The rookie’s impact in Boston’s comeback win over Indiana served as a microcosm of the impressive season he’s putting together at 19.
On Tuesday, the Celtics (18-11) pulled off their most miraculous comeback this season, overcoming a 6-43 halftime deficit to beat the Pacers (6-23) 103-95 at TD Garden.
After yet another backbreaking Indiana rebound in the third quarter, head coach Joe Mazzulla benched his starters - Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Neemias Queta - and subbed in a hungry reserve group that quickly changed the game's tone.
From that pivotal moment, the Celtics took control.
Boston outscored Indiana 60-34 in the second half, flipping the game with energy, effort, and physicality. While Brown led the Celtics with 31 points and 9 rebounds - including 14 in the fourth quarter - the bench truly owned Monday night.
Part of that unit was rookie Hugo Gonzalez, who played a career-high 37 minutes while providing incredible effort on both ends of the floor.
He finished with 6 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks while posting a team-best plus-23.
He opened the second half with the starters, stayed on during the bench takeover, and didn’t come out until the final minute.
His motor, rebounding, and defensive activity stood out all night, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mazzulla trusts him in any lineup configuration. Which should surprise no one with the way he plays the game.
A great stat from my friend Sean Grande on the type of season Gonzalez is having amidst a group of super talented rookies:
Mazzulla was asked postgame about Gonzalez’s continued growth, and how having a guy like that on the roster can help the team moving forward.
“Again, it’s just - that’s part of the depth that we have,” said Mazzulla at the podium. “I mean, 82 games is a long time - the season’s long. The standard that we have to play at, the effort that we have to play at, is hard, it’s difficult. We need everybody to be able to do it.
“So, there’s been stretches of the season, you know, where guys have done that for us, and right now it’s Luka [Garza] and Hugo doing a little bit of that. But, I think [Anfernee Simons] has been really good for us in the last couple games as well, and he gets kind of put under the radar a little bit. But I thought some of his scoring stretch tonight, and where he’s grown defensively helped that unit as well. So any night it could be anyone on the bench, and we just have to keep taking advantage of that and that’s a credit to those guys.”
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Even though Gonzalez’s minutes this season have gone up and down, he’s made a point to “stay ready,” as the kids say.
“I think that just being prepared - mentally prepared, really physical, too, but mentally prepared of like, you play 24 minutes in a row, you’ve just [got] to be solid,” said Gonzalez postgame in the locker room. “Try to make it solid and knowing that you’ve got now a responsibility that you haven’t had the past year, for example, or in the beginning of the year.
“When you’ve got a responsibility you’ve got to take accountability of that, when you play good, and when you play not that good, you know?”
It’s clear that Gonzalez’s teammates love the energy he brings to the table.
The rehabbing Jayson Tatum made a point to interrupt his press scrum off-camera on Tuesday night, making it clear how much confidence he has in the 19-year-old from Spain.
Gonzalez has been playing professional basketball since he was 16 years old, first suiting up for Real Madrid in October of 2022 in Liga ACB - one of the top professional basketball leagues in the world outside of the NBA - and going on to win league championships in 2024 and 2025. At 16 years, 7 months, and 27 days old, he became the fourth-youngest Real Madrid player ever to debut in the ACB. He’s also been a fixture on Spain’s various national teams, going from Under 17, to U18, to the national senior team in three of the last four years.
When Gonzalez was drafted 28th overall by the Celtics this past summer, he was seen more as a project player given his age and lack of developed offensive skillset. But through 29 games, he’s showing early on that his 6-foot-6 frame will be a valuable hustle piece for a team that has a real chance to make a push in a wideopen Eastern Conference.
Add in the fact that 6-foot-6 Jordan Walsh is having a breakout year of his own, and Boston is suddenly flush with wing depth, at least defensively, that fans and media alike were not counting on with Tatum likely out for most of the season.
Gonzalez, Walsh, and the rest of this upstart group are off until Friday, where they’ll have a rematch with the Pacers out in Indianapolis.
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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.