After beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to seven games!
However, this winning streak had been anything but smooth, filled with twists and struggles.
They had won almost every game with great difficulty, never by more than 10 points. In one game, they had even needed Marc Gasol's putback in the clutch to narrowly secure the victory.
At that point, both media reporters and fans had keenly noticed something unusual:
Goodwin's playing time had been extremely limited, averaging only 23.6 minutes per game.
Even so, he had still put up averages of 16 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1 block per game. It was worth noting that these numbers marked his lowest averages since his rookie season.
Likewise, another highly watched player, Yao Ming, had found himself in a similar situation.
Aside from receiving more playing time in the first game, he had averaged only 28.7 minutes in the games that followed—not even 30 minutes.
Without a doubt, that number had also set a new career low for his playing time.
Faced with all kinds of outside speculation and doubts, the media naturally refused to let go of such a hot topic, writing articles after the games to demand an explanation.
Coach Jack had long prepared for this and had a perfect explanation ready.
According to him, reducing the playing time of Goodwin and other players had been a decision made after extensive discussions with Goodwin.
The reason was that several players had left the team this season, while the remaining players had all grown a year older. Therefore, the young players had to be given more opportunities to prove themselves so they could develop quickly.
Wasn't that exactly what it meant to give the younger generation valuable room to grow?
Coach