3. Does Kelly Olynyk stay hot?
Olynyk went nuts in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Game 7, scoring 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field with two rebounds and two assists. His performance made up the difference in a 10-point Boston victory (he had 26 total), and as weird as this is to say, the Celtics may need Olynyk to keep it up.
Other than Thomas, who, if things go wrong on defense may not be able to play as much as Boston would like, the Celtics don’t have a scorer who can carry the offense. Horford does a lot of little things and some big ones, but he’s not throwing up 30 a night. Marcus Smart is a great defender, as is Avery Bradley. But neither can come close to carrying an offense, and Jae Crowder can’t shoot.
So why not Olynyk?
If nothing else, Olynyk is a threat out of pick-and-pop. He flashed good ability on drives in Game 7, albeit against Washington’s atrocious defensive big men. But fear not, Cleveland has an atrocious defensive big of its own in Love. If Boston wants to hunt Love the way they hunted Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith and Marcin Gortat in Game 7, then Thomas-Olynyk pick-and-pops are the way to do it.
The Celtics can get Love out on the perimeter — maybe even switched onto Thomas — by doing running those. They’ll hope for Kyrie Irving on Thomas, though he’ll likely guard Avery Bradley instead. In any case, the Celtics need a somebody to score points who isn’t at risk of getting run off the floor defensively. Olynyk was that person in Game 7. If he stays hot, Boston has a puncher’s chance.