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ORLANDO - Before Terry Rozier took the court Friday night at Amway Center in Orlando for his fifth career NBA start, Celtics.com checked with the third-year point guard and asked how comfortable he felt running Boston's offense.
Rozier's first reaction to the question came in the form of a pearly, white smile. Then, he delivered a short, but confident response: "Pretty damn comfortable."
Rozier, who was just a few hours away from his 24th birthday, didn't elaborate any further, but he didn't need to. Instead, he let his game do the talking.
Starting in place of injured Kyrie Irving (sore left knee), Rozier tallied game highs in points (17), assists (five) and minutes played (34), while carrying the Celtics to a 92-83 win over the Orlando Magic.
While Rozier's statistics were impressive, what stood out most was his overall command of the game. He displayed incredible poise, outstanding vision and confidence in every decision he made. And that confidence has been rapidly growing within Rozier ever since making his first career start a month and a half ago.
"I'm just not even thinking about it," Rozier said of his approach to the game. "I'm going out there and having a lot of fun and just playing the right way. My coaches and my teammates do a great job of just giving me that confidence and letting me build off of it."
One of those teammates is veteran big man Al Horford, who has been closely observing Rozier's growing comfortability of late.
"He is figuring it out," said Horford, who returned from a two-game absence after being sick and tallied 15 points and nine rebounds. "I think a lot of times it takes time for guys to understand what their role is and how they're supposed to play. I just think he is figuring it out, and that's a good thing for us."
What's really good is the timing of Rozier's morale boost. Boston is dealing with a plethora of backcourt injuries right now, with Irving, Jaylen Brown (concussion) and Marcus Smart (thumb) all sidelined. It seems like an overwhelming amount of talent to make up for, but Rozier, along with reserve point guard Shane Larkin, has done an admirable job of filling in the roles.
"We're really fortunate to be in the situation we are that Kyrie's out right now, Smart's out and you've got Terry and Shane who are good players that can run the point for you," said C's coach Brad Stevens.
Irving's void is a particularly challenging one to make up for, but Rozier couldn't be doing a much better job during the games he has filled in as a starter. During those five situations, Rozier has averaged 19.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.
The only Celtics player who has averaged more points this season while appearing in a starting role? Irving, at 24.4 PPG.
Even in the recent games that Rozier hasn't started, his play has still remained at an elevated level. He has come off the bench 12 times since making his first start and has reached double figures in scoring on each occasion. In fact, he has now scored in double figures for 17 consecutive games - a streak that started on the night that he made his first appearance in the starting rotation.
By increasing a role, Stevens can discover quite a bit about a player, just as he has with Rozier during this recent stretch of play.
"I don't think you learn about their strengths, but I do think you learn about how they respond to that situation - how they respond to that added responsibility," said the coach. "I think Terry would be the first to tell you that by the third game of starting three games in row (in early February) and playing all those minutes, it was like, 'Wow, this hits you.' That added responsibility is difficult. But he handled it great and continues to handle it great."
Being the only fully-healthy point guard left on the team (since Larkin is facing a minutes restriction because of a sore right knee), it's critical that Rozier maintains his high level of play down the final stretch of the regular season. Fortunately, he's "pretty damn comfortable" in his increased role, so that shouldn't be much of an issue at all.