Yesterday's game was interesting in a variety of ways.
Jaylen Brown had a 10 game 25+ point scoring streak snapped... but he had his second triple double of the season (and of his career), with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, a steal (a Marcus Smart style rip of the ball out of Giannis' hands), a block, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls. He sat for a lot of the third after picking up his 4th file and then played the whole 4th. Brown shot 8-20 from the field but only 2-8 from three and 4 of 7 from the line. But that doesn't tell the whole story of his shooting game. He kind of had 3 shooting games: he started out shooting 2 for 10 from the field. Late in the seocnd quarter he hit a shot that started a 5 for 5 stretch. Then, in the 4th quarter, he shot 1 for 5. Without Tatum he had much greatee defensive attention, and he had mixed success in dealing with it. On the plus side, he picked up 5 or 6 assists in the first quarter alone, so he was able to move the ball when teams doubled him. On the down side, he had a tendency to drive into 1 on 3 or 4 type of traffic and get swallowed up or have his shot blocked, hence the poor shooting line. It seemed like he figured that out through the middle of the game, but then struggled in the 4th (some of those missed in the 4th were bad desperation heaves).
Marcus Smart had a strong game with 29 points, 7 assists, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 3 turnovers. Looseness with the ball was a problem for the Celtics throughout. Marcus shot 10 of 16 from the field including 7 of 12 from three (it was 7 of 10 at one point but he missed his last 2). Marcus shooting that well from three always worries me a bit because I fear that he will drift into Heat Check mode - but only a couple of this attempts fell into that category yesterday. He added some outstanding defense that should help his DPOY case. Marcus was especially dominant, as a shooter and facilitator, during the third quarter.
Daniel Theis might have played his best game as a Celtic. 22 points in the game on 8 of 12 shooting plus 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover. He was 3 for 3 from behind the arc and 3 for 5 from the line. He scored 15 of his 22 in the third quarter, with a lot of help from Marcus.
Derrick White had a nice all around game: 19 points on 6 of 13 shooting, including 4 of 8 from 3. Six rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers. Missed a key shot at the end where he got himself out of rhythm.
Grant was mediocre.
Pritchard led the bench with 12 points though it was not his best shooting game: 5 of 10 but only 2 of 7 from three. He had 5 points in the first half and then scored the first 5 points of the 4th quarter to erase a 5 point deficit, than added a nice fast break basket to close off his own scoring. As he drove to the basket with a defender gaining on him, it looked like it might be a chase-down block situation. But as he drove he made a little shift that took away the defender's path to the hoop and then made an unremarkable uncontested layup. Good basketball IQ is one of his strengths.
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1512242454673588226?s=20&t=indO6PfUisSsITM0XIzIZA
Boston Celtics:
Fast PP
Sam Houser chipped in 11 points off the bench - he shot 3 for 4 on threes in the first half and then, in the third quarter, he made a great cut allowing a driving Marcus to feed him for a layup. I think he might be #10 in the 8 or 9 man playoff rotation, ahead of...
Aaron Nesmith who, after seeming to get his act together with some good shooting garbage minutes, was the first Celtic off the bench last night. But he was a mess all game long with a poor line that doesn't full explain how bad he was. In 12 minutes, he was 0 for 3 (all threes) with a steal and 2 turnovers. The first turnover was a weak first quarter inbounds pass right after he entered the game that had Ime pulling the plug on him almost immediately. I don't know if he saw the floor again until Jaylen picked up his 4th foul in the third. I think he's behind Hauser now.
