Since Kyrie Irving went down with injury, the Boston Celtics essentially haven’t skipped a beat with Terry Rozier as their man at the point. He’s stepped up, taken the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals, and shown exactly why he was a high draft pick that GM Danny Ainge refused to trade.
Now he’ll be taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James, who apparently knew that Rozier would be a star back in high school, according to Nikki Goel Of ClutchPoints:
“I’m not surprised. I’ve been watching him since his freshman year in high school. He was a steal out of Louisville. Everyone’s going crazy over him now, but he’s a local guy I’ve been watching for a while now.”
Rozier attended high school in Shaker Heights, Ohio which is an outer suburb of Cleveland. As a senior in high school, Rozier averaged 25.6 points, 6.5 rebounds. 4.7 steals, and 4.5 assists per game. He led his team to the regional final that year, the first time since 2002 that had been done.
After high school, Rozier attended Hargrave Military Academy before coming onboard with the Louisville Cardinals because his grades weren’t the best.
He was then selected with the 16th pick in the 2015 NBA draft. The Celtics had high hopes for him coming out of college, but he didn’t live up to the expectations early, and only really came onto the scene this year.
With Irving out, as well as injuries to Marcus Smart and Shane Larkin, Rozier has been carrying a real heavy load this postseason, averaging 18.3 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in 37.3 minutes per game.
Against the Cavaliers this year, he has also had success averaging 24.3 minutes, 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in three contests.