Is a Celtics rotation tweak helping starters regain their mojo?

Is a Celtics rotation tweak helping starters regain their mojo? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

For much of the 2024-25 season, the Boston Celtics’ preferred starting five has struggled to find its championship swagger in the limited instances that the unit is fully healthy.

But a recent shift back to a more familiar sub pattern might be aiding the starters in finding that missing mojo.

After flirting with giving Jayson Tatum an extended first-quarter run during the first half of the season, head coach Joe Mazzulla recently has reverted to subbing Tatum out midway through the first quarter.

In a teeny-tiny two-game sample, the starter numbers have had a not-so-minuscule spike. Here’s a look:

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It’s dangerous to read too much into a 33-minute sample, particularly when the last two games for Boston’s preferred starters have come against injury-riddled Orlando and Golden State. But for a Celtics team searching for more consistency, any positive trend — whether coincidence or otherwise — needs to be examined.

Boston’s starting group had outscored opponents in just three of that group’s first 10 appearances, and even then by just a total of seven points over those three games.

The Celtics were a middling 5-5 with the starting group, including a 1-3 record to start calendar year 2025, with that lone win coming after CJ McCollum missed a potential game-winning layup at the buzzer for New Orleans.

Over the last two games, Boston’s starters are a +33, having outscored Orlando by 15 and Golden State by 18. The group has more often allowed individuals to grab the baton and dominate small stretches.

Against Orlando, Kristaps Porzingis controlled the first quarter, Tatum took the baton in the second, and Jaylen Brown carried the offense late in the third frame with Tatum on the bench.

Subbing Tatum out early in the first quarter also has allowed the Celtics to get back to some familiar sub lineups, with Tatum often running with bench-heavy lineups to start the second quarter. Those lineups, often featuring Tatum alongside Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Luke Kornet, are posting numbers comparable to last season.

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Al Horford often is the fifth player in those lineups, though the Celtics also had success last season with Derrick White as the other player on the floor. As White pulls himself from a midseason shooting slump, those bench-heavy Tatum lineups could get another boost depending on how personnel is paired.

It should be noted that Brown paired with the bench group has also been successful in a smaller sample. Brown with the triumvirate of Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard has a +15.9 rating in 56 minutes this season. If Brown plays deeper in the first and third quarters, there’s a chance for him to have small stretches where he’s the focal point of the offense with that group.

Tatum acknowledged the open conversations with Mazzulla about the rotation.

“It’s something me and Joe talk about,” Tatum told reporters in San Francisco. “For most of the season, I was playing the whole first quarter and the third, and then we just kind of had a talk of, ‘Things change, dynamics change.’ KP came back. ‘What’s best for our team?’ It may be me starting the fourth quarter or whatever.

“All of us, we’ve just got to be open-minded. It can fluctuate throughout the season. Knowing that I’m going to play 34, 35 minutes, it all ends up the same.

“Patterns change, but just got to be open-minded to that.”

Brown echoed the sentiment of embracing whatever is asked of him, but noted how he views himself as a tone-setter for the team while admitting it’s been tough to be an early sub in the games when Boston’s offense is stuck in the mud.

Brown said he’s willing to do whatever so long as it aids the team’s success and helps slumping players like White get back on track.

A larger sample is needed to truly analyze if Boston’s recent uptick is a result of going back to what worked last season, or some combination of the Celtics playing with more focus coming off losses while drawing shorthanded opponents.

Tatum played the entire first quarter in a game against Oklahoma City in January and Boston produced a dazzling 65-point first half against the best defense in basketball, only for the Celtics to go ice cold in the second half as Oklahoma City pulled away for Boston’s first double-digit loss of the season. Did the rotation conspire against the team that night, or was it simply cold shooting for a team that lost its focus?

Mazzulla must determine if it’s best to lean heavily into what brought out the best in this team last season, or continue to explore ways to diversify in an effort to keep opponents guessing at how the Celtics might attack on a game-by-game basis.