Roziers make it a father and son weekend
Now that he has a chance to enjoy his son’s NBA career in person, Terry Rozier Sr. is making up for lost time with a lot of travel.
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
Prior to this weekend he had watched his son, the Celtics guard, play in Cleveland and Detroit. The past two months have been quite an awakening for Rozier Sr., who spent 23 of the past 25 years in an Ohio prison, before being released last summer after serving time for involuntary manslaughter. But nothing prepared him for this weekend, when Rozier Sr. came to Boston for the first time, and this weekend’s back-to-back doubleheader, starting with Friday night’s overtime win over Toronto and continued with last night’s game against Utah. He showed up wearing a hoodie from Galaxy Industry Services, his employer, and took an end zone seat for Kyrie Irving’s 43-point masterpiece against the Raptors. “He balled out last night,” Rozier Sr. said of Irving. “My first time watching him, too, this year.” Friday’s overtime game, with its playoff atmosphere and an amped Garden crowd, was a revelation. “The atmosphere,” he said. “The whole building, the fans, it definitely lived up to everything I had heard about it. “Watching a game here definitely puts it all in perspective,” said Rozier Sr. “I’ve been waiting to see a game here from Day 1. I want to be a part of it as much as I can.”
No restrictions
Gordon Hayward was surprised by Brad Stevens’ decision to leave him in for overtime against Toronto, and the fact he played 39 minutes. But for now, anyway, the Celtics forward’s 25-minute restriction has been lifted. “I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was told he wasn’t on a minutes restriction, so I just played who I thought gave us the best chance of winning that given game on that given night,” Stevens said of how Hayward’s 15point, five-rebound, five-assist, four-steal performance unfolded against the Raptors. “I didn’t realize he got the 39 minutes in an overtime game without changing the lineup,” he said. “Everybody got up there in minutes but I didn’t even think about it. I’ve been told I don’t need to think about it anymore.” As it turned out, Hayward’s minutes restriction had been lifted prior to last Sunday’s game in Portland. “We played Phoenix/Utah back-to-back, and that was the last 25-minute game,” said Stevens. “Now he’s going to have games where he plays 25 again, but at the end of the day he’s not restricted, which is good. The whole idea of a minutes restriction is to get yourself back to the point where you physically can handle the demands of the season and do so without taking steps back. The encouraging part is it was handled well by our training staff and him, as frustrating as it may have been for him.”
Extra point
As Hayward’s role increases, expect to see even more of him in a surrogate point guard’s role. “I think we have a lot of guys that can handle the ball, but I think he’s used to that,” said Stevens. “He’s used to playing in the pickand-roll at the top of the key, he’s used to entering offense and those type of things. “And I think when you watch -- first of all when you watch Utah play and they have (Joe) Ingles and (Donovan) Mitchell and (Ricky) Rubio, they just rotate those guys and do it,” he said. “And Gordon, that’s the way they played with Gordon. So, like, yesterday it allowed us to get Kyrie off the ball to get him with a live dribble. It allows us to run different actions where we can set Kyrie up off of action, or Terry. And I think that’s important to be able to do that with your guys that aren’t necessarily considered point guards.”