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Hugo González played only 13 minutes on Sunday night, less than 24 hours before Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla needed the rookie to start.
That didn’t matter, though.
González logged his third career start, and his first since Jan. 10, with starters Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta both sidelined on the second night of a back-to-back against the Milwaukee Bucks. On the other end stood two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in his first game back since January 3rd. But González, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound wing, embraced the David-and-Goliath challenge posed by the 6-foot-11, 243-pound Antetokounmpo head-on.
In his mind, he had no other choice, as González explained after Boston’s 108-81 win at Fiserv Forum.
“We got our standard, and we just want to maintain it every single game,” González told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin postgame. “We don’t like to (make) excuses. Obviously, we’ve got some really, really important players — starting, important players — that were (out with) illness or resting, and I think we’ve got a really good spirit and took a difficult win after two games in 20 hours.”
Before arriving in Milwaukee, González watched Queta shine with a career-best 27-point, 17-rebound double-double against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night. González stood tall on the bench, rushed to Queta during timeouts, and celebrated Neemi at every opportunity. Now it was his turn to take full advantage of starting for Boston on short notice, and he was ready.
In return for the opportunity, González delivered the most impressive start of his young NBA career, scoring 18 points, grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds, and adding three blocks and two steals — setting new career highs in every category. That made him the first Celtics rookie to record a stat line as such since Larry Bird.
González secured his second career double-double by doing what he does best. Relentlessly shadowing Milwaukee’s ball handlers, he anticipated every move before jumping into action. His intensity repeatedly disrupted coach Doc Rivers’ offense, allowing González to propel the Celtics with a two-way impact that gave the Bucks — now losers of their last three — more problems than they could manage. All season, González has honed his preparation, leading to his biggest test yet: guarding Antetokounmpo.
González helped defend the 10-time All-Star on five possessions, in which Antetokounmpo went 1-for-5.
Whenever González guarded him one-on-one, he battled. When other Celtics defenders took on the task, and González was nearby, he rushed over to help make scoring as difficult as possible for Antetokounmpo. Of course, no single player can handle that defensive assignment for every possession throughout a night, and González experienced firsthand why that is.
“With those types of players, you can’t guard him with one person because they are some of the best players in the world,” González told Chin. “Giannis is an amazing player, and you can’t guard him with one person. You need a team effort. That’s what we try to follow the game plan, and today we succeeded in that.”
Antetokounmpo, returning after a 15-game absence with a calf injury, wasn’t in his usual league-MVP candidate form. He scored 19 points with 11 rebounds, shooting 11-of-18 from the field in a Milwaukee loss that became the next — and biggest — step in González’s development as a key role player in Boston’s second unit.
So far, González’s versatility has been one of the biggest surprises of this Celtics season — and the latest home-run draft selection from president of basketball operations Brad Stevens.
In Stevens’ eyes, González was deemed NBA-ready following his three-year run with Spain’s Real Madrid in the Liga ACB. Playing alongside several former NBA players in Spain as a teenage prospect, González grew accustomed to fighting for minutes, always prepared not to miss a beat when his number was called. Now, that experience is translating — and benefiting the Celtics.
It’s become clear that González has fallen into a right-place, right-time situation in Boston this season.
“One of the strengths of the locker room has always been being able to win games when guys have been out,” Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “We’ve sat guys over the last three, four years and still have been able to win games. That’s just kind of the DNA of the locker room, and you’re continuing to see that.”