POST GAME MEMPHIS - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Jayson Tatum Scores 19, Boston Staves Off Grizzlies 102-93

NESN by Logan Mullen on Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 11:16PM

For the second night in a row the Boston Celtics put up a less than a stellar performance, but this time they didn’t pay for it. The C’s beat the Memphis Grizzlies 102-93 Saturday night at FedExForum. Trailing 73-71 entering the fourth quarter, the Celtics opened up the final period on a 16-0 run, burying a Grizzlies team that had erased a 21-point Boston lead set in the first quarter. Jayson Tatum played one of the best games of his young career, putting up 19 points with nine rebounds, an assist and a pair of blocks and steals. Kyrie Irving (20 points), Al Horford (15 points), Aron Baynes (13 points), Marcus Smart (11 points) and Terry Rozier (10 points) all posted double figures as well. The Celtics climbed to 25-7 with the win, while the Grizzlies fell to 8-21. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Kyrie Irving SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

CELTICS OPEN UP STRONG The Celtics wasted no time opening up a lead against Memphis, finishing the frame leading 31-12. After a night on Friday where scoring was sparse and largely confined to just a few players, everyone on the floor contributed, with four of five starters scoring at least six points. Boston was equally sound on the defensive end, letting the Grizzlies get up just a few quality looks while ultimately holding them to 22.2 percent shooting from the field. The Celtics also forced five turnovers in the frame with a pair of steals and blocks.

SECOND QUARTER UNKIND TO BOSTON … AGAIN Boston took a 19 point lead into the second quarter against a team in absolute shambles, but again the second quarter proved to be a stretch of appalling basketball for the Celtics. By quarter’s end, they were outscored 28-17 and saw their lead cut to eight by the half. Memphis began the quarter on a 10-3 run before Brad Stevens called a timeout 3:21 to try and stop the bleeding. Because of the comeback the Grizzlies were mounting, Stevens was unable to go deep into his bench, rather having to play his starters and Marcus Smart as a sixth man for the majority of the half.

GRIZZLIES TAKE OVER IN THE THIRD The third quarter served as a realization of the fear the Celtics created with their lackluster second period. A lead as many as 21 was erased by the 4:02 mark in the third, and with 49 seconds to play in the half, the Grizzlies took their first lead since the opening period. After watching Memphis tie things up, the Celtics went on a 9-0 run of their own over 2:35 in the middle of the period, but by the end Boston trailed by two. A large contributor to the problem was Marc Gasol, who dropped a trio of 3-pointers the final two minutes of the period.

FOURTH QUARTER RUN GIVES C’S THE WIN The Celtics opened up the first 4:48 of the fourth quarter on a 16-0 run and never let the Grizzlies back in it. A fusion of good ball movement, quality shooting and stout defense overwhelmed a Memphis team that Boston should have been dominating the whole night. The Grizzlies would pull no closer than seven points the rrest of the game. Starters still played into the closing stages of the game, however, with Stevens not taking any chances with the lead as Memphis continued threatening.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE GAME Jayson Tatum: An impressive dunker.

UP NEXT The Celtics will play their second and final game of the roadtrip in Indiana against the Pacers on Monday. Tip from Bankers Life Fieldhouse is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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Celtics hang on to beat Grizzlies 102-93 in rollercoaster game

By A. Sherrod Blakely December 16, 2017 11:12 PM


The Boston Celtics finished Saturday’s game against Memphis similar to how it began – in control.

But it was the time in between that has to be of concern to Brad Stevens and the Celtics who came away with a 102-93 win.

While Boston (25-7) got the win, this was yet another game when the Celtics had long stretches in which they struggled at both ends of the floor.

But the key to this victory was a 16-0 run to start the fourth quarter that put the Grizzlies (9-21) in a hole that they were never able to climb out of.

Boston’s 1-2 punch of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford were once again impressive for the Celtics, scoring 20 points and 15 points, respectively.

The Celtics also got a strong game from Jayson Tatum who had a near double-double of 19 points and nine rebounds.

Memphis (9-21) was led by Marc Gasol’s game-high 30 points. The Grizzlies also got a strong performance from Tyreke Evans who had 25 points.

Boston’s strong finish wasn’t all that different than how they began the game in the first quarter.

In the first, the Celtics looked like the team with the best record in the East playing one of the league’s worst teams, dominating play in every way imaginable.

Tatum had eight points in the quarter, which was more than he had the previous night when the Celtics lost 107-95 at home to the Utah Jazz.

The Celtics’ first-quarter lead peaked at 21 points before the quarter ended with Boston holding a commanding 31-12 lead.

Now the second quarter?

A totally different story.

Boston went from working over the Grizzlies, to just being plain woeful.

And the issue was obvious … Boston’s defense.

After treating the lane as a “Do Not Enter” zone for Memphis’ players in the first quarter, it was more like an EZ pass lane for the Grizzlies in the second with one lightly contested drive after another.

And when Boston began to plug that leak, Evans – a 42 percent 3-point shooter coming into the game – began to heat up to bring Memphis within 48-40 at the half.

But the second quarter was once again about as bad as you could imagine for the Celtics.

Memphis’ strong play in the second quarter continued early in the third with the Grizzlies making it a 53-all game following a jumper by Gasol as part of a 13-5 Memphis run.

However, the Celtics regained the lead moments later when Kyrie Irving found Aron Baynes open around the rim for a lay-up.

Gasol hit another jumper, with Irving coming back with a 3-pointer that put the Celtics back on top.

Yes, the 21-point lead that Boston opened the first quarter with was a thing of the past now.

The Celtics, led by Marcus Smart, went on a 9-0 run that gave Boston a 69-60 lead.

But the Grizzlies bounced back with a 10-0 run to take their first lead since it was 5-4.

The two went back and forth as the quarter ended with the Grizzlies ahead 73-71.

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The Celtics had two good stretches of play and that was what was needed to get the win.

The second quarter meltdown was on the players. Smart does a better job playing with the starters. When he has to carry the load for the reserves he doesn't play as well. His role as 6th man is as important as any other in C's history. But he is not a good all around player. He also is not responsible for the Celtics loosing the lead.

I was shocked at how well Memphis and especially Marc Gasol played in the 3rd quarter. He scored 21 points on so many open shots my head was spinning. How do you leave a player like that alone? That is on Brad. He needed to get someone playing on Gasol and not leave him to create help defense. No real adjustment was made yet somehow Memphis went away from their hot hand in the 4th. Thank you very much!

Finally Baynes got solid minutes. 27 in fact and he responded with 13 points on 6 of 8 and 6 boards.

Even Theis got 14 minutes playing in the mask. I can't believe how many reports that I have seen that Daniel broke his nose. He didn't break it a Utah forearm broke it. Oh well...

The Rookie played very well. He was given opportunity in good position and made the most of it. 19 points and 9 boards and good D. This is what he is capable of now only 1/3d of the way through the season. Like I said the other day, he needs plays run for him and he will respond.

Last night was a perfect example of what many of us have been saying. When the Celtics play Celtics style basketball they can't be beat. When they don't its a crap shoot.

Game over. Win! Next game up, play it right please.

Go Patriots! The C's have started a new streak now it's your turn!

Not all that happy about this one neither.  Memphis has the 4th worst record in the league.  We went up 21 points in a phenomenal 1st quarter, and then proceeded to lose the next 2 quarters.  We scored a total of 40 points in quarters 2 & 3, while giving up 61.  Fortunately, Brad figured out something about Marc Gasol and Tyreke Evans to start the 4th.  A 21 point 3rd quarter for Gasol but only 2 points (0-2) in the 4th.

We went on a 16-0 blitz to start the 4th to put the game out of reach.  The team Brad put on the floor to start that quarter, and the blitz, was Larkin/Rozier/Tatum/Theis/Horford.

Tatum with a bounce-back game.  He left at least two layups on the rim but he still had a very solid night.  19 points on 7-13 (and it should have been 9-13 for 23 points), 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks.  7 points in the 4th quarter.  He was 2-2 from 3 which puts him back up to 51% from 3 on the year and still in first place ahead of Tony Snell at 47.6%.  He would have to miss his next 9 3pt fgas to lose the lead (or Tony Snell could hit a bunch).  

This iso is SO Paul Pierce:
https://twitter.com/celtics/status/942242094084534272 



Brown NOT with a bounce back game.  6 points on 3-9, 2-6 from 3.  He had 7 rebs, so that's something, but he didn't slow down Tyreke Evans much. 

Smart rallied us really well in the 3rd quarter.  He made things happen.  He did Marcus Smart things.  He was 0-2 at the half but ended up 3-6, so he went 3-4 in the 2nd half and I am ecstatic when I can get that offensive production out of Smart.

Horford carried the team on his back in the 4th quarter.  He shut down Gasol, with help from Baynes, and scored again and again and made two great assist passes to a cutting Rozier, who had a good night at 4-8 for 10 points.  26 points from our bench on 9-21.  I can definitely live with that.

Theis with a nice game.  2-4 and 2 blocks.  Poor bastard is going to have to get his nose RE-broken on Wednesday, to set it, when he gets back to Boston.  If my nose was broken I wouldn't want to get close enough to block someone's shot.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975187

























bob



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The sooner Tatum is averaging 20 points a game the better for this team. Glad to see a bounce back game from him, I’ve been saying for weeks we need to get him more shots. Jaylen was off, looks to me he may be battling a little shoulder or hand injury, he just didn’t look right. Rozier came back after bad start to hit some shots in 2nd half as did Smart, couldn’t help but think no no no yes on some of his 3’s. Both these guys are so inconsistent, if I had to take one, it would be Smart because of his ability to run the offense. Gasol made a lot of shots, but the majority were from the outside, I can live with that, at least we wern’t getting pummeled too bad in the paint, we did outrebound them.

cowens,

I liked your mention of out-rebounding the Grizzlies last night. Rebounds are often neglected as the difference between winning and losing.

I would bet that for every one game a team wins when it is out rebounded that there are about a dozen games that are lost when your team gets out rebounded. Rebounds are THAT important!

There were clearly many games lost throughout the last 10 years when the Cs were a poor rebounding team. Nice to see that Stevens has at least somewhat righted the ship with our rebounding. Not too many games this year, but when the other team has more rebounds than we do we can certainly lose to any other team no matter what their record may be.

dboss wrote:
Jason Tatum may hit the rookie wall but he certainly has not done so yet.  Through 9 games in December his scoring average is actually up from November at 13.9 vs 13.8.  His rebounding is up to 6.8 vs 4.5  His shooting percentages are also up to .526 and .571 on threes.  Last month he was .467 and .497  Making assumptions based a a few games tends to overlook the big picture.  

dboss,

With you on this one. Tatum has a low production game and its "rookie wall" being screamed from all corners. Ridiculous.

Some rookies don't ever hit a "wall." Some writers wouldn't recognize one if it fell on them.

Regards

PATRIOT NATION!

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You guys know what you're talking about. Smart has become a knucklehead turning the ball over, but like Cowens pointed out, he is a much more important player than Rozier due to an ability to get assists.

But Smart has dropped off in that area except for the Nugget game. He was decent last night. He has simply yet to make the leap many thought he was going to this year.

I imagine his contract situation is bothering him. This is the only NBA team he's known and he has always played a lot of minutes since arriving. Most players do seem affected by the trading deadline and he is one of the more obvious players on the hot seat.

Two games ago I wondered if he had put on weight akin to Sully regaining weight during his last season here. But the next game he looked svelte again. So my conclusion is something was not settling right in his stomach. Perhaps he ate too soon before the other game time. Live and learn?

I agree with people nervous about Brown's handle. Kyrie consistently loses his own but in a way that he always gets it back. When Jaylen gets into a sticky situation, it's over and time to get back on defense. He will need to correct that and his free throw shooting (hat tip to Captain Obvious) before he makes All-Star games.

Tatum had a very nice assist, but otherwise that is a part of his game which needs improvement.

I agree after the loss to Chicago that no game can be referred to as a scheduled win.

I don't think the schedule is too daunting. The problem is there are a lot of games in a short period of time.

Last night gives me confidence we are going to win most of them. They probably won't be masterpieces, but as someone mentioned above, Brad is starting to make adjustments. Bringing Horford out earlier.

Danny doesn't seem to feel rushed to prune and tinker despite the middle to end of the rotation not getting it done too often.

I'm going to take these one game at a time and whether they are ugly or pretty, just keep winning and stay healthy. Eventually Ainge will do something. I don't think Rozier on down offers much trade value. Smart might, but if he is traded, I think this season is done for championship contending unless he is replaced by someone with better point guard skills and decent defense. Larkin has definitely bailed the C's out two or three games already, but he is doing it as a scorer not really getting the other four players involved.

Lazy threes and hero ball could be the downfall for this team, so I continue to pray for Marcus Smart to deliver Horford styled assist to turnover ratio consistency rather than the four or five turnovers he keeps providing.

That's the problem. The guy most might want to trade if one had to choose would be Rozier, but he won't bring back what Smart could. I don't think so. So Danny might have to start unloading what's left of his draft pick stash to tighten the current roster.

I wouldn't trade Smart. I'd wait it out longer to see if he can get it together. You don't want to quit on a guy too early. He is still a big reason why the w-l record is still great despite his underwhelming offense.

But Danny is Danny and nothing would surprise me. If he thinks this team, as is, is fool's gold, that is when Ainge becomes very dangerous and exciting as a GM.

These are the dog days of the first half of the season. The C's must slog through the inconsistencies and get us deep into January still towards the top. I don't think we will really be able to predict much until the trading deadline has passed and whenever the roster is finally set.

The Morris mystery injury intrigues me. I still don't know what happened to him or what is exactly wrong with his knee. But that has perhaps hurt the team the most and forced Brad to overuse the raw Semi because he has no other choice. Yabs is even more raw than Ojeleye.

This team would be hurting without Baynes and Theis. Those were great pickups. It's still a fun season and too early to stamp conclusive, accurate predictions of what is to come.

The Celtics are due some easy wins. Last night looked like it had finally arrived. Oh, well. Onto the next one.