In today’s modern NBA, playing a traditional lineup with a power forward and center is rare. Consider the case of Anthony Davis on the Lakers. His consistent hesitancy to play the 5 centers (pun intended) around not wanting to bang around with other bigs on defense and losing his advantage against smaller 4’s on offense.
In Boston’s first preseason game, Robert Williams started with Al Horford taking the baton off the bench. The two would never share the floor against the Magic. After head coach Ime Udoka talked about how well the double-big lineup of Williams and Horford was working in practice, it remained behind the curtain until the Celtics’ second exhibition game on Saturday night against the Raptors.