Boston’s Aaron Nesmith is ‘ready to play at all times,’ and perhaps the bench spark the Celtics have needed

The sharpshooting defensive menace helped power the Celtics to a statement win Friday off of the bench.

Fans of the Boston Celtics have noticed a conspicuous absence of second-year forward Aaron Nesmith on the court during the team’s games before Friday night; games which, by all accounts, have not gone particularly well.

And the subset of fans of the Celtics who are also fans of Nesmith have made a connection between the Celtics’ low-energy defense and poor-shooting nights and the minimal use of the Vanderbilt product — a connection bolstered by Nesmith’s visible impact on both ends of the floor in the team’s emphatic 95 – 78 road win over a surging Miami Heat squad at the top of the early Eastern Conference standings.

If you asked Nesmith if he expected to see more floor time given his skill set, you’d likely have gotten the same answer he gave when asked the same question after his 13-point performance: “I did not.”