite having the reputation as a shooter, is only making 30 percent of his 3-pointers this season, which is … not great. McDermott’s percentage is better, but he doesn’t take nearly as many deep balls as he should. He’s shown a tendency to come off screens and curl a few feet inside the arc, instead of running to the line and taking the more efficient shot.
As always, any prediction for this team is a crap shoot. The bench has been one of the better scoring groups, so ideally that’ll translate to tonight’s game.