After shuffling his starting lineup in three consecutive games, Joe Mazzulla stuck with what worked for Wednesday night’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics head coach gave Josh Minott his second straight start, deploying the long, athletic wing alongside Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown, and Neemias Queta.
White, Pritchard, Brown, and Queta have been everyday starters for Boston this season, but Mazzulla has shuffled through several options in the fifth spot. Sam Hauser started the first two games before giving way to rookie Hugo Gonzalez for the fourth. Minott then replaced Gonzalez for Monday night’s road game against the New Orleans Pelicans. The energetic 22-year-old excelled in his first career start, posting 15 points, nine rebounds, one steal, and one block as the Celtics pulled away late to win 122-90.
Boston outscored New Orleans by 42 points across Minott’s 28 minutes—tied for the eighth-best single-game mark by any Celtics player in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97). Mazzulla seemingly liked what he saw from Minott in the victory, which snapped a three-game losing streak to open the season.
Though the coach has said he plans to be more fluid with his starting lineups and rotations this season than in years past, Minott got the nod again Wednesday at TD Garden against a Cavs team viewed as one of the strongest Eastern Conference contenders.
“I think obviously, he’s played with the level of effort, and now the games are starting, just being able to apply that effort with the execution of the game plan, situational awareness, the recognition of being able to take on different matchups and then make plays when he’s off the ball,” Mazzulla said pregame. “So he’s embraced that development and that challenge of understanding effort plus execution, and he’s just got to keep getting better at it.”
Minott’s big night in New Orleans came just three nights after he was a healthy DNP during a loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. What does he need to do to ensure he sees consistent minutes against a variety of matchups?
“Effort,” Mazzulla said, “and then just understanding the details of the game plan and tendencies of the guy that he’s guarding and tendencies of the situation that’s going on. So (he) just has to continue to match his effort and then understand the details—the details of the personnel, what he needs to take away—and develop that in real time and put those two together. He’s getting better at that.”
Jayson Tatum (Achilles rehab) was the only Celtics player unavailable Wednesday night. Brown, who’s been nursing a hamstring strain suffered in last Wednesday’s season opener, was upgraded from probable after completing his pregame workout.
The Cavs were playing without All-Star point guard Darius Garland (toe) and two other rotation players in Sam Merrill (hip) and Max Strus (foot). All-NBA shooting guard Donovan Mitchell (hamstring) was a late addition to Cleveland’s injury report, though he was able to suit up.
“That’s why we pay 18 guys,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said.
**Simons on Defense**
Mazzulla sent a firm message to Anfernee Simons when the latter arrived from Portland this offseason: If he couldn’t give the Celtics at least competitive play on the defensive end, he wasn’t going to see the floor.
“It’s just a matter of if I want to do it or not. It’s really that simple,” the offense-focused guard said at the start of training camp. “Coming into a culture like this, you have to be able to adapt or you’re not going to be in the position that you want to be in, whether it’s playing or not playing.”
Simons is never going to be as skilled a defender as the player Boston traded to acquire him—six-time All-Defensive selection Jrue Holiday—but he’s held his own thus far. The 6-foot-3 scorer entered Wednesday ranked second in the NBA in opponent field-goal percentage as the nearest defender (31.0%) among players who’ve faced at least 40 field-goal attempts.
The only player ahead of him was San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama (29.7%), who’s more than a foot taller than Simons. (Brown was third at 32.0%.)
Four games is a small sample, and defensive field-goal percentage is an imperfect stat, but Simons’ current mark is far lower than the ones he posted during his time with the Trail Blazers, who eventually grew tired of his one-dimensional skill set. He was at 49% or higher in each of the last five seasons, peaking at a career-worst 54.2% in 2023-24.
Simons’ five steals in his first four games as a Celtic also were second-most on the team, trailing only Derrick White’s six. And after an inconsistent start offensively, the Celtics’ new sixth man exploded for 25 points on 6-of-13 shooting from 3-point range Monday night to help power the Celtics to a runaway win over the Pelicans.
If Boston can get more of that from Simons—consistent, reliable scoring without being a zero defensively—it would be a major boon for a team that lacks firepower outside of its top options.
**Jaylen’s Hair Jokes**
Four days after his 29th birthday, Brown acknowledged that Father Time has taken a toll on his hairline. The Celtics star lamented his thinning follicles during a Twitch stream Tuesday night.
“I blame Boston,” Brown joked while a friend gave him a fresh buzzcut. “Ten years of media, stress, the championship. This is y’all fault.”
During the stream, Brown also left a voicemail for LeBron James asking for advice about Turkish hair-loss treatments. It was his way of addressing the wave of jokes that flooded social media after his brush with Knicks wing OG Anunoby last Friday left a streak of what appeared to be black hair dye on Anunoby’s white jersey.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/10/29/celtics-notebook-josh-minotts-effort-earns-him-second-straight-start/
