Jayson Tatum notches his first 40-piece of the season: 6 takeaways from Celtics vs. Magic
Tatum and Derrick White lifted the Celtics on a lackluster night.
The Celtics remained undefeated with a 126-120 victory over the Magic on Saturday, sweeping their two-game Florida stretch.
Here’s what happened.
The Big Picture
The Celtics got a big boost from Jayson Tatum early after he took exception to an aggressive closeout by Paolo Banchero. But the Celtics looked a little lackluster and traded barbs with the Magic throughout the first half and entered the break tied at 58-58.
The exchange of baskets continued throughout the third quarter and into the fourth, as the Magic shook off shooting woes from their first two games and hit 47.4 percent from the floor (44.1 percent from behind the arc).
But the Celtics did just enough late, getting big contributions from both Tatum and Derrick White as they pulled out a win that left Tatum frustrated but boosted their record to 3-0.
“If we’re trying to get back to where we want to be, we got to be way better than this,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin after the game.
Star of the Game
Jayson Tatum — 40 points (14-for-21, 4-for-10 from 3-point range), eight rebounds
Tatum recorded his first exclamation point game of the season. With several of his teammates struggling from the field, he started hot and finished strong. The Magic had no answers for him, but maybe they can be excused — fewer and fewer teams do.
What It Means
The Celtics are a good team that can get away with a bad night and still claim a victory against a mediocre team. That bodes well as they look to claim a high seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Takeaways
1. Derrick White had one of his best games in a Celtics uniform, notching 27 efficient points which included 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. Increasingly, White looks like a real threat from the corners, which is crucial on a team moving the ball as well as the Celtics.
White also had one of the biggest defensive plays of the game — after throwing down a big dunk that pushed the Celtics’ lead to five, White took a charge that gave the Celtics a chance to essentially push the game out of reach.
2. The Celtics were due for a letdown after starting their season against two genuine contenders, and the second night of a back-to-back on the road against a young Magic team with a ton of flaws but plenty of talent was a prime candidate. The Magic made the Celtics work for everything, even though the Celtics felt like they were generally in control. Expect Franz Wagner and Banchero to be a very fun duo for a long time, once they figure out how to play together (which can certainly be a process … just ask the two star wings on the other side of the court).
3. Jaylen Brown started the season in impressive fashion, but he had a rough outing on Saturday — 4-for-16 from the floor and 1-for-6 from 3-point range. Given that he was averaging 31.5 points per game after the first two contests, Saturday’s 12-point stinker shouldn’t be particularly concerning.
Marcus Smart, meanwhile, is yet to find the range from 3 — he was 1-for-9 on Saturday, which dropped him to 2-for-17 (11.7 percent) from the floor for the season.
4. Sam Hauser, on the other hand, is an absolute flamethrower. He played extended minutes in the first half and buried three of his four 3-point attempts in just 6:46 of playing time. Hauser is a major luxury for the Celtics — an automatic shooter who needs no time and no space to get his shot off, but who barely cracks the rotation.
The Celtics made the most of Hauser’s brief time on the floor Saturday. He floats well when he’s off the ball, finding space when the defense sags to contain penetration, and Malcolm Brogdon targeted him twice for two of his three triples. On Hauser’s other 3-pointer, the Celtics ran an out-of-bounds play where he was the primary target racing to the corner.
If Hauser continues to shoot like this, he will make a strong case for extended minutes in the future. The Celtics are collapsing the defense and moving the ball well enough to make him a major issue for opposing defenses, and his 3-point barrages look like demoralizing stretches for a defense.
5. Jayson Tatum’s bag of tricks is wide and varied, and he showed how many different kinds of buckets he can get on Saturday.
He also showed improved decision-making.
That layup was Tatum’s second basket of the game. He might have exploded for 40 even if he didn’t get himself going with an easy basket, but seeing an early one go down certainly didn’t hurt.
Per Taylor Snow of Celtics.com, Tatum is now the first player in Celtics history to score 100 points in the first three games of a season. If Tatum is hoping to contend for a certain end-of-season accolade, he is off to a good start.
6. Remember when pre-game handshakes were … just pre-game handshakes?
Us either. What a boring time that must have been.
The Celtics travel to Chicago to face the Bulls on Monday at 8 p.m.
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