Amid shooting slump, Sam Hauser sparks Celtics win with defense
The Celtics forward needed to start impacting games in different ways, as his shot wasn’t falling. He did just that in a win over the Nets.
Basketball may be mainly about putting the ball through the hoop, but if your shot isn't falling, you need to figure out how to impact the game in other ways. Celtics forward Sam Hauser found himself in that situation Tuesday night, and did exactly that.
Hauser pounced on the Nets' Terance Mann as he tumbled to the floor, then beat multiple players to the loose ball, in a fourth-quarter steal that proved to be the catalyst for the Celtics' 113-99 win. The C's closed the game on a 23-9 run, after Hauser's steal came with it all tied up at 90-90 with under eight minutes to go. Credit is also due to big man Neemias Queta for his strong finish at the rim to spark the close-out, but it was also Hauser who fed him the ball after his critical takeaway. The Nets never recovered from that swing.
Hauser even found his shooting stroke, draining a 3-pointer two possessions later to put the Celtics up by seven. He'd entered Tuesday night shooting just 18.0% from the field and 19.5% from 3-point range in his previous nine games, so he committed to filling other areas of the stat sheet. Hauser finished with just the three points, but also five rebounds, three assists, and of course two steals. He certainly recognized the importance of being able to do more than just shoot the ball.
"Yeah, I mean, just be a basketball player, I guess, at the end of the day," Hauser said after the game. "You might be here for one specific trait, and you might be really good at it, but how can you impact your team in a different way when that trait's not to its normal standard? So, yeah, I guess just be a basketball player."
Hauser rewarded his head coach, Joe Mazzulla, who has preached himself about being "basketball players" and doing multiple things. For a bench player, especially, it's often important to do a lot of little things that add up to a real impact on the game. Hauser accomplished that, and he did a lot of his damage in the fourth quarter of a close game.
"Yeah, he's great and it's a credit to him," Mazulla told reporters at his postgame presser. "We all know that he's been in a little bit of a shooting slump, but he's not defined by that. I thought his defense was great, I thought his rebounding was really good, and he had a big-time steal at half-court that I thought kind of changed the game. So, it's a credit to him just continuing to chip away at it."
The question for Hauser, now, is whether he can string good games together, and especially regain his typical shooting form. His 33.3% rate from deep is well below his career average of 41.4%. But the way he helped swing a close one with his defense, rebounding, and passing was a performance that winning teams need from role players.
And Hauser seemed happy to remind folks that he's, you know, a basketball player.
