Post Game - Celtics at Nets - Saturday, November 04 (W)

Celtics-Nets takeaways: Jayson Tatum makes history as C's stay undefeated

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-nets-takeaways-jayson-tatum-023835333.html

Nick Goss
Sat, Nov 4, 2023, 10:59 PM EDT·3 min read

Celtics-Nets takeaways: Jayson Tatum makes history as C's stay undefeated originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics remain the only undefeated team in the NBA.

The Brooklyn Nets put up a good fight Saturday night at Barclays Center, but they couldn't keep up with the high-powered Celtics, who earned a 124-114 victory to improve to 5-0.

Boston's starters once again led the way with a combined 103 points. Jayson Tatum paced the group with 32 points, but he got plenty of help from Jaylen Brown (23), Kristaps Porzingis (22), Jrue Holiday (18) and Al Horford (eight). Celtics starters have scored 99.8 points per game this season, which is 6.2 points better than the next-highest team's starting five.

The Celtics' road trip continues Monday against the Timberwolves in Minnesota. But before we look ahead to that matchup, here are three takeaways from Celtics-Nets.

Another red-hot start

A lot of teams take a few minutes, or even a full quarter to get into the game and establish a rhythm. Not the Celtics -- they come out firing right from the opening tip.

The Celtics scored 34 points in the first quarter and 36 in the second quarter. Tatum's 3-pointer at the buzzer capped a 12-4 run and gave his team a 70-58 lead at halftime. He had a game-high 21 first-half points.



The Celtics now have scored 70-plus points in the first half in three consecutive games.

The C's are averaging 66.6 points per game in the first half, which leads the league. They've allowed just 246 first-half points through five games for a league-best plus-69 point differential. Boston also ranks No. 2 in first-half field goal percentage (51. and No. 3 in first-half 3-point percentage (43.5).

Slow starts plagued the Celtics at times last season, but they've had no such issues in 2023-24. This team is starting games with the proper focus and execution level. Head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff deserve a lot of credit for having the players ready to go each night.

Jayson Tatum makes history with scoring outburst

Tatum's hot start to the season offensively continued Saturday as he poured in a game-high 32 points on 10-for-20 shooting (6-for-10 from 3-point range).

The Celtics forward needed 16 points to reach 10,000 career points, and he got it in the second quarter on a sweet and-1 layup.

Tatum became the 10th-youngest NBA player and youngest Celtic ever to score 10,000 points. He's also the only player age 25 or younger to tally 10,000 points, 3,000 rebounds and 1,000 3-pointers.

One important area where Tatum has improved from last season is rebounding. He pulled down 11 boards against the Nets and is averaging a career-high 9.5 rebounds per game through five games.

Luke Kornet gives Celtics good minutes off bench

The Celtics need a big man to come off the bench and provide rebounding, good defense and some scoring. Luke Kornet played that role quite well Saturday night.

He scored a season-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting with seven rebounds and one steal in 15 minutes. Most of Kornet's playing time came in the second half and he was effective on both ends of the floor.





The veteran center's positive contributions allowed the Celtics to play Porzingis and Horford 30 minutes each. Keeping those two centers' minutes down will help keep them healthy and fresh come playoff time, which makes performances like the one Kornet gave Saturday so valuable.

The Boston Celtics are now the only undefeated team left in the NBA.  We have the #1 offense (3.6ppg more than #2 Atlanta) and the #7 defense (108ppg, giving up 2ppg more than #6 Toronto).  We have the #1 MoV in the NBA at +18.4ppg.  Philly and the Clippers are tied for 2nd @ +12.2.  This is only after 5 games so "everything in the mirror appears bigger than they actually are", especially after that 50 point blowout of Indy, but it's a helluva good galloping start.  We're not just winning, we're dominating on both ends.  

I know I'm being a bit jaded here, but we should have beaten these bums by more than 10.  They had no bigs, no front court to speak of.  The tallest player in their starting 5 was 6'7".  This should have been the 50 point blowout, not the Indy one.  Jacques Vaughn had them really well prepared mentally despite them being on a SEGABABA.  Their spacing was great, making it hard to close out at the arc or collapse in time for a penetration.  They committed 5 turnovers in the entire game, 2 in the 3rd quarter and 3 in the 4th.  They shot < 33% from 3 on 52 3pt fgas.  If they had shot 40% they would have won the game!  With no front court!!

We put on a great run to go up 12 at the half, in part because of that buzzer beater by Tatum.  We came out for the 3rd and the Nets started off with a 15-6 run to cut the lead to 3.  What does Joe talk about at halftime?  Did he not mention anything about "blowing them out early in the 3rd is good because this is a b2b for them"?

We took 10 more ftas than them.  This will chap Nets fans' butts but you have to expect that when you cannot match up physically.  They only hit 11 of 17 of their fritos.  That's on them.

Jaylen Brown with a forgettable night.  23 points, but on an extremely inefficient 7-22.  He was 2-11 from 3.  I realize shooters have to have almost no short-term memory but that's ridiculous.  Stop shooting 3s when you cannot find the range.  Those are Marcus Smart numbers.

Oshae came in with energy, which is what he does, but he's another one with the 3s.  He was 1-4, all from 3, last night.  He's a career 34% 3pt shooter.  He's shooting 14.3% from 3 so far this season.  Do other things, Oshae, you have other values.

This is Pritchard's 4th bad game out of 5.  0-4, all from 3, only 2 assists.  The only Celtic to not score.


Ok, I'm mostly done ranting.


Sam with a decent game.  5 points on 2-3, 2 steals in 19 minutes.  Doesn't look that great but he played ok.  His defense offset his limited contributions on offense.  That's an area Sam has really improved upon since last season.  Last year they were targeting him.  That's not as obvious a strategy this year.  Yet once again, though, he's not getting enough shots.  Spoelstra runs plays, specifically, for Duncan Robinson.  Doesn't Joe have any plays for Sam?

Tatum with a great night, both ends.  High volume efficiency scoring.  6-10 from 3 saved our bacon.

Z with 23 on 8-10, 7 boards and 3 blocks.  Why not?  Who on Brooklyn was going to stop him?

Al was glue.  Not a great boxscore, but glue.

Jrue was one rebound away from a triple-double.  9 rebounds, 10 assists and 18 points.  4 of his 9 boards were offensive.  Scal and Drew were talking about the Js, Z and Al but Jrue was working both ends of the court.  Brogdon and RWill was a stiff price to pay, but Jrue is paying off.




My game ball, however, has to go to The Green Kornet (in the locker room after the game Joe gave it to Tatum).  This was a game we were seeing from him regularly last season, but haven't seen yet this year.  11 points on 5-5, 7 boards in just 15 minutes.  I've been very nervous about our bench, especially our depth at big, but Luke might have settled me down a bit.  Show me some more games like this one, please.


Jayson Tatum is in the history books.  He needed 16 points to hit 10,000.  The play where he got there was on an absolute Sportcenter multi-spin drive to the rim for a +1 (@ 1:11 on the highlight film).

Ben Rohrbach @brohrbach
about 4 hours ago
Jayson Tatum is the 10th-youngest player to score 10,000 points … 1. LeBron (23 years-59 days) 2. KD (24-33) 3. Kobe (24-194) 4. Melo (24-251) 5. T-Mac (24-272) 6. Giannis (25-45) 7. Devin Booker (25-60) 8. Dwight Howard (25-95) 9. Bob McAdoo (25-137) 10. Tatum (25-246)


John Karalis @John_Karalis
about 4 hours ago
Tatum is the youngest Celtic to 10,000 points, but he's not the quickest to 10k. Larry Bird did it in 439 games. Tatum did it in 444. Bird did it largely without the 3 (Tatum has about 5x the made 3s to get to 10k), but Tatum came in as a 19 year old. Bird was 23 as a rookie


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
NBA History 10,000 points 3,000 rebounds 1,000 3’s Age 25 Jayson Tatum That’s the list…he’s all alone





https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401584764


Bob


.

1. Coronation of Kornet! He and Jrue have replaced the Marcus Smart/RWIII Assist For Easy Basket Play.

2. No DW? No problem. We got this for a game or two. Enjoy your time off. Just don't stay out too much more!

3. Doogie can bomb from deep, just not getting the touches nor the plays to set him up. Pritchard is contributing in non-stat ways that lead to scoring/inspirational play. Very valuable until the scoring/rebounds/assisting kicks in. Still not bad. 20 vs 29 points for bench scoring. This game was a little tighter vs. IND.

4. Jrue almost gets a poor man's 3D!! Really good to know!!

5. BKN will be a tough out come playoff time. Don't fall asleep on them like we did with MIA. Lesson learned.

6. "OldSchool" Inside/Out. It's like today's teams don't know how to defend it. They'll figure it out soon enough but it will be too late and too much work given the look and trend of the rest of the league. Again, do not adjust your TV. "We have assumed control! We have assumed control!! We have assumed control!!!" (Album and Group will suffice for extra credit!! I'd give you a national clue but that would give it away!) This is now Celtic Basketball! Us old timers can't complain!

7. 3-ball not really working? No Problem. The difference in free throw was the difference in the final score. You don't get fouled unless you're going to the basket. Surprise, surprise, surprise!! (Real easy TV show. Character and Series for more extra credit!! Also, rock album had this quote playing in the background. Anyone?)

OK, that's enough trivia!

db

Love the strong fast starts the team is getting off to this year. Hitting and landing first is a good thing, playing with the lead. I don’t think this team will blow as many 28 point leads like last year, because of better coaching and more diversified ways to attack/score. Zinger is so efficient, so patient and can score in so many different ways. So highly skilled, I don’t know why Nets did not start Dayron Sharpe; he is a young dirty work big that could have battled Zinger better than those 6’7” guys.

D White is such a glue guy and efficient scorer/shooter, could easily see the difference in the offense without his movement and passing. He also may be our best 3 point perimeter defender and Nets did a great job sharing ball, getting good 3 point looks, was glad they finally cooled down a bit.

Jaylen is still making some of the same mistakes as before, but he obviously has a lot of strengths which have carried us over the years. A little concerned of the bench, but so many teams starters are already using load management. Horford is 37 and still running the floor, while guys 25-26 like Booker, Zion and Ben Simmons can’t even play back to back this early in season? I agree with Bob H we should have beaten them by more than 10, but we are the only undefeated team left. The Zinger and Holiday accusations have so far exceeded expectations and a sign of a good team to still win on an off night.

Oh almost forgot props to Kornet finding a way to get easy baskets, giving us a spark, showing good hands mostly off Holiday feeds. They actually have been working on some things in practice. Keep it up Luke!!

Got to join the choir, Kornet really played well last night. He finished around the hoop, and his baskets were key. Hope he can become a consistent contributor.

Each game I see Holiday I become more impressed. He's so steady, makes good solid plays, his hoops are usually timely and of course his defense is just outstanding.

Really was a nice win, although I think the Nets are better than people think. Bridges is a very good player and this Cam Thomas is for real. They were missing Simmons, Cam Johnson and Claxton. I think the Nets when healthy are better than the Knicks.

Luke Kornet for President.

The rest of the team was OK too, I guess.

The most obvious element from win #5 was the play of Tatum. 

His play has been pretty spectacular.  

The Celtics beat a team that were missing their shot blocking center and they took full advantage.  

It is still difficult to really judge this team but the contested wins vs the Knicks and Heat displayed mental toughness.   The Nets game was the 1st without a key starter but they were without 3 key players.  I thought the Celtics struggled to stay in front of those guys.  In the end our talent was better and some much needed contributions off the bench made a big difference.

Going into last night's game KP was averaging only 10 or so FG.

I would like to see them get him 15 shots per game.  Apparently he is a perfect fit.  

The T'wolves should be a good challenge given their size.

By the way, the Celtics will beat MN provided they shoot well from deep.

Sota only averages 29 3 pt shots.  They have been winning with defense (99 allowed per game)

Celtics have to start defending the 3 better, teams are just going off on them and hitting from all over. I hate seeing this start to happen again as you give those teams a head of steam and making us look lazy out there

OK. No one bit on the music trivia. Probably too easy.

#6. Album - 2112 Group Rush

#7. Quote was said a lot on Gomer Pyle USMC by Gomer. Pink Floyd had a TV playing in the background of the song Nobody Home from The Wall. It was perfectly timed and landed in the silence of the verse.

db