Sometimes In Both Basketball And In Life You Just Need To Puke And Rally

Adam Glanzman. Getty Images.

On the surface, the Celts now sitting at 29-17 and 2nd in the East is pretty damn impressive. There's no real denying that. However, when you look a little closer at their schedule, things haven't been all butterflies and rainbows. Remember that awesome 4-1 West Coast trip at the beginning of the month? Celts returned home 22-12 at that moment, and have gone just 6-5 since. Yes, those losses were by 4 points, 5 points, 2 points, 1 point, and 3 points, so they were right there in all of them. If you're looking at the quality of teams, they were coming up short against the good ones (DEN, SA, DET) and taking care of the not-so-good ones (IND, MIA, BKN) etc. That's life in the NBA over the course of 82, and while those losses certainly weren't devastating or anything like that, I do think it's fair to say the Celts haven't quite been playing their best basketball over the last 11 games.

This win against the Blazers (with no Deni Advija) last night was exactly what I mean. The Celts didn't play all that well compared to their standard, and sometimes you have to win ugly in this league. Sometimes your best players will be puking all over themselves in the 4th quarter, only to immediately rally down the stretch and make enough winning plays to seal the deal.

That's how I view last night's win (and really the BKN win too). This team knows how to puke and rally. For stretches, they will play a brand of basketball so disgusting that you can't help but vomit at home while you watch them vomit on themselves on the basketball court. End of game execution? More often than not, it's gross. An inability to hold onto big leads? Gross. Letting bad teams light you up from deep? Gross.

But finding a way to win? Not gross. Making winning plays when the game is in the balance? Not gross. These actions usually come in the rally portion of the puke and rally exercise, and since we basically have to accept that there will always be puke with this team, at least it's comforting to know that they can also immediately rally. 

It's really no different from your everyday life. Sometimes you find yourself in a position where the only solution to your problem is to get that shit out of your system, and then boom, you're a brand new person. It's as if it never happened. You're ready to get back to business and have returned to being yourself.

Let me ask you. Is that not exactly what we saw in the 4th quarter last night, more specifically, Derrick White's 4th quarter? I'd say so. I'd say that was the most obvious case of a basketball puke and rally that you'll ever see that didn't actually include real puke, just a brand of basketball that made us all want to puke. 

The good news is that nowhere does it say that ugly wins count less than awesome blowout wins. At this stage of the season, you just need to be stacking as many Ws as you can, and with the Raptors playing well (W4) and with the Knicks (W2) and Cavs (W4) playing better, now is not the time to be dropping games at home against beatable teams. 

Thankfully the Celts didn't, even if it wasn't pretty. Let's begin.

The Good

- Do you think Brad Stevens ever takes a second and thinks about the fact that since he took over this roster, he's never missed? Obviously he'd never say it publicly, but do you think he and his family talk about the fact that everything he touches turns to gold? How could you not at this point of the season, especially when his latest decisions in Hugo and Amari Williams are already looking this good. With Hugo it's been since Day 1 of the season, but Amari Williams? All that development in Maine is starting to pay off because look at this shit!

When it comes to rookies getting their first taste of NBA action, the thing I mostly care about is what do your eyes tell you? Does this player look like someone who belongs at this level? With some players, you can just tell. Like when Hugo stepped on the court for the first time, he looked ready from the very first second. You watched him and said "that's an NBA player". 

With bigs, it's usually a little slower in some cases, especially 2nd round picks. But when Amari Williams had that opportunity against Jalen Duren and the Pistons, he looked like he belonged. Then he also had some moments against the Cavs, and it was the same thing. A raw player, but the potential was there, and he looked like a player who belonged. 

Watching him against the Blazers last night, I once again had that same feeling. This is an NBA player. He's NOWHERE CLOSE to a finished product, but you can see the signs. The passing, the understanding of where to be on the court, the rim protection, an improved aggressiveness on the glass, it's hard not to want to see more as we continue on this season. I also think it changes up the trade deadline math a little bit if Brad Stevens now has another legit depth big already on the roster. Does that change their approach? Does that change the caliber of player they may be targeting? 

Amari being good isn't just about the future, it's also potentially about the present. With a few weeks to go until the deadline, is it possible Brad simply converts Amari's Two Way and holds on to his other major assets for the post-Tatum return? I don't know how you could watch last night and rule it out. 

What does this roster need? A cheap depth piece big. What is Amari Williams? A cheap depth piece big.

Giphy Images.

And maybe you would still prefer some veteran depth for the postseason run. I won't argue with you there. I'm just saying if Amari is playing his way into the equation, maybe that player is now a $6M big instead of a $13M+ big, ya know? That may allow you to hold onto your shooters and find other ways to make an addition, as opposed to needing your big money players as a way to make the salaries work. 

If I'm Brad, I'm telling both Queta and Garza to take their time with their colds. Have some soup, get some rest, and let's see what Amari can do with an expanded role over this stretch. All the games are at home, you have ATL/SAC/MIL up next, and all those matchups should be used as an opportunity to collect data on Amari at this level. So far, things look fucking awesome. But the sample is small, he's going to make mistakes, but the potential is through the goddamn roof. They haven't even scratched the surface of using Amari in ways that he's dominated the G League. We haven't even really seen the passing yet, and that's his best skill!

- What I've always respected about Payton Pritchard is that it's not often that you get 2 stinkers in a row. While his playmaking (7 AST) and ball security (1 TO) were good against the Bulls, the offensive production (4-10, 1-3) didn't really match what his role requires. He was "meh". 

Last night against the Blazers? A team we know Payton loves to play against? Much, much better

It took him a little while to get going, which is honestly true of the entire guard trio, but between the first and second quarter buzzer beaters and then the 11 points on 4-8 (3-6) in the second half, this game felt much more like the Payton Pritchard we're used to seeing this season. I'm a little worried about what happened to his finger late, but I also know you could cut his pinky off and Payton would still be ready to play, so hopefully it's not a huge deal. 

On a night when offensive production was scarce, the Celtics not only needed every bit of Pritchard's production, but they also needed him to be efficient. Many of his makes were big momentum 3s that were wide the fuck open, and the types of shots that usually dictate how a game will go down the stretch.

If he misses those shots, that most likely sparks a run. With the score within 5, coming through and pushing it back up to 8 may not seem like a big deal, but when you're trying to prevent the other team from going on a run, I would argue those are the most important shots in the game. May I remind you of the Knicks series? That was a case where nobody could make those momentum shots, and look at what it did in terms of creating life and momentum for the other side. I would say in this win, Payton had 2-3 huge shots just like that, and frankly, the Celts probably don't pull this out without them.

He was presented with multiple "gotta have it" shots, and Pritchard came through in those moments. That's what you want to see. He did not have a single turnover in 34 minutes even against the Blazers ball pressure, which is both awesome and not that all surprising for the player who leads the NBA in assist:turnover ratio. Buckets and ball security, that's the best version of Payton Pritchard and he showed up at a time when the team needed it.

- As ugly as it may have been, it's hard to not love a wire to wire win with a lead as high as 23. 0 lead changes, 0 ties. If I remember correctly, Celts are among the league leaders in wire to wire wins, which is yet another insane part of their ridiculous season. Who the fuck saw that coming. 

- I thought this was one of Jaylen's better games of the season, which sounds crazy considering he only finished with 20 points and took 17 shots, but if you watched it I don't know how you could disagree.

He was efficient (8-17, 1-3), he once again led the Celtics in rebounding, he was tied for 2nd in assists, led the team with 4 steals, only had 1 TO and I thought did a GREAT job of not forcing his own offense and just taking what the defense gave him, instead making life easier for his teammates.

Advertisement

It's no secret that teams are going to now start trapping Jaylen more. He's going to be getting the Tatum treatment as more teams put more ball pressure on him and do everything they can to get the ball out of his hands by sending two defenders in an effort to make "the others" beat them. This is why Jaylen's processing and vision growth are so important. When that happens, you don't need to do anything crazy, just anticipate it, be sure where you have to go with the ball and play with conviction.

We're seeing Jaylen feel more and more comfortable with the trap and where to go with the ball/how to beat it, as this is something that is relatively new to him in this role. This is the shit that usually happens to Tatum, and then Brown is on the receiving end of that play/defensive rotation. Now, it's flipped. He needs to be the one to make the reads, and White/Pritchard/etc need to be the ones to take advantage of a defense in rotation. 

If teams don't take the ball out of Jaylen's hands, chances are he's going to beat them with his scoring. The more he gets blizted and doubled, the more comfortable he's going to be in those situations, and the Celts will become even harder to guard. It's no different than when Tatum had to learn this back in the Bubble/2022 Finals. It sounds easy to do, but it's not. 

- Another game where the shooting wasn't all that great (5-12, 2-7), but Anfernee Simons was still able to make a positive winning impact through his defensive effort. Every night it seems like we're seeing a completely different player on that end fo the floor compared to what we saw in October. It's been a joy to watch

From the buy in to the defensive execution, I think it's time to recalibrate our brains when it comes to Simons the defender. We're inching past "passable" and closer and closer to "kinda good". We're seeing him make a real defensive impact in his minutes on a pretty consistent basis, which in my opinion makes him even more playable.

Before, if his shot wasn't on that night, it didn't feel like there was a spot for him on the floor. Now? Knowing we're getting this type of defense even when his shot goes cold? That changes the equation. 

He's the biggest question heading into the deadline, and no matter what happens I've been pretty damn pleased with Simons' Celtics tenure. If he's staying, he is proving how he can help you win. If he leaves, he's definitely leaving a better player than when he first got here. Credit to him. 

- It wasn't always great, in fact, there were plenty of moments where it looked pretty fucking awful, but when this team needed Derrick White, Derrick White was there for the team

Listen, the TOs (which we'll get to) were awful. No spinzoning those. But at the end of the day, when the Celts needed someone to step up in the 4th quarter, DWhite delivered with 10 points on 3-5 (2-3) while playing all 12 minutes of the 4th. When it became winning time, he found a way to win. That's really all I care about.  I don't think we have to worry about Derrick White of all people continuing to have a billion TOs. What's more important is that his late game execution and efficiency are coming back, and that's massive.

- Thank Christ for the Blazers' inability to make a shot early, because the 32-11 first quarter lead is basically why the Celts won this game. They lost 3 of the next 4 quarters but that first quarter? That was some good shit. Jaylen/White/Pritchard a combined 9-16 early to help get things off to a good start, and while the Blazers were cold, part of that was the defensive effort the Celts started the game with. That faded over time as the Blazers started warming up, but sometimes all you need is just 12 good minutes to steal a win. 

The Bad

- I'd say the part where the Celts only scored 43 points over the 2nd and 3rd quarters qualifies for this section. A solid 31/25% in the 2nd quarter with 7 TOs only to be followed by 38/33% in the 3rd quarter. The Blazers are a good defensive team, but my god the way the Celts just go through these entire quarter scoring droughts is very annoying, and kind of confusing considering this is a team that owns the 2nd best offense in the NBA.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there are so many quarters we see the Celts score just 4 points in 6 minutes, or end the quarter with 23 or fewer points. How that team still has one of the best offensive in the NBA is very funny, and I guess that's just the benefit of never turning the ball over and making some 3s.

But make no mistake, the Celts only putting up 102 points isn't all that great, and their prolonged stretches of being unable to make a jump shot is going to bury them against better competition. Sometimes you have to grind out wins when you can't make shit, which is fine, but it's also fine to ya know, not shoot like shit on your home floor, something the Celts seem to love to do.

- Seeing Rob play for the other team for the first time was just as painful as I expected it to be. Add in Jrue's return, and it was a tough one for my heart last night. It was bound to happen at some point, and call me delusional if you want, but I'm holding out hope for a tax payer mid level signing of Rob this summer. Don't waste the assets to trade for him, just bring him back for low money this summer. We deserve it.

- A little surprised with Neemy sick and no Garza that we didn't get more Walsh minutes. He only played 3 in this game, which was odd to me. He's not even playing poorly, it's just one of those things with the ever fluid rotation, but especially during the stretches where the Celts couldn't score, I wonder if his energy/rebounding may have made things a bit easier.

Plus, I just always want to see more Walsh minutes. This may be more of a me issue than an actual Celtics issue, but whatever.

The Ugly

 - 9 TOs in total, 6 in the 4th quarter. I can't even defend or spinzone these turnovers by Derrick White. I mean holy moly

Few things break my brain like watching Derrick White make 4th quarter mistakes like this. It never happens. It's why he's awesome. But for whatever reason, this was a big time Derrick CTE game. Thankfully, he snapped out of it in time to make some pretty big plays down the stretch, but Derrick please be better than this moving forward. I don't think I've seen White have 9 TOs in an entire month, let alone a single game, with over half of them coming in the 4th quarter. That was bad.

But as they say, a win is a win is a win. I don't care how you get em, just get em. It's key this team beats up on under .500 teams, especially on this homestand so this was a good start. You'll have to play better moving forward, but that doesn't feel like a stretch to me. Win ugly if you have to, just win.