Saturday, December 26 - Celtics vs. Pistons
Pregame - Johnson Returns, Olynyk Back to Bench
AUBURN HILLS, MI – Amir Johnson will indeed return to the starting lineup, and Kelly Olynyk will return to the bench. At least that’s the plan for tonight’s game against the Pistons, anyway.
Despite Olynyk’s strong play over the last two games in the starting lineup, Stevens said he feels like Johnson in the starting five gives the Celtics their best chance to win and said that the Celtics need Johnson to play well to be at their best.
“It’s two games, it’s not 10 games, not 15 games,” Stevens said of Olynyk’s recent play as a starter. “Kelly’s had really good play off the bench in the last month too. Regardless of whether we start him or bring him off the bench, I feel like he can play well for us.
“I’m not saying that it’s gonna stay that way forever for us, starting wise, but that’s what we’re going to go back to tonight.”
As for Johnson, he’s good enough to go and will give the Celtics versatility in the frontcourt on the defensive end, something they’ll need against the NBA’s leading rebounder, Andre Drummond (16.1 RPG).
“He feels a lot better. I don’t think you fully recover from the plantar fasciitis deal, but rest is a good thing,” Stevens said. “You start realizing that you feel better when you wake up in the morning and you start walking around.”
One guy who didn’t feel great when he woke up today was David Lee, and he won’t be playing tonight. The long bus ride between the The Palace of Auburn Hills and the team hotel in suburban Detroit didn’t do Lee any favors, either.
“David woke up today and his back was stiff. He had some spasms, so he’s going to sit tonight,“ Stevens said. “We’re just going to have to lean on other guys. That’s the beautiful part of having the depth that we have.”
- Peter Stringer