The Joker Is Coming To The Garden Tonight Which Means It's Time To Unleash The Dark Knight

Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative. Getty Images.

Big showdown tonight with two of the hottest teams currently in the league where the 8-3 Celts who are winners of 4 straight welcome the 8-3 Nuggets who are winners of 4 straight to the Garden. Two teams that many consider to be legit contenders who also happen to have some MVP caliber talent means we're probably in for some fantastic basketball. It's another measuring stick game for the Celts considering the Nuggets should provide a much better test than the Pistons did the other night, and whenever you talk about playing the Nuggets and how to be successful, it usually comes down to one thing.

How the hell are you going to limit Nikola Jokic? He's a player who not only kills you with his scoring or rebounding, but obviously his playmaking is what makes him truly special. He's the head of the snake for that team, so to beat them you have to cut that head off.

Advertisement

A lot of the league struggles to accomplish that, which is why the Celts need to rely on their secret weapon. Not the hero we deserve but the hero we need

When you need to put The Joker in jail, who do you call? 

Advertisement

It all stems from the March 20th performance the Celts had in their 124-104 win on the road in Denver. To put it simply, Grant completely eliminated Nikola Jokic from that game. Jokic finished just 8-23 from the floor (2-6 from three), and when you looked at the matchup data you saw just how effective Grant was.

On 18 possessions, Grant held Jokic to just 8 points on 3-9 shooting. He only allowed 2 FTA which tells you he held his own.

In their first matchup of the year in mid February, it was more of the same. On 13 possessions in that game, Grant held Jokic to only 6 points.

Part of what the Celts do against elite big men like Jokic/Embiid comes down to how they handle their doubles. Sometimes they send help right away, sometimes it's delayed doubles, and sometimes they let their great individual defenders like Grant handle things on their own, the point is to keep the guy guessing. With Jokic, you have to be careful because he's basically the best passer on the planet. Doubling him is not the same as doubling Embiid who is slow to process that shit and find the right pass.

That's why someone like Grant is so important in a game like tonight. 

The ability to leave him on an island against players like this allows the rest of the Celts defenders to be able to stay home on their guy. With Jamal Murray and MPJ back in the lineup, the Nuggets have way more shooting around Jokic this time around, which means guys like Grant are going to have to hold their own against Jokic without always having help. 

For Grant, this entire season is essentially an audition to the rest of the league and to Brad to fork over big time money this summer in RFA. His start to the season has already done a great job of positioning himself to secure a pretty big offer. He's shooting the ball as well as he ever has, his decision making on the floor has been solid, he's as versatile as ever on defense and has shown some development offensively especially off the bounce. 

But you back up your individual defense we saw last season against Jokic with another lockdown showing tonight? You can probably add $2M to the potential offer just for that. It's really hard to consistently shut down a 2 time MVP, so I'm curious to see how Grant fairs. I'm interested in seeing if Joe ends up using him the same way Ime did. Rob played in that game on 3/20 and that's not the case this time around, so this is much more of a test for someone like Grant.

I will say, if Grant doesn't show up in his Batman costume tonight, it's a gigantic missed opportunity. I know Halloween is over, but who cares. Play into the moment and get your mind right to pull off another dominant defensive performance. 

The Celts are gonna need it.