Boston, Mass. –– It was wasn’t easy for the Celtics to put away at Trae Young-less Hawks team on Friday, but thanks to another big game from first-time All-Star Jayson Tatum, Boston prevailed 112-107.
However, perhaps lost in the show was the quiet but effective game from the Celtics No. 1 pick in this past year’s draft, Romeo Langford.
The 20-year-old out of Indiana has seen inconsistencies in playing time when available (averaging just 9.7 minutes in his 15 games played entering Friday night), but with Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown headlining the list of absent Celtics, Langford’s playing time skyrocketed.
In Friday’s win, Langford played in a career-high 29 minutes (besting the 28 minutes he got in his first career start on Wednesday), scoring a career-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting (2-of-5 from three). He also added five rebounds, three blocks, and a steal to the stat sheet.
While he did rate as a minus-nine, the Indiana native showed the flashes of brilliance that made him the Celtics No. 1 selection (14th overall) in last summer’s draft.
Langford with the REJECTION pic.twitter.com/ChsNykuVv7
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 8, 2020
Big shots. Great defense. Tenacious hustle. Three qualities Danny Ainge saw in Langford last June, and all three were on full display Friday night.
ROM3O pic.twitter.com/Wlq3SqB7Tg
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 8, 2020
When Hayward and Brown return, that undoubtedly means a decrease in playing time for the rookie swingman. But for a Celtics team that has been struggling for bench scoring all season; a Celtics team that stood pat at the trade deadline, getting this kind of production out of Romeo Langford might be just what the doctor ordered.
Overall, the Celtics rookies have been a lot of infrequent flashes of brilliance, with the only consistently-productive rookie being Grant Williams; perhaps getting an extended run, albeit against a rebuilding Hawks team without Trae Young, is just what Langford needed to gain the confidence needed to take his game to the next level.
If there is one thing that we’ve learned about Brad Stevens since he took over as Celtics coach ahead of the 2013-14 season, it’s that he is more than willing to reward players for stepping up in a big win. Look no further than the likes of James Young, Gerald Green, and Evan Turner, who were middling role players that occasionally saw drastic increases in playing time based on performance. The latter two saw themselves go from role players to starters in the middle of a playoff series.
This is not to say Romeo Langford will blossom into a vital player for a potential NBA Finals run, but if he can give 12-15 minutes of hard-nosed basketball, he can certainly help soften the blow of an action-less Trade Deadline for the Celtics.
