The Boston Celtics Play Rock-Paper-Scissors To Make Game Decisions

The NBA’s Boston Celtics have come up with an interesting way to make certain game decisions: playing rock-paper-scissors.

Every sports team has its disagreements but the NBA‘s Boston Celtics have found a unique way to solve them: games of rock-paper-scissors. Yes, the same game that you played on the playground as a kid.

Fox Sports caught Celtics players Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley engaging in an on-court game of rock-paper-scissors to see who would shoot a late free throw during the team’s recent matchup with the Miami Heat. Crowder won the game, but missed the free throw.

But this wasn’t a gag. Boston’s official social media account later tweeted out a feature that includes Celtics coach Brad Stevens explaining why rock-paper-scissors has become part of the team’s operating procedure. Check it out:

This is guaranteed to raise some eyebrows, probably including from the Miami Heat players who might have wondered what Crowder and Bradley were up to in the middle of a game. But to Stevens’ point above it’s certainly also a quick and decisive way to make choices.

There’s no real way to argue with the result of a game of rock-paper-scissors, and it’s an innocent game in the middle of a high-pressure sport where sometimes tempers flare. Plus you could keep score and at the end of the season jokingly crown a rock-paper-scissors MVP.

Maybe if this works for the Celtics, other teams will try side games as a method of problem-solving. (Just as long as they don’t try playing any games of Monopoly.)

It’s certainly an unconventional way to make decisions, but if more teams played rock-paper-scissors to solve their differences, the sports world might be a calmer place (or at least a more fun one). For more from the Boston area, visit the Boston section of Local POV here.

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