The Boston Celtics will take on the Phoenix Suns Sunday, July 26th at 1:30 p.m. ET in their second of three exhibition scrimmage games, and find themselves facing what ought to be a less challenging opponent than their last from the top to the bottom of their roster.
Down two of their three best players in point guard Ricky Rubio and former Boston big man Aron Baynes (recovering from COVID-19 — get well soon, All of Australia), only shooting guard Devin Booker looms as an elite offensive talent.
And, down their best defensive player in Aron Baynes, it should be the Suns who have trouble on defense — even if they communicate better than the Celtics did in their exhibition scrimmage loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday afternoon.
Boston, for their part, should be operating at full strength, with Boston head coach Brad Stevens relating All-Star point guard as being a game-time decision and rookie Romeo Langford available after missing a game due to a stomach issue.
Expect fewer missed assignments, crisper rotations but plenty of front-rimmed and missed shots as the Celtics continue to ease into game shape.
As with all exhibition games, it’s important not to read too much into the results, but in this case it may be concerning of Boston drops its second in a row just given the gulf in talent.
That seems pretty unlikely, though — Boston should win this friendly handily.
