The Vibes Have Never Been Higher After The Celtics Pulled Off A Historic Comeback To Complete Their Perfect Road Trip And Remain Atop Of The East
Mark Blinch. Getty Images.Over the course of an NBA schedule, there are going to be certain games that come up that above all else, are a test of your mental toughness. As you should know by now, not all regular season games are equal. There is different amounts of context that surround each one, and as you navigate your way up the NBA mountain, you are going to be challenged to perform and win games that most would label as "schedule losses".
The Celtics entered Toronto in one of those situations. The final game of a 4 game road trip where they've been on the road for weeks is always a tough game to play. This one, was coming on a B2B with travel. That added another layer. Then you remember that it was immediately coming off the heels of The Game Of The Century, which was a huge emotional win for everyone involved. I know Sixers fans are now trying to do the whole coping mechanism that they didn't actually care about Tuesday night and that it wasn't a big game, but pay no attention to them. They're working their way through the hurt. It was the biggest game to date on the NBA calendar, so it's only natural for there to be some emotional hangover 24 hours later.
Now it certainly did help that the Raptors were without Kawhi and Scottie Barnes, there's no denying that. It was also an additional challenge that the Celts were without Paul George, given how well he's been playing. As a team, the Raptors guard you tough as hell, they're physical, they get in your asshole from 94 feet, they crash the offensive glass, they generate turnovers etc. All things that if you aren't locked in mentally as a group to handle, you can easily get your ass kicked.
It was a great challenge for this team because, as we know, the Celtics have been the best B2B team in the NBA since Joe Mazzulla took over in 2022-23 (38-16). Their ability to remain locked in and execute on 0 days rest is one of the most impressive things about this era. Heading into this game, they had split their B2Bs. A tough win over the Nets, and then the Rockets loss (all without George).
What we got, was a little bit of everything. You saw early just how problematic these games can be. The Celts looked tired, their defense wasn't locked in, they were on the wrong side of shooting variance, it was all gross. So gross they found themselves down 22, which was one of the largest deficits the Celts have faced in the last 25 years.
They won anyway.
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It's only fitting that after letting a 22 point lead slip in the opener against the Pistons, the Celts then found a way to come back from 22 points down 11 games later. I say, consider it even. That Pistons game should have been a win, and last night in most cases is a loss. The thing is, Joe Mazzulla's Celtics still find a way to win 13.3% of the time they trail by 20+. That's, an insane number. So not only do they not really lose games 20 point leads (just 5 total under Joe Mazzulla), but they are also finding ways to win games they fall behind by 20+ at a great rate. It's not often that they even find themselves down 20+, but they are a team where even if that happens, they aren't truly dead.
To do all that on a B2B in the final game of a 4 game road trip? Wildly impressive. I don't care who you are, or what part of the regular season we are in. That's impressive.
So how did they do it? Let's dive in.
The Good
- When you find yourself in these types of games where you know the legs may not be there, it's imperative that you mitigate that with elite defense. There's always a lot of talk about how the Celtics survive their own shooting variance. That when the shots stop falling, what do they do? How do they win?
The answer today is the same as it's always been. By locking the fuck up defensively. Stop trolling and start getting stops.
That's why we're beginning with the #1 reason the Celtics won this game. Their defense. Without the level of defensive execution we saw, none of this comeback happens. In the first 12 minutes, the Celtics allowed 38 points and 10 3PM. It was objectively one of the worst if not the worst quarters of their entire season thus far. Given the circumstances around this game, they could have packed it in. They could punted and focused more on rest. Instead? They locked in.
Over the next 3 quarters, the Raptors scored 23, 19, and 13 points. From the 2nd quarter on, they shot just 29/24%n from the floor and had 14 TOs. Of those 14 TOs, 11 of them came in the 2nd half. In the 4th quarter, another clutch time situation, the Raptors finished with 22/12 splits and 6 TOs. In fact, let's talk a little about the Celts clutch time defense this season shall we?
Guess who has the #1 clutch time DRTG in the NBA? Ah yes, the Boston Celtics at 81.3 (6 games).
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And I'll tell you what, it's a good thing they do because how many empty offensive possessions did we see down the stretch? Far too many for my liking. Why didn't those bury the Celtics? Because on the other end, they continued to get stops. In the 4th quarter alone, the Celts finished with 4 blocks and 3 steals. Huge defensive plays in the final minutes are what sealed the win
While some strong individual performances contributed to that historic comeback, don't get it twisted. The Celtics won this game because of their collective defensive execution. I think that's what makes it so impressive to me. This wasn't a case where the Celts just got hot for 6-7 possessions and made 6-7 straight 3PMs. No, they had to dig, they had to fight, they had to grind out a win by getting back to the basics and that starts on the defensive end.
So yes, while it's true that these are all 1 of 82, you can see the differences. Against the Sixers, that was a big win for certain reasons, and last night was a big win for others. Finding different ways to win, not mailing it in when things aren't going your way and instead clawing your way to victory. That's what Champions do. We know that, because we've seen it.
- Following the defense, I have to give the next spot to Neemy. Just a massive all around performance from him (11/13 with 3 blocks)
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In another matchup against a team that didn't really have a strong frontcourt, that's a situation where I need Neemy to dominate. There were some things I didn't love like how he struggled a little bit with the short roll early and then some of the defensive rebounding late, but overall? Neemy met the moment.
The huge block in the final seconds, the 2 made FTs in an extremely high leverage situation, Neemy's play down the stretch was as crucial as any. The 5 TOs absolutely needs ot be figured out and cannot happen to that level, but I'm all for redemption and that's what I would say Neemy did. He finished a +27 in his 30 minutes, completely outplayed Jakob Poeltl and I'm not sure this comeback happens without Neemy waking up the way he did.
One thing I can say is that it's pretty clear the correct role for Neemy is to play with the starters and have his minutes largely paired with Tatum. The data is just too loud in my opinion to go any other way
- I'm sure there will be some who try and tell you that Jayson Tatum played poorly in this game. Of course, that's nowhere near the truth. He shot poorly, but he did not play poorly. There's a difference, yet most people just look at FG% and use that to determine how a player performed. Usually, it's people who either A) didn't watch or B) don't know what they are watching
24/7/8 with 2 blocks (and just 2 TOs) with clutch play after clutch play down the stretch to seal this win. Yes, we all know he eventually has to figure out his efficiency. It's dogshit. But this was yet another example of an elite player finding ways to impact winning even when his shot isn't falling.
Isn't that what everyone wants? I've been hearing that shit for years when it comes to superstars and Jayson Tatum. So when he does it, it's somehow a negative? Make that make sense.
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Here's what I know. I know that no matter what he's shooting from the floor, opposing defenses sell out to stop him. I know that in those moments, Tatum will almost always make the correct basketball play. For example, he could have forced this shot since he's THE GUY and it was a big moment. Instead? He trusted his teammate and made the right play
When it came time to step to the line for massive FTs, Tatum made them both.
Mind you, he's still under 40 games played since his return, and he hasn't missed a B2B this season. That alone is ridiculous.
Part of being the #1 is finding a way to close out and win games on the road. Tatum entered the 4th quarter with the Celts down 3 with 6 minutes left. From that moment on, the Celts closed 15-7 with Tatum having a hand in 7 of those 15. Mission accomplished.
- At what point do we just need to straight up bully Derrick White into being aggressive? I definitely think it should be on the table because he is such a different player when he isn't passive. I really do think it would be for his own good, nothing too crazy, don't be an asshole about it, but I really do think some gentle bullying in this department will go a long way. I mean look at this guy!
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His FGA went back up to 15, he had a perfect balance of paint touches and 3PA, he made his C&S 3s and then defensively it was one of the most dominant performances of any player on the Celts roster this year
so far to start the season, the only thing that had really been missing from Derrick's arsenal was his shotblocking. Every other part of his defensive playmaking has been legit, but the blocks have taken some time to come around. Over his last 5 games, White has now totaled 8 blocks. I'd say we're getting closer and closer to normal, which is huge.
After two pretty quiet games against the Bucks and Sixers, it was good to see Derrick make an impact on BOTH ends in this win. I understand people have an urge to ignore his shooting because of everything else he does, but I will continue to stress that for this team to truly reach their ceiling, Derrick cannot miss every shot he takes. Shotmaking matters. So to see that come through in this type of game was a beautiful thing.
- I continue to very much enjoy the Baylor Scheierman Experience. As of now, he's most definitely in the lead for minutes in terms of all the young wings. Not only has his shooting been legit, but he is absolutely dominating the margins
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If the 5th starting spot is truly up for grabs, I'm not seeing anything from Baylor that suggests he shouldn't be the one to have it. I get switching things up based on matchups and wanting to get sample sizes of different lineup combinations, but it's also OK to just play your best option in that spot.
The one critique I do have for Baylor is that he needs to shoot the ball way more. The efficiency looks real, so I want to see what it looks like at a slightly higher volume. In my opinion, Baylor has earned the right to a bigger piece of the shot diet pie. Right now, it feels like he just wants to be the connector in his minutes, which is awesome. I would just like to see his aggressiveness also continue to increase, because I think there are more levels to climb offensively.
- Whenever you hear "I hate how the Celtics play" from some moron on TV or the internet, just remember, this is what they are saying they hate
Don't worry, you'll just hear about how all the Celtics do is "jack up 3s" and that it's "boring" and blah blah blah
Pay these people no mind. They have broken brains.
The Bad
- Pretty much everything about the 1st quarter. Allowing a season high in points and 3PM, it was as ugly as ugly gets. I undersstand that part of the Celtics defensive approach is to shut down the paint and plays at the rim, and they are the best in the league at those things. The trade off, is daring teams to beat you from deep. For the most part, they can't. As we saw over the course of this game, the Raptors came down to Earth on the same looks they couldn't miss early.
But…..it does make me a little nervous. Perhaps it's because I have PTSD from watching Caleb Martin, Josh Hart, and VJ Edgecomb be dared to make 3s in playoff games, and they came through. I understand you have to concede something and you can still be great at scrambling and contesting these 3PA, but you also open yourself up to situations like that 1st quarter.
Make no mistake, I do not think the Raptors blow that lead with Kawhi/Barnes in the lineup, so I don't know if I love part of the Celts defensive approach being them praying players miss open looks. It's a dangerous game to play that has burned them on the biggest stage before. During that entire first quarter, that's all I kept thinking about.
Fuck Caleb Martin. That shit was so goddamn fake.
- If Payton Pritchard performance against the Sixers was a step in the right direction, then I would say his performance against the Raptors was a step backward.
What do we know about TOR? They are tough, they play physical defense on the perimeter, they have size, and they are going to pressure you.
What do we know about Payton? That there is a growing sample of him struggling against those very things, which is an issue since that's what you often see in playoff matchups.
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He finished just 5-13 (2-7) with 5 TOs, so I would not say Payton was effective at handling the Raptors defense. He wasn't aggressive, he often found himself in trouble which led to low efficiency shots, the 5 TOs were brutal, just all around a pretty rough night. It's not often we see Payton finish a -17 in his minutes, but that's what we got.
- I would also say the same thing about Mitch. Just nowhere close to good enough in his minutes either (-17). Just 2 total rebounds in 10 minutes (0 REB) with a couple of fouls and a turnover. Not great! Factoring in Hauser also went just 2-6, to get virtually nothing from your 3 main bench pieces on a night where you sort of needed your depth offensively to come through, I didn't love that.
Hell, even Walsh and Hugo were mostly "meh". Overall, the Celts second unit was definitely outplayed by the Raptors role players, which is how they found themselves in that 22 point hole in the first place.
- Finally, we can't just ignore Tatum's shooting. I get it, he's working his way back and into shape. He's coming off a major injury. That's all true. But it's also true that his current splits are nowhere close to good enough for a primary offensive engine. His 41/30% splits and 56% TS% are just too low, and really that TS% is being carried by his FTs.
I do think part of it is conditioning, but part of it is also his own shot selection and decision making. This is the final infinity stone for him to obtain, but if we're going to be honest and objective about him as the #1 option, then we can't pretend like that shooting production is good enough. That doesn't mean it can't and won't improve, but it does mean that so far we're still waiting for the tides to turn. I didn't really put too much stock into it last year immediately after the injury, but that is not where we are today. At some point, he needs to get closer to his norm which for me, is around 47/35% with a 60% TS%.
The Ugly
- You should know the rule by now. The Celts win 5 in a row, and we skip this section…as a treat! Great work from everyone involved.
With this road trip in the rearview mirror, the Celts are now off until Sunday where they will then play another B2B. Way to go Adam Silver you absolute baffoon! Who puts the last game of a road trip as a B2B, then 3 days off, then another B2B? Way to show you care about player safety! Whatever.