The Celtics won their 30th game of the season Friday night, beating the Sacramento Kings to join five other teams in the league with 30 or more wins. It’s obviously been a bit of a surprising season for the Celtics, who are tied with the New York Knicks for the second seed in the East and still have the league’s second-best offense and second-best net rating.
There are a few different reasons for that, but one of the biggest is the development of Neemias Queta. He went from third-string and sometimes unplayable to starting for the Celtics this year and clearly being missed when he misses time.
“He’s a great player,” Joe Mazzulla said after the win over the Kings. “His ability to, I’d say, both ends of the floor, defensively, his ability to protect the rim, our ability to cross-match when he’s out there, offensively, like you said, his screening vs. different coverages, his offensive rebounding. I mean, he’s grown and developed into a very important player for us, and you can see a difference when we have him.”
One characteristic that stood out the most against Sacramento was his growing ability to read both the defense and his teammates, giving Celtics guards an outlet for passes when they draw multiple defenders. This goes beyond just setting good screens and rolling to the basket. There were two plays that jumped out early in this game that showed how well Queta is seeing everything and how far he’s come as a player.
Both involve a similar skill, which is reading and relocating on the baseline. It’s a critical skill for a big man to hone because it maintains good spacing and gives his teammates a passing option. On top of that, it usually leads to buckets.