POST GAME NOP - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Blows 24-Point Lead, Loses To Pelicans In OT
This one got crazy down the stretch


NESN by Abigail Adams

That was a tough one.

Boston blew a 24 point lead in the second half of their 118-115 overtime loss to New Orleans Pelicans Sunday afternoon at Smoothie King Center.

The Celtics fell to 15-15 while the Pelicans moved to 13-17.

Here’s how it all went down.

More NBA: Celtics Rumors: Marcus Smart ‘Unlikely’ To Return Before All-Star Break

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Tristan Thompson
C: Daniel Theis

QUICK BOUNCE BACK
Things looked pretty grim early in this one, but the C’s managed to turn things around quickly.

Boston’s defense was shaky to start, allowing New Orleans to open the game with an 11-2 run led by Lonzo Ball.

But the C’s found its groove as the quarter progressed, even taking the lead on a Semi Ojeleye triple with 3:51 left in the first. Brown gave the team a much-needed boost with 11 points, four rebounds and five assists.

Boston extended its lead to five at one point, though New Orleans tied things back up with 49.1 seconds on the clock.

Still, the C’s managed to take a 30-28 lead into the second courtesy of a last-second Nesmith put-back.

BALANCED BALL
Boston’s dominance didn’t fade in the second.

The C’s built a double-figure lead just 2 1/2 minutes in. Their defense looked much better than it did to start the game, which allowed Boston to maintain this lead throughout the quarter.


Tatum (17 points five rebounds, one steal) was the one to step up this time.

Aaron Nesmith (seven points, two rebounds, two steals) and Robert Williams (four points, five rebounds) also provided support on both ends of the court.

Perhaps Boston’s biggest accomplishment in the first half was keeping Williamson quiet. The 20-year-old put up just four points and had three of the Pelicans’ 10 first-half turnovers.

Ball and Ingram bolstered New Orleans’ offense with 13 points apiece, while Willy Hernangomez collected an impressive 12 rebounds.

The Celtics entered halftime up 63-47.

NOTHING NEW
Not much changed in the third (or the second half, for that matter).

Boston’s lead hovered around 20 points for much of the quarter thanks to some seamless play on both ends of the court. At one point, the Celtics’ lead sat at 24.

Williams and Brown connected multiple times in Sunday’s contest, but this lob might be the best of them all.


New Orleans did go on a 7-0 run in the latter half of the third, but Nesmith put a stop to it with an And-1.


Boston regained control and took a 87-74 advantage into the final frame.

PELICANS PUSH BACK BIG TIME
You had to know things would get interesting here.

The fourth started with a JJ Reddick ejection after the Pelicans guard picked up his second technical foul in a matter of 30 seconds. And that was just the start of one crazy quarter.

New Orleans quickly gained momentum and trimmed Boston’s lead to three with just under seven minutes left in the game. A Brown triple brought the Celtics’ lead back up to six, but an Ingram and-1 erased that progress in no time.


Ingram didn’t stop there, though, tying things up at 98-all with a beautiful shot from beyond the arc.


Nicolo Melli gave the Pelicans the lead with his own 3-pointer just 30 seconds later.

The teams traded buckets throughout the final four minutes of the game and wound up tied at 104 points apiece with 1:48 to play in regulation. Walker missed the go-ahead 3-pointer roughly a minute later, allowing the Pelicans to quickly collect and draw a foul on the opposite end of the court.

Ball gave New Orleans an one-point lead with his resulting free-throw.

Tatum nailed his go-ahead jumper to put Boston up one, but Williamson took the lead right back for the Pelicans with a key and-1 with 6.9 on the clock.

Tatum came in clutch once again, though, with an easy floater to tie the game at 108 with 0.2 to go.


So, off to overtime they went.

THE END
Things stayed relatively even for most of OT, but New Orleans ultimately prevailed.

Williams kept the Celtics in it late with some more stellar defense, which allowed Boston to capitalize on the transition and take a one-point lead with 1:02 left.

Ingram tied things up with a free throw before turning around and hitting a go-ahead triple thanks to a double-lane violation.

Ingram wasn’t perfect, though, and fouled Brown while the swingman was attempting a 3-pointer of his own. He made all three free throws to make it a two-point game with 16.3 seconds left.

A missed free throw by Josh Hart opened up the door for the C’s, but Boston simply couldn’t finish the job. The Pelicans went on to win 118-115.

PLAY OF THE GAME
AGAIN! AGAIN!


UP NEXT
The Celtics are off to Dallas for Tuesday’s matchup with the Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

I JUST FELT THIS IN MY BONES.

NOW LET THE FINGER POINTING BEGIN!

112288

Pure disgrace, we were playing great in 1st half off defense and great ball sharing and movement despite Jaylen and Kemba being ice cold. Then all this iso ball with Jaylen and Kemba still ice cold was recipe for disaster. At same time they doubled Tatum everytime toward end of 3rd. What did Brad do? Nothing kept going to Tatum high with a double coming. Stopped going to Jaylen at top initiating and Kemba kept on going iso iso. If Brad coached this crap he should be fired for idiotic strategy, if the players did it themselves, tuning out Brad, then he’s lost team and should be fired. What a pitiful display of basketball, how could Kemba keep on being allowed to shoot like that? What a f..king disgrace!!!! Kemba has too many games like Kyrie vs Milwaukee, just put in PP you moron, he couldn’t be historically worse. Make the right play, disgusting, indescribable ineptness.

Whoever said we should have kept TRo instead of getting Kemba - and at 1/2 the price!!! - certainly was prescient.

worcester wrote:Whoever said we should have kept TRo instead of getting Kemba - and at 1/2 the price!!! - certainly was prescient.

Dboss come on down, you are the winner of “the guy is right”!

Disgusting. This is one that I lay squarely on the players. I cant blame Brad for this one. Yes he could have put in PP for Walker but he probably had confidence that Walker would hit at least one shot toward the end and Walker couldn’t do it-and he should’ve, at least one!
At this point I don’t know what to think. Just watch. Because I’m tired of hearing all the post game between game talk from these guys. Just play up to your potential or get the f out of town and make room for someone else.

Dboss was right

Yes, dboss's % is much better than a broken clock's.

I have not been on the Robert Williams train, but if there is room I would like to climb aboard please. Dude may continue to make mental miscues, but what I’m seeing him do on the good plays far outweighs the bad.

Play him many more minutes, let him make mistakes and stay in the game, and let him become all that he can be! It will pay off if not this post season then next year for sure.

bobc33 wrote:I have not been on the Robert Williams train, but if there is room I would like to climb aboard please.  Dude may continue to make mental miscues, but what I’m seeing him do on the good plays far outweighs the bad.

Play him many more minutes, let him make mistakes and stay in the game, and let him become all that he can be!  It will pay off if not this post season then next year for sure.

+1

Ditto bobc

He plays real good next to Theis, but hardly saw that line up today.

DITTO BobC

112288

I got everything except shot at for suggesting Rozier had shown enough to be a keeper and the team's PG. Interesting to see some think he was OK after all. Unfortunately Scary Terry isn't walking through that door.

OK, BobC. I'm joining in and agreeing with you.

NYCelt, you were ridiculed unfairly for noting the comparative values of Tro and Kemba. Any good accounting firm would have sided with you. Now any NBA GM would agree also.

NYCelt wrote:I got everything except shot at for suggesting Rozier had shown enough to be a keeper and the team's PG. Interesting to see some think he was OK after all. Unfortunately Scary Terry isn't walking through that door.

In retrospect keeping Rozier was probably the right move... But so was not trading for Irving...

Rozier was never and probably will never be a point guard that can run a team. He is a great wing to have though (SG, SF, PG that does not pass you pick)

We would have needed to get an actual PG if we have kept Rozier, or just let him grow with the Js... ah well... We have had the grumpy Irving the master of team implosions and the smiling Kemba that cannot hit a shot instead. Some you win, some you lose I guess

That's about going to do it. It's going to take a nuclear bomb to fix things here now. Danny's waited too long. Maybe Wic and Grousbeck have waited too long. But again, it's coming.

"And the 14th pick in the 2021 NBA draft goes to..."

db

Interesting to note that when Rozier left Boston, the majority of this stats went up!

Just saying................

112288

Boston also needs to somehow shed the "Injury Destination Capital of the NBA" moniker while they're at it.

Nuclear options will now include MS and either of the J's. This is all sad and could have been avoided.

db

We can keep RWill, MS, JT, JB, and AN as our core going forward and still succeed. Brad is the one we may kiss goodbye. Danny should still stay, though I doubt he boots Brad.

It's whether Wic and Grousbeck think the house is on fire or not. They can clean out both. You're right, though. Danny is entrenched on Brad.

db

Rozier’s last year here all he did was pout it seemed, his stats and efficiency were terrible, is it easier to put up stats on a bad team, yes. He would not be getting all those fga’s here playing with 2 J’s. Danny should have done his homework and checked Kemba’s injury history. There was a reason the Suns would not give the great Amare Stoudamire a max contract, it looks like the Knicks who got 2 productive years from Stoudamire got more production than we will get from Kemba.

It’s not that he’s missing shots, ofcourse that’s bad to his degree, but when he is ice cold to keep on gunning is beyond ludicrous. When he doesn’t have it, he’s got to defer much more and get less minutes. Brad the idiot has to know when to rein him in....

Wic and Grousbeck have merged into one person.

Wyc Grousbeck
Governor of the Boston Celtics
Wycliffe "Wyc" K. Grousbeck is an American entrepreneur who is the majority owner and Governor of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics. Wikipedia
Born: June 13, 1961 (age 59 years), Worcester, MA
Spouse: Emilia Fazzalari (m. 2017)
Children: Kelsey Grousbeck, Campbell Grousbeck
Parents: H. Irving Grousbeck, Sukey Grousbeck
Education: Noble and Greenough School, University of Michigan Law School, Princeton University
Siblings: Anne Grousbeck


I was surprised and proud to see he was born in Worcester. I also see he went to Noble and Greenough School, where my 1968 girlfriend's dad, Eliot Putnam,  was once Headmaster. He left in 1971, probably two years before Wyc got there. Rita Putnam was one of the most beautiful gals I'd known. She collected boyfriend's like flowers in the Spring, and we were all glad to be plucked, if only to be part of her bouquet for a very short while, until we withered and were forgotten.

worcester wrote:Wic and Grousbeck have merged into one person.

Wyc Grousbeck
Governor of the Boston Celtics
Wycliffe "Wyc" K. Grousbeck is an American entrepreneur who is the majority owner and Governor of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics. Wikipedia
Born: June 13, 1961 (age 59 years), Worcester, MA
Spouse: Emilia Fazzalari (m. 2017)
Children: Kelsey Grousbeck, Campbell Grousbeck
Parents: H. Irving Grousbeck, Sukey Grousbeck
Education: Noble and Greenough School, University of Michigan Law School, Princeton University
Siblings: Anne Grousbeck


I was surprised and proud to see he was born in Worcester. I also see he went to Noble and Greenough School, where my 1968 girlfriend's dad, Eliot Putnam,  was once Headmaster. He left in 1971, probably two years before Wyc got there. Rita Putnam was one of the most beautiful gals I'd known. She collected boyfriend's like flowers in the Spring, and we were all glad to be plucked, if only to be part of her bouquet for a very short while, until we withered and were forgotten.

You always were and still are a lady’s man