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Celtics Wrap: Kyrie Irving’s Dynamic Performance Leads Boston Past Heat

NESN by Michael McMahon on Mon, Jan 21, 2019 at 8:18PM

Squandering two double-digit leads, the Boston Celtics leaned on their most reliable scorers to pull out a 107-99 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday evening, their ninth straight triumph on the parquet floor at TD Garden.

Kyrie Irving put in a stellar effort on both ends of the floor, flirting with a triple-double as he notched 26 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high eight steals.

Jayson Tatum followed with 19 points, while Marcus Morris had 17. Al Horford posted 16 points with 12 rebounds in an solid performance from Boston’s starting five.

Miami was led by Derrick Jones Jr. and Dion Waiters, who each had 18 points off the bench.

With the win, the Celtics advance to 29-18, while the Heat fall to 22-23.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris
C: Al Horford

CELTICS SHOW GOOD PACE
A hot start from Morris and Tatum got the Celtics out front early in the opening stint as Boston held a 33-23 lead after the first quarter.

The Celtics ran out to a quick 12-2 lead in the opening 3:37 bookended by three-pointers from Morris and Tatum. The duo paired to shoot 7-for-11 from the floor in first and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Morris led all Celtics with nine points while Tatum followed with eight. After Miami pulled back within five, Boston answered with a 12-5 run.

Irving hit a three and was fouled, converting the four-point play to make 31-19 with 2:38 left in the quarter.

Defense took over in the final minutes of the quarter, with Aron Baynes making his presence felt around the rim.

C’S SUFFER ARCTIC BLAST
The Celtics went ice cold in the second quarter, opening the door up for the Heat, who outscored Boston 27-17 to pull even at 50-50 heading into the locker rooms.

Miami surged back with a 6-0 run to open the second frame to pull within four. Meanwhile, the Celtics were 0-for-7 over the opening 3:50. Gordon Hayward snapped that streak with a dribble drive lay-in to make it 37-29. But Miami answered with a 6-0 run to pull within two with 6:44 left in the half.

The teams went back-and-forth from there, with Irving finding Marcus Smart in transition for a three to put the Celtics up 43-41 with 4:13 to play.

Irving then traded three’s with Dion Waiters to give the C’s a 46-44 lead, but the team remained deadlocked until the halftime buzzer. Irving led all scorers with 16 points at the break.

BACK ON TRACK
The Celtics regained their hot hand in the second half, going 16-for-22 from the floor and outscoring Miami 37-18 in the third quarter to take a commanding 87-68 lead into the final frame.

Boston opened the second half on a 9-0 run, starting 4-for-4 from the floor. The lead expanded to double digits with a Horford jump shot. Tatum hit a jumper to make it 67-56 with 6:01 remaining. Following a three from Tyler Johnson, the C’s went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 14.

Tatum continued his torrid start to the second half with a corner three to make it 75-60 with 3:45 left. Morris gave the Celtics their biggest lead when he made it 82-63 with a three off a behind the back feed from Irving following his seventh steal.

The Boston lead was as much as 21 after Terry Rozier hit a corner three to make it 87-66 with 45 seconds left.

STARTERS GET IT DONE
Following a scorching hot third quarter, the Celtics were not able to close it out easily in the final frame as the C’s bench remained ice cold, but Boston’s starting five were able to put the finishing touches on the win in the final five minutes.

Like they did in the second quarter, the Heat crept back into contention with a 9-0 run in the early goings of the fourth. Semi Ojeleye hit a three from the elbow to make it 99-83 with 6:48 to play.

Brad Stevens was forced to bring his starters back in with five minutes to play as Miami was in the midst of an 11-0 run that made it 99-94 with 4:32 remaining. Following a timeout, Irving snapped the cold spell with back-to-back buckets to give the C’s a nine-point lead to help seal the victory.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Al flashing it at both ends.

UP NEXT
The Celtics remain at home for a matchup with the worst team in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tip-off from TD Garden is slated for 7:30 p.m.

112288

It was not the prettiest win but we will take it as the streak reaches 4 in a row. Celts one game back of Sixers who are playing the Rockets right now.

Upsetting that Kyrie had to be brought back into the game in the 4th quarter, the bench was awful, all if them, I don’t know what the heck is going on with Rozier, I thought after the last game he might be turning the corner but he was awful.

Al had a terrific game also, I guess a win is a win, but these guys have got to get their act together (the bench, I mean)

Kyrie with 8 steals. Pretty amazing.

Celts were 9-5 in December. Now we are 8-3 in January. Kyrie missed a couple of those January games didn't he? Baynes too. We are starting to roll. Starters all played well. Big improvement over our last game against Miami. Kelly O had zero minutes. Glad we did not overpay him to stay.

As for teh 2nd unit -

I liked Jaylen's D and aggressiveness going to the basket. Too bad he got stuffed at the rim too often. Brown is not trusting his outside shot, given how infrequently he attempted them tonight.
Terry, yecch.
Gordon would be playing well if his shots would fall. They're not swishing enough.
Theis injured again?

Not gonna cover the whole game, loved the way Al and Kyrie played, looks like Al has more in the tank than we thought....I really wanted to watch this game because I read an article that said Justice Winslow was coming into his own and playing point. Well 2 J’s and Morris had no problem scoring in his face on offense, I thought his defense was better. Defensively Smart, Tatum and Jaylen all took turns shutting him down. Winslow looks like Smart a few years ago, too heavy, he needs to lose 10 pounds. Our wings could blow right past him or go right over him no problem, glad we never drafted him....

The bench lacks scoring power. A shooter would do wonders for them . Maybe it will be GH eventually, but not now. I think they should always keep a guy like Kyrie, Morris or Tatum on the court with the bench guys. They work hard on D, but are all too often stagnant scoring the ball.

No help from Houston last night.

Here is the game flow:

Yeah, dboss.  I was hoping for some help.  Was Harden a no-show?  Nope.  Just saw the box score.  The rest of the team didn't show up.  Surprise, surprise.  That's what happens when you have only one scorer that goes apeshit.  Rest of team falls asleep and can't throw it in the ocean when asked.  HOU gets bumped in the first round.  You've heard it here first!!

Again, Celtics working through it.  Now playing to the level of competition.  Just need to add the last leg of once you have your foot on their throat you need to keep it there, fisnish the job and quit losing these leads.  But in those situations, it's good to have a Kyrie on your team who is refusing to lose no matter what the situation!

I've noticed Brad has gradually extended the starter's times and tightened up the bench rotations over the last few games. Playoff mode/mindset maybe?

CLE ripe for an upset!!  Stay awake Boston!!  

db

Any news on Theis?

This game should not have been anywhere near this close.  We were up 21 and our bench lost the lead.  Their bench was amazing, credit where credit is due, but the ineffectiveness of our bench made it even worse.  Their bench had 74 points.  74!  The Heat's top 2 scorers were Jones and Waiters, off the bench, with 18 each.  Our bench scored 23 on a smoking hot 8-26 (30.6%) with our top bench scorer being Hayward with 7.  Remember when our bench was supposed to be our secret weapon because we had two playoff starters, Rozier and Brown, coming off the bench and Hayward was coming back?  What a crack pipe dream that was.

Our starters, however, were good.  We got Playoff Al in January.  He outplayed Whiteside in almost every aspect of the game.  

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 6 hours ago
Al Horford on what has changed for him lately: “Just pain. And I don’t have any pain anymore. So I’m in a good place.”

Tatum and Morris broke out of their slumps.  Nice to see.  I didn't expect the slumps to last forever, you just never know when they'll be done.  Now, if they fall back into the slump next game, then this will be fool's gold but for now it's nice.

Kyrie leading by example.  Scoring at will.  Dishing.  Just 2 steals away from an odd triple-double.  He's unreal.  I loved IT and Crowder but I'd do this trade again.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Kyrie Irving during the C's four-game winning streak: 30.8 ppg, 11.0 apg, 60.3 percent shooting


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
MOST STEALS BY A CELTIC (Last 20 years) 9 - Paul Pierce, Dec. 3, 1999 8 - Rajon Rondo, Feb. 23, 2011 8 - Marcus Smart, Feb. 15, 2017 8 - KYRIE IRVING, Tonight

Kyrie had a reputation for being a moderately weak defender, better than IT but worse than most. He has really worked hard on defense this year. He blows coverages but he also makes some good plays and he is focused and working hard on the defensive side of the ball and not just on the offensive side.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm starting to think that while Jaylen is uber-athletic and long he isn't a quick leaper like Williams.  I'm seeing him getting blocked down low because he isn't getting UP fast.  He's a great running leaper but not a great standing leaper.  Do you agree?

19 TOs suck.  Made some bone-headed passes because we were trying to get up court a bit fast than we should have.

Brad Stevens with his 250th win as a Celtic coach.
Nice words from Erik Spoelstra, on the event of Brad's 250th:





Gary Washburn @GwashburnGlobe
yesterday
Dwyane Wade on ovation from TD Garden fans when entering game: "Did not expect it. I said earlier in the year, one city that probably will not give me an ovation, I actually said Boston. It was cool. It was a lot of away fans here tonight. It was dope to see that."

It's only because you're on your last legs and a short-timer, Dwayne. Don't let it go to your head.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071373





bob


.

Bob on Jaylen, the help defender, a big stuffed him, it happens, he had no problem getting over his man. Maybe he shouldn’t have attacked with the big lurking...??? Watch Kawhi, Jaylen jumps as fast or better IMHO.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Bob on Jaylen, the help defender, a big stuffed him, it happens, he had no problem getting over his man. Maybe he shouldn’t have attacked with the big lurking...??? Watch Kawhi, Jaylen jumps as fast or better IMHO.

Cow,

You're comparing Jaylen favorably to Kawhi? That's crazy. Does Kawhi try to lay it up with a big there? If he doesn't that shows better judgment by him. If he does then it shows that Jaylen's athleticism is not very important. Either way I don't see how bringing Kawhi into this to defend Jaylen makes Jaylen look better.


bob


.

Bob I am saying JB took bad shots and I never said Jaylen is at Kawhi’s level, but at jumping they are very very close.

A good chunk of our bench is basically starting.

Couple games ago our bench scored over 70

We won and I really don’t care how it gets done.

I just want us to be healthy and playing reasonably well come April.


Recently other than Irving, seems we can’t get much consistency out of anyone else. Different others seem to play better for a game or 2 then seem to disappear.

I think Stevens is still trying to figure out different combinations that are working well together.  

Still seems to come down to shooting and if we are shooting well we win and usually easy.  In the 4th we had various open looks but  they didn’t fall.  

Still lots of season left.  

beat

I think one of the bright spots during the 11 January games has been the improved play of Jaylen Brown at both ends of the court.

I think trends are more important than game to game up and downs. Smart has trended well during January too.

Tatum is trending well shooting the 3 ball. He was not very good in December.

Gordon is trending well shooting the ball in January (36% from deep)

Terry Rozier is trending in the wrong direction.

Morris is still shooting the 3 ball well but his overall FG % is way down in January. Overall he is trending downward this month scoring.

Virtually no change from AH

I am not mentioning other guys because they do not get to play much.

Jaylen is shooting .412%from three in January.