The Celtics Thankfully Avoided Disaster Yesterday And At The End Of The Day That's All That Matters

Adam Glanzman. Getty Images.

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Whenever you look at see the Celts have an early afternoon tip on their schedule, you have every right to be nervous. For whatever reason, those early start times always seem to be the kiss of death for this team. I dunno what it is, but they are rarely ready to play and end up losing, often times to a bad team. So with a 12:30pm start against a bad team that had won like 4 in a row coming in, if you felt that way before yesterday's game against the Pelicans I won't blame you. In fact, your concerns were somewhat validated given how the first 24 minutes of this game went. Sure they turned it around, but things didn't look all that peachy when you looked down and saw the Celts were once trailing by 18 points.

But in a surprising twist, the Celts actually didn't throw this game away. You didn't spend all yesterday angry. You didn't wake up this morning extremely tired because you spent the entire night staring at your ceiling wondering how on earth this team could not beat a Pelicans team with only 16 wins on the season. What a relief that was. Instead, the arrow is trending in the right direction. The Celts have now won 7 of their last 10 and 5 of their last 6. After an 0-3 start in their own building, the Celts have gone 15-5 since. That ties them with the Bulls for the most home wins in the Eastern Conference. Their 14 wins against teams .500 or better are the second most in the conference as well.

What did we all need to see this team do in January? Win. The schedule lightened up, they were finally getting healthy and going to be at home, which made it a prime opportunity for this team to stack wins. That's basically what they've done. You look at their record since that Suns win on December 31st, there are only two teams in the entire NBA that have more wins. The Dallas Mavericks (9-1) and the Memphis Grizzlies (9-1). At 7 wins, that puts the Celts in a group with CLE/PHX/TOR. So when people like myself say things are trending in the right direction, this is what we are referring to. Nobody is saying the work is done. Nobody is saying mission accomplished or anything like that. This team is just 1 game over .500 and still fighting for their play in lives. But we needed to see the Celts respond and start to turn things around. Hard to argue that's not exactly what we've seen since the calendar flipped to 2022. 

And yet, when you watch them play there should still be cause for concern. We're still seeing some of their bad habits rear their ugly head. The nice part is we're also seeing this team repeatedly show some mental toughness to win despite that. That's certainly a welcomed development. It's unrealistic to think this inconsistent Celts team will always play perfect basketball, but it's nice to see that they are finding ways to stop the bleeding and punch back, as opposed to getting down and letting things snowball. That easily could have happened yesterday against the Pelicans who absolutely outplayed the Celts for those first 24 minutes. 

Instead, they responded. So let's talk about it.

The Good

- If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Ultimately, the fate of the Celts comes down to how far both Jaylen and Tatum can carry them. Sure better shooters would help. Sure having some sort of offensive plan for late game situations would be nice. But at the end of the day, it's all about whether or not Tatum and Brown show up. To start this game, they were nowhere to be found. Especially Tatum. The last 24 minutes? Well see for yourself

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It was almost as if Tatum remembered he was much better than everyone on the court during the halftime break because the guy we saw in that second half was a completely different player. He was aggressive. He attacked. He used his strength as a weapon finally and the results spoke for themselves. 

In 21 minutes he finished with 21/4/3 on 7-11 shooting and 7-9 from the FT line. In the fourth quarter, with the Celts only leading by 2 points, Tatum had a monster fourth quarter to the tune of 12 points on 4-5 shooting. It was one of those performances where you need your best player to put everyone on his back and make it clear that they refuse to let their team lose. Boy was that great to see from a guy who has weirdly struggled in this quarter for the first time basically in his entire career. 

With Tatum, the success he had in this game isn't all that complicated. Just look at his approach

This back historically to every season we see Tatum have this big time second half of the season. What's the root fo that ascention? He attacks the rim and gets to the FT line. Of his 18 FGA, 13 of them came in the paint. In total, Tatum took 11 FTA. Not only that, he finally kept his TOs down (2) in his 37 minutes. I dunno what Ime said to him during halftime, but it clearly worked.

- The same is true with Jaylen. While he got off to a better start (4-8) in the first half, he too was able to have a stronger final 24 minutes

Much like Tatum, there was nobody on this Pelicans roster that can guard this man. Jaylen also was good about keeping his TOs in check (2) in his 34 minutes as well. With no Rob in the lineup, it was important for both Tatum and Brown to make sure they hit the glass and they finished with a combined 18. When we see these two combine for 50 points on 17-35 shooting, things are usually going to work out.

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I like that Jaylen hunted for his midrange jumper repeatedly which was open time and time again, and I loved that he played in control. Even when things were at their lowest, the Jays didn't try and force things themselves which often leads to mistakes. They just simply continued to play the right way, lock in defensively and go for high percentage looks. That's a recipe we can all get behind.

- Those two set the tone for the second half, and Dennis Schroder clearly got the message. After a brutal showing against the Sixers, Dennis has been very solid these last two games as a fill-in starter. You could make the case that his second half was even more impressive than the two listed above. For starters, he played all 24 minutes. That's a little nuts. I say that because when things got to the fourth quarter, there were no signs of Dennis having tired legs. He finished with 11 points on 4-6 shooting and looked as if he hadn't played all night. That's how fresh he looked

I swear, when you watch Dennis play one thing is clear. When you get Good Dennis, he looks incredible. We've had a few of these type of performances in the past week or so. His shot is falling, he's getting to the rim, he's not turning the ball over. He's making quick decisions. All the things you love. But when you get Bad Dennis, he might be the worst point guard on the planet. The jumper is broken, he's slow with the ball, he doesn't attack the rim, he turns it over. It's honestly a lot like the Marcus Smart Experience if we're going to be honest with ourselves.

For a large portion of this game the Celts would get close, but could never get over the hump. So credit Dennis for being the one who actually carried them over that threshold to end the third quarter. They needed someone to step up with the huge momentum buckets, and he was the one that delivered.

It puts Brad in a tricky spot as we enter the deadline. A player like we saw yesterday is certainly something you should want in your guard rotation. But if he's not going to be on the team next year, it's also fair to try and maximize his value for future assets. I do wonder if he's traded no matter what, or if they look at the possible return and simply decide that having him as insurance at the point guard position makes more sense, even if he's leaving. There are certainly point guard needing teams out there, and if he continues to play at this level over the next 3ish weeks, who knows maybe someone overpays.

- Good on Ime for rewarding Aaron Nesmith with second half and fourth quarter minutes. He earned the right to be on the floor. His energy was infectious. The way in which he rebounds with so much energy is crazy to watch from a wing, and as we know he does not care whatsoever about his health or general well being

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We even saw Aaron repeatedly attack closeouts and not travel (!!!!). It was one of those nights where as a fan you're left hoping a game like this will earn him more opportunity. Let's just see it consistently for a stretch. Even if his shot is broken as shit, he's finding other ways to impact games, and for a team that often times has energy issues, maybe play the dude that is nothing but energy. Just an idea. Perhaps that could lead to more confidence, and with more confidence comes an improved jumper. Again, just an idea.

- I also thought we had a very nice bounce back effort from Grant in this game. He got back to making his threes which was nice to see after that early airball. His defense was great, and we didn't have any boneheaded mistakes. That's honestly all you need from Grant in his supporting role. Take your open threes with confidence, make them, and play good defense. You do that, you will find yourself in the rotation. 

- Boy was it nice to finally see this team defend in the second half. That's usually where they struggle and how these bad losses happen. So to see them hold the Pelicans to just 46 points on 43/30% shooting was a nice change of pace. Also, only committing 4 TOs in an entire half was also a nice surprise. Wild what can happen when you don't turn the ball over an embarrassing amount of time. 

- I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm starting to wonder if Al is beginning to snap out of his shooting funk

Over his last 4 games, Al is now shooting 54.5% from the field. His three point shooting still needs to come around, but he is shooting 36% over his last 3 games. This is really all Al has to do. I'll take 12/7/4 on 5-9 shooting (2-5) and you should too. Combine that with good defense, and Al is back to filling the role this team needs him to be. Knock down your open looks, move the ball, and defend. That's what we got yesterday.

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The Bad

- Things were pretty brutal for the bench. I dunno how else to say it. We got to about midway through the 3rd quarter and that group had a total of 0 points. Nobody made a shot. That just can't happen. It's part of the reason the Celts found themselves in that early hole. Can't have half of the rotation players come in and give you legit 0 points. Not only was that bad, but 5 of their first 8 FGA were threes. At the end of the day the second unit combined for just 9 points. Against a good team, that's going to end up with a loss.

- Getting down by 18 points at any point to that Pelicans team is #actuallybad. Thankfully, there is one team worse in the NBA at holding big leads than the Celts, and that's the Pelicans. The way we saw this team start this game was everything you feared about an early start. They didn't play with any energy, they couldn't make a shot, they turned the ball over, it was all gross. That's why you still probably feel a little down on a game like yesterday. Great they found a way to win and pull it out, but to be in that position in the first place was pretty pathetic.

- Didn't really love the ball movement as a collective unit. Dennis was great with 9 assists, but as a team they finished with only 22 on 38 FGM. A 22:14 assist:turnover ratio isn't all that great either. Only two players on the roster finished with more than 3 assists, and while part of that is due to guys not making open looks, it also wasn't like the ball was moving all that well in the first place.

- Brutal 10-32 (31%) from three. There are few things this team loves more than flirting with being sub 30% from three. Tatum/Brown finished 3-11. The entire second unit made a total of 0 3PM. I dunno how much more Brad needs to see. Give this roster legit consistent shooting help. We're begging at this point. 

The Ugly

- We can just put the entire first half in this section. It was beyond gross. Things started off with an 18 point first quarter on 36/22% splits with 7 FGM and 6 TOs, and then they backed that up in the second quarter with a 21 point effort on 38/25% splits with 8 FGM and 4 TOs. There was an 11 minute stretch between the two where the Celtics scored just 6 points. That's basically an entire quarter! Those type of offensive droughts where this team does nothing but miss shots and turn the ball over are so goddamn frustrating. They had all 6 in the last 3 minutes of that first quarter. It's losing basketball. To do it at home, against a bad team, is very triggering for me and everyone that watches this team on a nightly basis. Just don't be comically bad! Look at what happens when you stop doing that shit!

All that matters at this point is the Celts are stacking wins. Their game tomorrow night against the Hornets is pretty massive all things considered, and then they go POR/@WSH/SAC/@ATL/@NO. There is a real opportunity to turn things around if they just keep taking care of their own business to close out the month. That seemed pretty far fetched when 2022 started, but so far the Celts are holding up their end of the bargain. Here's to hoping they keep it up.