The Celtics Picked Up Right Where They Left Off And Have Now Won 12 Of Their Last 14
I think it's safe to assume that most Celtics fans were in the same boat heading into last night's game in MIN. With how well this team was playing before the All Star break, waiting for them to get back to action was agonizing. Any time you head out for a West Coast road trip weird shit is bound to happen, and it's the latest stretch of games that provide an opportunity for the Celtics to show us what our eyes are seeing and what our heart wants to believe is true. With Kemba out with a knee issue this team still had more than enough talent to take care of the Timberwolves, but for me I was more interested to see if despite the break the Celts could continue to play with the same dominance we've seen over the last few weeks. Sometimes teams are sluggish coming out of the break, and I do think that kicking this trip off with a win was pretty important in terms of setting the tone and getting back into your groove before the big showdown in LA tomorrow.
For me, all the Celts did last night was what they were supposed to do. There were great individual performances that you can bet your ass we're going to get to, but this was by far the easiest opponent of this 4 game trip so let's all just take a deep breath. Honestly the most important part of this win was it kept you on pace with the Raptors who also won and have won like 16 of their last 17 or some shit.
All I know is that as someone who was craving Celtics basketball, last night was the fix I needed. They're back, they're just as dominant as I remembered, and the good news is we're just getting started.
The Good
- OK I'm not sure how possible this is, but I need to find a way to get the Timberwolves into the Eastern Conference. In fact, if we could have them be in the Atlantic Division that would be swell. Not because they stink, but because whenever Gordon Hayward sees them on the schedule he turns into the best player on the planet. I don't know what sort of grudge he has against them or what, but this dude literally destroys the Wolves every time. It's beautiful. It's glorious. Inject this shit right into my goddamn veins
A do it all 29/5/6 on 12-17 shooting in 37 minutes, this is the version of Gordon Hayward that we always wanted and guess what, the haters and losers are SICK. This is October Hayward, you remember him right? He was basically this team's best all around player. One thing I always heard with Hayward is he was never consistent. I dunno, this feels consistent to me
This is the version of Hayward that ultimately raises their ceiling. This is the player that was put on this earth to play in this system. You can always tell when Hayward is going to have a solid night based on how his early midrange jumper looks. I don't have the numbers to back this up but I know it deep in my bones. When he is making that 8-10 footer early in a game, you have to give him the ball. Think about this for a second, Hayward was this good last night and was FOURTH in usage at just 21.4%. Both Jays and Theis were higher. You're telling me the Celtics can get this from their 4th option? How many teams can say that?
A few weeks ago I wrote about how the one thing I wanted to see Hayward improve on over the stretch run was his clutch time shooting. That late gigantic three seems to fit the bill.
- Every time he steps on the floor Jayson Tatum inches closer and closer to entering the superstar tier. Let's not get carried away and say he's there now, he isn't, but holy shit is this getting fun to watch.
Yes, the MIN defense is pathetic as a whole, but Josh Okogie is a good defender. Tatum abused that man. Juancho? Yeah on chance, Tatum was 3-3 against him too. We're starting to see Jayson Tatum unleash an offensive bag that is quickly making him unguardable. One night he's torching Kawhi Leonard, the next night he's taking on an entire team all by himself and he's pairing it with some elite level defense. Tatum is becoming a big time two way player, and it's the consistency on the defensive end that is going to elevate him to superstar status as long as he does it night in and night out.
Remember when people said Team USA doesn't mean anything? Well it was a pretty glaring look into one area Tatum has really improved, which is his rebounding. He was grabbing everything over the summer and it's translated to the regular season. Another 11 rebounds last night, the fact that the Celts have wings that rebound help makes up the difference for maybe being undersized. Tatum being willing to compete on the glass is extremely valuable.
Oh and for everyone, mostly salty Sixers fans, that were all caught up about his shooting splits, he's now up to 44/38% on the year and has a 55% TS%. Sorry!
- Won rebounding 58-43, won points in the paint 56-38, won 2nd chance points 16-8. A lot of that is having no KAT for MIN, but I don't give two shits. The Celts own those areas more often than not they'll win, doesn't matter who it is.
- A huge reason for those numbers? Daniel Theis.
A career night for Theis, I think Brad put it perfectly
He's the perfect fit and why this team doesn't need a big. This isn't to say there aren't matchups that Theis will struggle against, but that's where Kanter/Timelord come in. He'll struggle with the more physical bigs at times, but there is no denying his skillset is exactly what this team needs. He's basically 85% of Al Horford for a fraction of the price. His defense is great, his rim protection is statistically better than a fuck ton of big name centers, he makes threes, and he has mastered the Marcin Gortat seal that we see get Tatum like 8-10 points a night.
It would be silly to expect 25/16 from Theis every night, that's not who he is. But he is a guy that compliments everyone in the starting five, he understands where to be defensively which is most important, and he's cheap. It's a shame we technically can't use Theis for the Ainge draft record, but man he has to be one of his better findings.
- Hmmmm
Do it. Go ahead and guess.
- One of the things that makes this roster so deadly is how many guys can beat you. Morons will say things like "there are too many guys! Only one basketball!" like this is the same roster as last year. No, it's been thinned out and now we have a group of guys that all love each other, they share shots and are capable of multiple guys having big nights all in the same game. For example we can't forget about Jaylen's efficient 25/8 on 10-17 shooting
They hit you with Tatum to get you on the ropes and then here comes Jaylen to inflict his own pain. Reminder they are what, 21 and 23? That feels good. This team have found the perfect balance of knowing when it's Tatum's time to cook, finding way to get Hayward to his spots, and then running through Jaylen when it's clear he has mismatches. I mean this is what we worked with last night
again I don't care if this was MIN. It's more about the Celtics approach and the fact that this is what it's like every night. There is no point guard taking 29 shots and nobody else taking more than 8. Everybody eats in this offense and look it's turned them into one of the best teams in the entire league. That's not an accident.
- With no Kemba it became Marcus Smart's job to be a facilitator and boyyyyy did he deliver
This is what I don't understand when people say he brings nothing to the game offensively. Do they watch? Yeah there are times when his shot can be all sorts of fucked up and it'll make you want to gouge your eyes out. Welcome to the Marcus Smart Experience. But to completely ignore this man's passing is a crime in 18 states. He does shit like this all the time and his 10 assists led the team. Games like this are why I trust Marcus with my life.
A prime example was the fourth quarter when the game got tight. Immediately the Celts put Smart on the block, gave him the ball and he either found cutters or abused his man in order to get to the line. He's a point guard. The Celts came out of that timeout with three straight buckets at the rim, Smart playing a huge role in pretty much that whole response.
- How about Brad trusting Romeo late in a fourth quarter in a close game? What is the one thing we always say when it comes to earning Brad's trust as a young player. You have to be able to defend. Romeo came in and played some solid defense that Brad praised after the game and it's cool to see Romeo get these opportunities. It's a pretty nice luxury that basically anything your lottery pick gives you is found money, and I hope we see more of him this trip.
The Bad
- As good as the offense may have looked, it was not the same story on the other end of the floor. After the first quarter the Wolves pretty much for whatever they wanted on the offensive end, and I know they just dropped like 140+ on the Clippers but for this Celtics team allowing 117 to this group with no KAT is pretty terrible. They had no answers for Malik Beasley who torched them for 27, especially Jaylen and Smart.
I think we can all agree that if this is the type of team defense we see on Sunday, the Celts are in trouble. Can't say I love seeing this team give up at least 29 points in 3 of the 4 quarters while being pretty much fully healthy.
- At the same time, lottttttttta touch fouls on the Celts in this game. Pretty annoying but at the same time you have to know they are calling it tight on your end and adjust. There were 72 FTA in this game so it's not like the Celts didn't get to the line either, so honestly both teams probably have a gripe with how things were called. Way too much in that third quarter especially.
- Honestly I know I'm probably the only person on the planet that cares about this, but the Celts need to figure their shit out at the FT line. I can accept if it's someone that usually struggles, but Hayward missing 2, Smart missing 3, as a team they missed 8. It seems small but when you are on the road in the West you cannot leave points on the board, especially when it is your best FT shooters.
- It's pretty hard to start a half worse than the Celts did in the third quarter. What was it like 4 TOs in the first 2 minutes or something stupid like that? After taking care of the ball so well in the first half, it was annoying to see them suddenly be in a dogfight because they were careless with the basketball. Surprise that in the fourth quarter when they didn't turn the ball over they extended the lead. Funny how that works.
The Ugly
- I don't know if anyone else saw the halftime performance, but WOOF. No idea who that dude was but I had to mute my TV. Sorry if this offends because I'm pretty sure that guy was a MIN native. But that was awful.
- Almost as awful was the bench production. Where was it. Only 10 total points from the second unit, Kanter and Grant went a combined 0-8, Wanamaker didn't do shit, Romeo went 0-3, just a disaster all the way around in terms of any sort of offensive output. Good news is the rotations in the playoffs won't require the Celts to go 10 deep, but man not exactly a great showing.
- We saw the Celts struggle often with how MIN used high screens in order to get Juancho open, and honestly I didn't exactly love their perimeter defense as a whole. MIN had 15 3PM which is what kept them in the game and I felt like most of them came off the same play. Crazy a team can make 15 3PM and 30 FTM and you still end up winning, but let's not do that again.
- He's been better as of late, but it felt like Brad was a little slow with his timeouts last night. Feels good to have him back.
Now we wait to see what the deal is with Kemba for tomorrow, but this is the big one. No chance the Lakers are going to just roll over and get swept, so be prepared for the best of AD and LeBron. Last time was ADs first game back so this is going to be a different animal. Calls won't go the Celts way, there will be multiple opportunities for this team to cave mentally and things get out of hand. Win that game and you are going to send a message to the rest of the league.