POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Pulls Away Despite Poor Shooting Night From Jayson Tatum
The Celtics improved to 11-10 on the season


NESN by Sean T. McGuire

Boston snapped a two-game losing skid with the win and improved to 11-10 on the campaign. The C’s now have won four of the last six. The Raptors fell to 9-11 on the season.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Celtics may have got back in the win column, but Jayson Tatum, the lone multi-time All-Star on the roster, struggled from the field. Tatum finished 2-for-16 from the floor and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc for eight points. It was his first game in single digits this season and the worst single-game shooting performance. Tatum has been up-and-down this season, and his struggles have been highlighted throughout the recent stretch. He is 15-for-55 including 4-for-21 from long range during the last three games.

It’s worth noting, though, that Tatum did come away with 10 assists, which was a team high and new season-high, and seven rebounds. He was plus-13 in the game. He was getting teammates involved as Toronto defenders focused on him, which was a positive sign during an otherwise underwhelming performance. Still, the Celtics will need more from Tatum from a scoring perspective.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Al Horford recorded his eighth double-double of the season (18 games). Horford finished with 17 points on 5-for-9 from the field with 11 rebounds and two assists.


UP NEXT
The Celtics return to TD Garden on Wednesday to host the Philadelphia 76ers.

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I don't remember ever seeing a player of JT's quality shooting the ball so badly for such an extended period. It's got me bamboozled

The writer praises Al and deservedly so, but fails to mention that the Celts closed the game with Freedom (Kanter). I have not seen Kanter this active in his previous stint here. He played well.

I've seen half of the game. Pleased with the "W", though! Will try to watch the rest sometime today or tomorrow before commenting. Not sure on the JT conundrum. Al is doing well and probably should be recognized for going beyond the call of duty. While we all know he has been a very reliable double-double guy in the past and management may have been expecting the old Al to still be present, I think in closed rooms they are high-fiving and doing cartwheels concerning his performances to date. Like they stole something and got away with it. Congrats, Al. A true Celtic.

db

A lot of people might focus on the negatives of this game, and they are there for the taking.  Tatum's shooting, our overall fg%, our 17 turnovers, our 35% 3pt shooting, you can just run your eyes down the boxscore and see them.  I'll get to those later but first I want to focus on the good stuff.  It's the season for giving so, here I go.

The best player on the floor for the Celtics in the first half was, arguably, Grant Williams.  He was opening the floor up with his shooting and he was right there on every defensive switch and rotation.  The worm has definitely turned for Grant.  He's figured out what he can do and what he can't and he is playing within himself.  I don't know if 15 points is his season (or career high) but we needed it on a night when our top scorers weren't going off.  He was 3-4 from 3, bringing his season-to-date 3pt fg% up to 43%.  He is 22nd in the league in 3pt fg% and some of the players ahead of him (e.g Mike Muscala, Valanciunas, Doug McDermott, Dosunmu, Tyus Jones) have fewer 3pt fgas than him.  So, who knows?  If Grant keeps hitting and they miss a few he could be in the top 20 easily.  When you consider some of the shooters we have in this league that's pretty impressive.

Check out the help defense block at the rim at about the :42 mark.  It's not a long highlight film but you can see how relaxed and effortlessly Grant is shooting.  You also see his BBIQ on display.




Al Horford was all over the court, had his hands in just about everything to start the game.  We went down early in the 1st quarter as we couldn't throw the ball into Lake Erie from the edge of the pier but Al was doing absolutely everything that could be done to not have that get too ridiculous.  He really set the tone that he did not want to lose this game due to nonchalance.  17 points on 5-9 and 11 rebounds in just 26 minutes is the kind of leadership we need from our elder statesman with RWill out.

Dudley Do Right found Josh Richardson and it's a good thing he did.  18 points in 27 minutes off the bench.  He's not known as a scorer but if he can deliver 15-18 ppg like this with any kind of regularity, and play his sticky defense, we're good.  He played 11 minutes out of 12 in the 4th, which goes to Ime's confidence in Josh and should make Josh feel happy he signed that extension with the Celtics (whether he stays here for it all is another issue.  I do think Ime loves his defense and Ime is a 'defense first' coach).  Josh was 3-4 for 6 points in the 4th.  While I'm not a big fan of the +/- stat I will mention that Josh was a +19 after 3 and a team high and game high +23 after 4.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Ime Udoka said Josh Richardson was gassed pretty son into his first stint returning from the flue. Josh Richardson: "Six minutes in, I went to Ime and told him, 'Get me out of here!'"




Romeo with only 5 points on 1-5 but a career high 8 rebounds, 3 of them offensive, which you know puts a smile on my face.  There ya go, young man!  If one part of your game isn't working contribute in other ways.

The Celtics are the worst team in the league in the 4th quarter.  The.  Worst.  We won every quarter last night but, through 3, our total lead was only 4 and everybody knows we can be put into a swoon in the 4th.  But last night our heart was beating.  Smart with 8 of his 21 points in the 4th.  He was an abysmal 4-13 through 3, 2-8 from 3, but ended up 7-16 and 4-10 from 3 on the night.  A 3-3 4th.  The same way Laker fans were in awe of how Kobe would just will his team over the finish line that's what we've got with Marcus Smart.  He's not Kobe, I'm not saying that, but his competitive will does bear a resemblance.




We were 11-24, 45.8%, 7 assists and 2 turnovers and a steal in the 29 point 4th.  That's good work.  The Raptors, by comparison, were 7-22.

Enes Kanter Freedom (he's becoming an American citizen today and is, reportedly, changing his name to Enes Kanter Freedom.  I guess Enes World Peace was sorta already taken) was a work horse.  9 points and 10 boards in 22 minutes and, most shockingly, some halfway decent defense!  Not perfect, to be sure, but he wasn't rooted like a fixed monument on defensive rotations and pnrs, which he has been particularly terrible at.  A board monster who plays even decent defense off the bench?  I will definitely take that.  

Ok, now that you've got the honey, time for the castor oil.

Tatum with the worst shooting I've seen in a very long time.  He was blowing bunnies.  It had definitely gotten into his head.  His season-to-date fg% is 39.5%.  His 3pt fg% is 32%.  Last year he was getting doubled, constantly.  He took 16 fgas, which you have to expect from a shooter no matter how well they are shooting, shooters are notorious for their short-term memory on shots.  What he focused on instead was floor generalship.  10 assists and only 4 turnovers.  He had 3 turnovers in the first half, so he only had 1 in the entire 2nd half.  His shooting in the 4th was just as bad as in the first 3 quarters, he was 1-9 through 3 and was 1-7 in the 4th, but he also had 4 rebounds and 5 assists in the 4th.  A potentially positive growth game for Tatum as he realizes how to contribute to a win without being a human bucket.

31 ftas.  Can't wait to read the Comments From The Other Side later today.  Raptor fans' heads must have exploded.  The reffing was awful.  When they start seeing referree jerseys being sold at the concession stands that's when they should think the game is all about them.  Until then, no.

Pritchard has regressed.  He is playing very tentatively.  I understand why, but it's not helping him.  That's one thing that Aaron Nesmith has going for him.  When he gets in the game, and he didn't last night, he goes balls-to-the-wall from whistle.

27-8 fast break points in their favor.  Not good transition defense in part because missed 3s often produce long rebounds and long rebounds are fast break opportunities.  

Speaking of 3s, they took 43.  They don't really have a true center, so they bomb away, have active PFs and run, run, run.  They also have 9-12 record, and you are your record.

Boston Celtics @celtics
yesterday
Marcus Smart: "To be able to bounce back against a good team like Toronto, in their house, it just shows the type of team we are. We’re always going to continue to fight no matter what."

We're off until Wednesday, when we play the Sixers. They are 10-10 and in 11th place in the east. Let's see how ready Ime can get these guys for that game.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360126


Bob


.

Hi,
Yes, it was a W. Which is great.
The game was a mixed bag of good and bad. But what bothers me the most is the end of the game. It looked similar to the ending of the previous game. Thankfully, Raptors started to disintegrate in the last 2-3 minutes, unlike SAS. That, IMO, saved the day for the Celtics.

AK

Overall a much better effort moving the rock resulting in 3 players not named Jaylen or Jayson scoring more points than either of them did.

Sixers up next.

Anybody out there know what type of illness Rob is suffering from?

I was texting my middle son today making a comparison between Grant Williams and Ben Simmons.  I know, hold on!

Let's face it, Grant Williams could not throw a 3-ball in the ocean at the start of the year if he was 5 miles out at sea and drowning.  0-26 or 1-26 was it?!  But he decided to take most if not all of his shortened summer "break" from basketball this year and launch as many 3-balls as he could and probably hired a shooting coach at his own expense.  You don't turn things around that quickly doing it any other way when you suck as bad as he did.  But he realized he could improve a part of his game.    

Enter Ben Simmons.  A perennial All-Star no less but one who has gaping holes in his game.  Can't make a shot outside of 10 feet from the basket.  People (media) decide to "pick on" him and ream him a new one over the yips and the bricks from downtown.  He implodes.

Now here is the lesson I wanted my son to get.  Grant Williams is no All Star...yet.  Not even close.  May never be one.  He's an undersized 5 at best.  But he will hassle you and get in your head on defense.  He decided to jump before the critics jumped all over him and has now consistently become our most accurate 3-point shooter practically overnight.  

Ben could have made his life and his game so much easier and WAY more valuable if he had just taken any summer to work on ANYTHING!  But now his (contract) value is like what happens to a very taut balloon that gets poked with a very sharp pin.  Now it's catch a falling knife and no one is reaching out to grab it.

My point to my son?  Had to take a line or two from Glengarry Glen Ross.

A
B
H

A - Always
B - Be
H - Hungry

Always Be Hungry.  ALWAYS Be Hungry.

He got the message loud and clear.  But Ben's not hungry.  He'll wind up in the "SAC" graveyard or something.  All because he didn't think he needed to improve his game or he thought he deserved a trophy for showing up.  Ben has no idea what losing is about to feel like, financially nor on the court.  There will always be a Grant Williams out there, significantly less talented but with some vision and some heart that will steal a job right out from someone who is far more talented.      

Wow!

db

dbrown4 wrote:
My point to my son?  Had to take a line or two from Glengarry Glen Ross.

A
B
H

A - Always
B - Be
H - Hungry

Always Be Hungry.  ALWAYS Be Hungry.

db

If we’re doing motivational Alec Baldwin movie quotes I would go with “Cookies are for closers.”

Maybe Ben just needs a cookie clause in his next contract.

"Always be closing".

"Coffee is for closers"

My favorite (and the one I lived by when I was in sales, which lasted >25 years) is "as everybody knows first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado.  Anyone want to see second prize?  Second prize is a set of steak knives"  




PITA Bob


.

Third Place? Hit the bricks because you're fired!!

Did anyone know that that scene was not in the original play?!

This has to be one of the most re-played scenes of all time.

db