Brian Robb talks Celtics playoff expectations on this week’s Celtics Beat (podcast)

Column composed by Evan Valenti for CLNS Media and CelticsBlog...

Aron Baynes does not get enough love.

It’s hard to understand the nuances of his game. Watching a player seal off his defender as his teammate strolls through the lane isn’t sexy. You aren’t paying attention to the “sealer”. You’re watching Kyrie pirouette through the lane and spin it home. But that play doesn’t happen without the seal. He’s the target of a lot of Giannis posters and a lot of people might look down on that. But to stand there and take a hit from a 7-foot freak of nature takes balls the size of…well, Australia.

Baynes moves the ball, sets good screens, boxes out well on both ends, protects the paint, brings team toughness, fits well with everyone on the team, is on the Board of Directors at the Ojeleye Factory, and does all of this for a whopping $5 million.

All of Australia deserves more of your respect. In spite of his recent play, Evan Valenti and Brian Robb tackle his recent play in this week’s episode of Celtics Beat.

Baynes Should Start?

Brad Stevens rolled out a new starting five a lot of Celtics Twitter was clamoring for:

Kyrie Irving

Marcus Smart

Jayson Tatum

Al Horford

Aron Baynes

Jay King noted after the win against the Indiana Pacers Friday night that the Celtics had a 90.7 defensive rating when Horford and Baynes shared the floor. That’s an incredible number. Don’t be shocked if you see that in first round, seeing as these two teams are lining up to be the 4/5 matchup. Having two bigs on the floor while the rest of the teams trends smaller is a good idea to try and break their opponents out of their respective comfort zones.

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TOPICS

4:37 Should the Celtics have tanked to play the Sixers in the first round?

9:39 Aron Baynes Appreciation

13:28 New lineup here to stay?

27:03 More important offensive piece: Tatum or Morris?

38:17 Kyrie leaves, what’s next?