ORLANDO — Anfernee Simons played just two minutes in the first half of Friday’s 123-110 loss to the Orlando Magic. The Celtics were outscored by 11 in that stretch, and Joe Mazzulla opted to give Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez more extended run.
Afterwards, Simons was gracious about his benching.
“J-Walsh and Hugo came in and changed the game for us,” Simons said. “They got us back in the game with all their energy plays and stuff like that. It was really that simple.”
On Sunday, Simons’ first-half stint was far more productive; in fact, it was historic.
The Celtics guard almost immediately caught fire upon checking into the ballgame midway through the first quarter, and finished the first half with 25 points on 8-11 shooting in just 14 minutes, including 5-7 from three.
Simon’s performance marked the highest-scoring first half by a Celtics reserve in the play-by-play era, per the Celtics.
The first-half explosion also undoubtedly swung the game; the Celtics outscored the Magic by 15 points with Simons on the floor in the first two quarters, erasing a double-digit deficit to tie up the game at 54 entering the half.
“Anfernee, in the first half, really got us going,” Joe Mazzulla said after the Celtics’ 111-107 win.
In the second half, Simons played 8 minutes, going scoreless but nonetheless changing the way Orlando defended Boston. That opened up the floor for Simons’ Celtics teammates.
“He made them change their pick-and-roll coverage, which was great,” Mazzulla said.
Simons probably would have played more if it were not for Jordan Walsh’s outstanding fourth-quarter play; the 21-year-old Celtic played all 12 minutes in the fourth, as did Derrick White. Payton Pritchard also played 10 minutes, while Hugo Gonzalez (7 minutes) and Jaylen Brown (5 minutes) rounded out the non-big minutes.
Should the Celtics get more out of Anfernee Simons?
Simons’ offensive role as a Celtic is significantly diminished compared to his offensive role the past two years on the Portland Trail Blazers; in Boston, Simons has come off the bench every game, and his minutes have decreased from 32.7 to 25.7 a night. At the same time, his scoring has declined from 19.3 to 15 points per game, though his efficiency has slightly improved.
Still, Simons has been one of Boston’s top offensive options; he has the team’s second-highest usage rate at 22.6% (meaning that nearly a quarter of possessions that Simons is on the court for end up with him taking a shot, attempting a free throw, or turning the ball over). And, he attempts the fourth-most shots per game.
Still, Jaylen Brown — the Celtics leading scorer this season — thinks the team can go further in maximizing the 26-year-old’s impact.
“Anfernee’s a guy who’s very talented, so we have to figure out how we can continue to maximize his potential regardless of what it looks like,” Brown said. “We just got to keep an open mind. It was great to see him be aggressive in the first half and get going a little bit. That’s what we need. That takes pressure off everyone. So going forward, we’ve got to look for that more — and it’s a long season, so we just got to keep an open mind.”
