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Celtics Wrap: Anthony Davis’ 45 Points Gives Pelicans 116-113 Overtime Win

NESN by Logan Mullen on Tue, Jan 16, 2018  

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics learned the hard way how talented Anthony Davis is. The New Orleans Pelicans big man dropped a whopping 45 points with 16 rebounds to give the visitors a 116-113 win over Boston on Tuesday at TD Garden. After trailing a majority of the game, the Celtics put together a strong enough fourth quarter to force overtime. However, they were outscored 12-9 in the extra frame. Six Celtics scored in double figures, with Kyrie Irving leading the way with 27 points. After Davis, three other Pelicans scored in double figures. With the loss, the Celtics fall to 34-11, while the Pelicans climb to 23-20. Here’s how it all went down:

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

DAVIS WORKS OVER CELTICS IN THE FIRST The Celtics learned pretty quick why Anthony Davis is among the best big men in the league. The 24-year-old dominated the Celtics in the paint, dropping 15 points while grabbing eight rebounds in the first quarter alone. The Celtics had a more balanced scoring effort in the period, with Marcus Smart scoring a team-leading five points. Even with Davis manipulating the Celtics, Boston still found a way to stay within arm’s reach and keep the game in the balance. The game was tied twice, and the lead changed six times, but the Pelicans still finished the frame with a seven-point advantage.

PELICANS OPEN UP THEIR LEAD Boston began shooting with a bit more consistency early in the second, ultimately bringing things to a tie at 37 after opening the period on a 12-5 run over the first 4:31. But a string of poor shot selection led to a dry spell and New Orleans taking a 58-48 lead into the half. Marcus Morris began shooting with some success in the quarter, however, heating up around the midway point and finishing the second shooting 3-for-6 from the field and scoring eight of his 10 first half points in the second.

KYRIE HEATS UP The Celtics erased the Pelicans’ lead in the first four minutes of the third quarter by going on a 16-6 run. Irving began to get hot after getting shut down by Rajon Rondo in the first half, scoring eight points in Boston’s opening run and dropping 16 in the quarter. With under seven minutes to play, the Celtics hit 3-pointers on three consecutive trips down the floor, but the Pelicans answered with five points of their own. But shortly thereafter, the Celtics went quiet and New Orleans answered with a 9-2 run over 2:37. The run was enough to allow the Pelicans to rebuild some of their breathing room, finishing the third with an 87-80 advantage.

CELTICS TAKE THE LEAD … THEN SQUANDER IT After chipping away to start the period, Brown put a thunderous exclamation point on the game-tying two. After Daniel Theis grabbed a loose ball on the baseline, he snuck a pass to Brown under the rim, who threw down a dunk with 5:44 to tie things at 95. The Celtics took the lead the next trip down on Irving’s second-chance 3-pointer. But after the Celtics built a five-point lead with four minutes to play they quickly relinquished it, allowing New Orleans to tie the game with 1:26 to play. Each team traded points down the stretch, but went to overtime after the Pelicans failed to break the 104-point deadlock in the final possession.

PELICANS PUT TOGETHER STRONG OT Both teams scored their first two trips down the floor in overtime, but New Orleans quickly put together a 6-0 run in the final 2:11 to earn the victory.

UP NEXT The Celtics will stay at home and take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 7:00 p.m. ET.
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112288

their length killed us most of the game.

kdp

You are right. Danny needs to get a tall dude to match up better with taller teams.

112288

Length = Strength

NOLA has some serious length in their front court. However that is not why Boston lost.

The Celtics did not execute down the stretch after taking a 5 point lead. They were up 101-96 with 1:53 left in the 4th.

The Celtics were crawling up the court and playing ISO ball and taking ill advised shots

Tough OT loss after making yet another comeback.

dboss

Hi,
Today's prevailing topic is the "wow" performance by AD (45-16). Plus Boogey. Plus seemingly dominant game by NOP. But if you step back and take a sober look at the game: Celtics didn't trail by more than 10 points, despite having Twin towers on the floor for 87 out of 106 minutes our 4 bigs were fairly good, stayed out of foul trouble. All that considering that AH and JT weren't 100%. BTW, it was an interesting move by Brad to keep Theis in at the end of the game: apparently his length, mobility and strength were good enough to somewhat limit AD and Cousins.
The problem again showed up as a stagnated offense. Coach Brad, IMO, still didn't figure it out.
On the positive side, we won't meet them in playoffs...

AK

Frustrating game to watch, we played like crap most of the game, yet still had a 6 point lead with 4 minutes left in 4th, then an epic collapse.....maybe the state of the league is not that good?

I don’t think this team or any is ready for the 84-86 Celtics.

Davis killed us, in every way.  When someone else was working with the ball he went to the front of the rim and either got a lob or an offensive rebound.  He was hitting from range, so you couldn't leave him there.  We had no answer for him.  This is not surprising, that's why he's one of the top 5 players or so in the league.


Kyrie ended up with 27, but on a very KoME-esque 8-24.

Smart, 5-14 didn't help.  Neither did Rozier's 3-11 and 1-7 from 3.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975396



bob



.

bobheckler wrote:Davis killed us, in every way.  When someone else was working with the ball he went to the front of the rim and either got a lob or an offensive rebound.  He was hitting from range, so you couldn't leave him there.  We had no answer for him.  This is not surprising, that's why he's one of the top 5 players or so in the league.


Kyrie ended up with 27, but on a very KoME-esque 8-24.

Smart, 5-14 didn't help.  Neither did Rozier's 3-11 and 1-7 from 3.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975396



bob





.

if only those 3 could hit 36% we win easy

Kyrie reverted to a me-baller down the stretch and that's what led to overtime. We had the game and let it go when ball movement stopped and ISO ball took over.

Berlin-T

Berlin T

Not the first time Irving has regressed to playing me ball. I can say that at least 70% of our losses have come from me ball by Irving and others.

I hope Brad can correct this now verses some ugly results if this keeps up in the playoffs.

In the playoffs.....me ball leads to one and done in a series!

112288

I was not too concerned about the 8-24 shooting from Kyrie. he is the go to guy and you want him to take a lot of shots. He was ice cold in the first half and then had a stretch where he was hitting everything.

What bothered me most was the 6 turnovers. They were careless and unnecessary.

But I think that Brad has to take some responsibility for the late game meltdown. In close games you should run set plays and if they break down then a guy like Kyrie is available to bail you out.

The Pelican got beat last night by the Hawks. Davis played 38 minutes and scored 8 points.

dboss

dboss wrote:I was not too concerned about the 8-24 shooting from Kyrie.  he is the go to guy and you want him to take a lot of shots.  He was ice cold in the first half and then had a stretch where he was hitting everything.

What bothered me most was the 6 turnovers.  They were careless and unnecessary.

But I think that Brad has to take some responsibility for the late game meltdown.  In close games you should run set plays and if they break down then a guy like Kyrie is available to bail you out.  

The Pelican got beat last night by the Hawks.  Davis played 38 minutes and scored 8 points.

dboss

A Pelican fan predicted the loss to the Hawks in the "Comments from the other side" thread.

gyso