POST GAME SAC KINGS - AWAY - BOS 111, SAC 109 Final

Celtics Wrap: Gordon Hayward Hits Game-Winner In 111-109 Win Vs. Kings
NESN by Logan Mullen on Thu, Mar 7, 2019 at 12:30AM

The Boston Celtics’ stay in California continues to be a good one — especially for Gordon Hayward.

After dump-trucking the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, the Celtics kept things going in the second contest of their four-game West Coast road trip, sneaking past the Sacramento Kings 111-109 on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.

With the game tied at 109, Hayward ran the length of the floor and hit a 9-foot jumper with 2 seconds left to give the C’s the victory.

Al Horford recorded a double-double, dropping 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Jayson Tatum shared the game-high with 24 points, while Marcus Morris (19 points), Terry Rozier (16 points), Hayward (12) and Jaylen Brown (10) also scored in double figures.

Harrison Barnes had 24 points and was one of five Kings in double figures.

With the win, the Celtics climb to 40-26, while the Kings fall to 32-32 with the loss.

Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE
PG: Terry Rozier
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris Sr.
C: Al Horford

NO KYRIE
The Celtics were without star point guard Kyrie Irving on Wednesday. He was scratched a few hours prior to tip with a left thigh contusion.

TRADING CHANCES
Both teams created a little separation in the first quarter, but once the opening 12 minutes concluded it was the Kings that led 32-26.

The Celtics built themselves a bit of room with a 9-2 run that put them up eight with 8:13 left, but the Kings had little issue clawing back into a tie. They responded with an 8-0 run that concluded shortly before the midway point of the quarter.

A 12-2 stretch by the Kings sent them up eight with less than a minute left, and after trading punches in the waning seconds, an impressive Rozier buzzer-beating triple cut Boston’s deficit to six.

Rozier led all players with 10 first-quarter points.

BOTH SIDES RUNNING
The second quarter wasn’t exactly a display of basketball excellence, with the two sides going into the break tied at 49 after Boston outscored Sacramento 23-17. During the period, both teams’ offense went ice cold for minutes at a time.

Early on, the Celtics did a nice job wiping away the Kings’ lead and creating one of their own. They strung together an 11-0 run over 2:41 to give themselves a four-point advantage at the 6:35 mark. But the Kings responded by kicking their offense into gear, while the Celtics’ went quiet. That resulted in Sacramento scoring seven unanswered points to go back ahead.

Both teams got one final possession with the game tied at 49 before the half, but neither could score to go into the break with the momentum in their favor.

Tatum led all players with 15 points at the half after leading all players with 11 second-quarter points. The first 24 minutes featured seven ties and four more lead changes.

NECK-AND-NECK
Though the Celtics seemingly began to take control in the third period, the Kings didn’t go away quietly. Boston outscored Sacramento 33-28 in the third to head into the final stanza ahead 82-77.

It was more of the same for the opening minutes of the second half, with neither team allowing the other to take too much control. Trailing by three, the Celtics rattled off eight unanswered on treys from Morris and Rozier with a layup by Smart mixed in to force Sacramento into a timeout at the 6:30 mark.

Boston’s preserved its lead from there, even though the Kings did a decent job creating some offensive opportunities. Hayward poured in two points with 80 seconds left to go, upping the Celts’ lead to 10, their biggest of the game to that point. But the Kings scored the frame’s last five points to trail just three heading into the final quarter.

Barnes contributed 14 points in the third, most of any player.

HAYWARD WINS IT
With the way the game had gone, it was clear Wednesday’s tilt would end in exciting fashion.

With their lead going back and forth between three and five points, the Celtics finally got some much-needed space thanks to a Morris trey. Smart drove to the rim and kicked a pass out to Morris on the baseline, and the forward drained the triple to put Boston ahead 103-97 with 3:13 left.

De’Aaron Fox later responded by scoring four points to trim the deficit to two with 1:45 in regulation. Tatum then got to the foul line and knocked down both attempts, but Buddy Hield hit a 3-pointer the next trip down to put the Kings within one.

In their next possession, Tatum hit a fadeaway jumper to get the lead back to three, but that was met with a Nemanja Bjelica to Willie Cauley-Stein alley-oop to yet again slim the lead to one.

With about 20 seconds left, Smart got the ball and started sprinting toward the other end. As the Kings tried to foul him, Smart slipped and the ball went loose, but Morris dived on it, got possession and called timeout.

Upon receiving the inbounds pass, Tatum drove to the net and got fouled, hitting both attempts to make it 109-106 Celtics with 15 seconds left.

The Celtics caught a tough break, as Hield uncorked a three that he just narrowly missed. But Hayward fouled him on the play, and he sunk each free throw to tie the game.

With 7 seconds left, Morris got the ball to Hayward on the inbound, and Hayward drove the length of the court and hit a contested 9-foot fadeaway to give the Celtics the lead, and the win.

Barnes tried a deep, contested three to win the game for the Kings at the buzzer, but missed.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Nope.

UP NEXT
The Celtics continue their West Coast road trip Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip from Staples Center is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

112288

LET THEM MOVE THE TEAM!

I HAVE NO PROBLEM ROOTING FOR THE CALIFORNIA CELTICS!

LOL

112288

I know we all are afraid to post as to not jinx anything! Evidently we would have all liked to have been on the now infamous 5-hour plane ride to the West Coast!

db

Patience

mrkleen,

I will be the first to change my word of the season to patience from confounding with a resounding defeat of the Lakers this weekend!

db

dbrown4 wrote:mrkleen,

I will be the first to change my word of the season to patience from confounding with a resounding defeat of the Lakers this weekend!

db

Confounding is a fair word as well. I just get no joy in the constant up and down of fan opinions.

I love you - I hate you - I love you, is a counterproductive circle that diminishes the ability to just enjoy this exciting time in Celtics History.

It would be nice if we knew the outcome of this season in advance!  More so this season than any other!  We know this team can ball and can go 16-0 in the playoffs.  No other team can do that.    

My youngest daughter is in high school and on the swim team.  My wife teaches there as well.  We have been going to the high school basketball tournament and now North Carolina HS basketball playoffs.  Great basketball.  Both Varsity teams were top seeds (1 & 2) and as long as you have the higher seed, you play at home until the Final Four.  

Well we made it to the Elite 8 and both teams ran into ridiculous buzzsaws in front of a packed house standing room only.  The girls ran into the equivalent of David Robinson and Tim Duncan.  One girl was 6-9!  Both games ended in routs and their great seasons ended.  Neither team was expecting anything like what they ran into.  For the Girls, it was #1 vs. #5.  For the Boys, it was #2-#3.  But the way we were run out of the gym had sandbag written all over it.

The point is all the games were very entertaining.  I should take a lesson from the Celtics season and your advice, MrKleen.  I just need to chill and enjoy the ride.  I should enjoy rides like this because it maps directly to my life!  One extreme to the other.  

db

P.S. Looks like we finally caught a break and PHI lost last night as well. Sounds like IND has the schedule from hell to finish up. 3rd place possibly back on the table?!!

3rd place might be nice, but to be honest I'd rather face Indiana in the first round ,then Milwaukee in the second and save Toronto for last.

to me Toronto is the team to beat in the East now.

16-0...wow.

OK then.

The Sacramento Kings are not doormats anymore.  This was the 2nd night of a b2b against a team that needed to win if they wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Good news, we shot over 50%.  Bad news, they shot 50%.  All's well that ends well.

6 Celtics in double figures.  Nice balanced scoring.  

Morris with 19 on 7-16 and 3-8 from 3.  Is he coming out of his slump?  Too soon to tell, but the last two games have been trending positively.

Tatum with a strong game.  A little too much 1-on-1 for my taste, but can't argue with the results.  17 fgas.  That is the most fgas he has taken since 2/13 vs Detroit.  We don't need him to score every time down the floor, we're not the Lakers in the final years of Kobe Bryant, but when Kyrie is out like last night he needs to demand the ball a lot more and last night he did.

Al with a great game too.  21 points on 8-10, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.  Mr. Do-It-All.  Willie Cauley-Stein had a great game too but a lot of that was due to our continuing weakness in preventing the pnr at the perimeter.  Al and Theis were both being put in bad positions because we weren't stopping Fox at the perimeter and he was lobbing to WCS all night as a result.  If there's one thing that has been disturbing me for the past 2 weeks or so is our sudden incompetence at defending the pick-and-roll.

Rozier played better, as he always seems to do as a starter, but I really don't see him as a legit regular NBA starting point guard.  I hope there are GMs who don't agree with me.  He goes Hero Ball too much.  Love his defense and his rebounding but his offensive decision-making is still a work in progress.

Jaylen with another solid, aggressive game.  Didn't score tons but solid and aggressive everywhere.

Hayward, of course, with the game winner.  Only 12 points, but they came on 6-12.  If he's shooting 50% he's going to get a lot more fgas.  And if he hits clutch shots like this his value as a player is greater than the sum of the individual parts of his game.  That's what separates in-demand players from those that are not so much.  The in-demand ones are the ones who want to take, and make, the "big shot".  Remember Robert Horry?  Played until he was 37 years old, averaged 7.0ppg for his career despite playing 24+mpg for his career.  The man has 7 rings.  7.  How did he seem to keep being in the right place at the right time to win 7 Championships?  Just look at his nickname.  "Big Shot Bob".  Keep it up, Gordon.  You're making progress.

De'Andre Fox is going to be special.  He's the next John Wall, a speed merchant who is always under control and runs the floor like greased lightning.  I'm not loving today's NBA, but my beef is mostly with the league and the refs and what they have allowed the league to become.  There are a few players, however, that are worth watching.  Giannis, Luka, Embiid and Fox to name a few.  I'll include Tatum on that list if he learns how to pass the ball and shows he's willing to actually do it.  That's my biggest beef with Jayson Tatum.  He's a passer like the way Kevin McHale was a passer and McHale, as much as we all love him, was a black hole when he was in the low blocks unless he was swallowed up.

I know that all good things eventually come to an end.  Tommy doesn't do road games anymore and Mike is 73 years old, but if the future are The Frat Boys Scal and Draper I'm muting every game from now until the bitter end.  Scal has his moments but when he's with Draper the chemistry between them changes how Scal does his job and it's worse.  Draper, of course, is the an abomination.  Draper is 2nd from the left.  Gary Tanguay is right behind him, bringing up the rear.




Time to go to the Staples and get some payback.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071646





bob



.

Brad said it best in his post game I believe. Some teams come together after 20 games. Some after 60. And some teams never come together and they are the ones watching the playoffs from home. Something like that.

Also, the now Cup o' Gatorade douching of OG and his hair is hilarious! That's how the Celtics should look and act. Remember, this is basketball...not talking a rogue world leader off the ledge of pushing the nuke button. KD is right. Have fun!

db

This game played out the way I expected it to.  It was not an easy game.

What a great clutch shot by GH.  That was a money shot.  No hesitation.  No indecision.  He got the ball and went down there and got us a basket.

Overall I thought Boston was not very patient running their offense.  There was a lot of one on one basketball being played but the talent on this team made a big difference.  

I can see why the Kings have been on the edge of making the playoffs.  They are a fun team to watch.  

2-0 on this trip makes this a  successful trip.  It is the first B2B road games won all season and the first 2 game road wins in a row since Oct 25 and 27th.

Has something changed with this team?  Has a light gone off to help them see their way out of the wilderness?  

Two games does not really alter the standings for the Celtics but this road trip can set this team up for the playoffs where they can go into the post- season with confidence in themselves.  Buying into the system from the top to the bottom of the roster and believing in one another to control their own destiny.

Celtics picked up a game on Philly who lost last night in Chicago.  Just 2 games back.

I still see a 3rd place finish for Boston.

The Pacers with 17 games remaining and 14 out of 17 will be against playoffs teams. Throw the magic in there and that's 15 games.

Bobh,
Re: Celtics road games announcers. I already muted them. After first few minutes I couldn't take any more.
We are spoiled by Mike & Tommy.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Bobh,
Re: Celtics road games announcers. I already muted them. After first few minutes I couldn't take any more.
We are spoiled by Mike & Tommy.

AK

Sinus007

There is a general consensus that Drapper and Scals are over their heads. They were exceedingly aggravating last night.

dboss wrote:Celtics picked up a game on Philly who lost last night in Chicago.  Just 2 games back.

I still see a 3rd place finish for Boston.  

We will kick the shit out of them in the playoffs and they know it....

dboss wrote:Celtics picked up a game on Philly who lost last night in Chicago.  Just 2 games back.

I still see a 3rd place finish for Boston.  

That would be great, and if they keep playing with focus and effort quite doable.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:Celtics picked up a game on Philly who lost last night in Chicago.  Just 2 games back.

I still see a 3rd place finish for Boston.  

We will kick the shit out of them in the playoffs and they know it....

Cow,

I don't think there's any doubt we are renting considerable space in their heads.



bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:Celtics picked up a game on Philly who lost last night in Chicago.  Just 2 games back.

I still see a 3rd place finish for Boston.  

We will kick the shit out of them in the playoffs and they know it....

Cow,

I don't think there's any doubt we are renting considerable space in their heads.



bob


.

Philly is definitely a team that would sell their first born to avoid a matchup with Boston. I think Boston will be fine against Indy, Philly and Milwaukee. It's those Raptors that hold a spell over us (at their Gym)

The good news is that they could be gone before we have to play them.

Ahhh, what a nice break. At least for another day or two, it's all good again with The Celtics.

From all corners of Celtic-fan land I'm hearing...

Tatum doesn't suck and isn't reversing his game to worthlessness. It's OK if he scores more than 10 points a game and creates his own shot again.

Rozier has some value, and doesn't need to be sent to the G league. He may be OK to keep ahead of Wanamaker in the rotation.

Hayward is going to make a full recovery, or possibly already has, and will be named a 2020 All-Star before this season ends.

Morris and Smart can keep their starting jobs, and don't need to be traded to Cleveland.

Stevens is once again a genius, and does not need to return to coaching CYO ball.

Boston is on the road to banner #18 again. They may even be granted the title before the playoffs start, thereby canceling the post-season.

I have to say, I love consistent fan support.

Well we are consistently brutally honest....

The Kings have improved dramatically from last year, but if the "good" Celtics show up they should still beat the Kings every night.  So, even in the second game of a back to back the Cs should have won this game.

Perhaps the point to be learned from last night was that the Cs won yet again without Mr. Irving.

And, with this guy being so unhappy I cannot imagine him re-signing in Boston.  Just too much pressure for him to be the leader of a good team even though he once stated that he wanted to go somewhere to be that leader.  We have all seen a bunch of pro athletes who cannot handle playing in Boston over the years so Irving will not be the first or last guy to join that list.

Perhaps if he were in Sacramento, Memphis or Orlando he would be able to convey his offensive talent into team leadership, but talent alone on a team that is very talented and trying to compete for a championship is not enough.

Every team at every level would always love to have its most talented player be its team leader, but, as Irving is proving in Boston, this is not always the case.  Will he ever figure it out?

Most teams in many sports usually play at a much lower level without its leader. For some reason the Cs are something like 11-2 without Mr. Irving.  This more and more shows that Irving is really not the team's leader although he may be its best talented player.  To make things work better this guy may need to step back and just play while forgetting about hogging the media's attention and pretending to be a real leader.

I will state again, that Ainge may have made the largest mistake of his GM career by not trading Irving at the trade deadline.  Getting a decent player or two and a future draft pick would have been better than watching this player leave at the beginning of July for zero return.

Hi,
Just wanted to add to King vs Celtics.
I didn't watch the whole game but from the part I did I've got an impression that Celtics did struggle with Kings' fast breaks. I hope Brad learnt from this lesson. OTOH, we're in good shape because almost everybody goes half-court in playoffs and for that our defense is very good.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Just wanted to add to King vs Celtics.
I didn't watch the whole game but from the part I did I've got an impression that Celtics did struggle with Kings' fast breaks. I hope Brad learnt from this lesson. OTOH, we're in good shape because almost everybody goes half-court in playoffs and for that our defense is very good.

AK

Sinus007

Every team in the league struggles with the Kings fast break. Per my Up next summary I did mention that they are #1 in the NBA in fast break points and that the kid Fox was a freakin blur end to end. Boston took a lot of quick shots in the game and had problems getting back on defense.

Raptor, Bucks, Celtics and Sixers are 5,6,7 and 8 respectively in fast break points.

In general if Boston plays championship level defense in the playoffs they will be one tough out for any team they face.

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/kings-react-loss-vs-celtics-hilarious-tweet-about-nba-championships?cid=Yahoo&partner=ya4nbcs



Kings react to loss vs. Celtics with hilarious tweet about NBA championships



By Nick Goss
March 07, 2019 11:13 AM



The Sacramento Kings have one of the funniest Twitter accounts in sports, and their latest gem came after Wednesday night's loss to the Boston Celtics at Golden 1 Center.

The Celtics earned a 111-109 victory thanks to a clutch shot from Gordon Hayward in the final 10 seconds of the game. The loss was particularly painful for the Kings, who still have a chance to make the playoffs in the Western Conference but have little margin for error.

Despite the pain of the loss, the Kings still found a hilarious way to share a positive outlook on the night with the following tweet.



Sacramento Kings

@SacramentoKings
well at least we have this... gg, @celtics