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Jayson Tatum drops 38 to lead Celtics over Pacers: 9 takeaways
Tatum got hot from three, and the Celtics pulled away late.
The Celtics got some revenge for their in-season tournament quarterfinal loss to the Pacers on Saturday with a 118-101 victory.
Here are the takeaways.
1. Are we headed into the annual stretch of the schedule where Jayson Tatum goes nuts for a while?
And if so, does that mean the 26-7 record the Celtics boasted before they swept their most recent back-to-back and improved to 28-7 was all the precursor?
Tatum scored 38 points on Saturday after dropping 30 in a blowout win over the Jazz on Friday. He did the bulk of his damage against the Pacers from the 3-point line (8-for-13), which is usually the bellwether for his best stretches in no small part because there’s almost nothing you can do about him when he’s making a high number of 3-pointers. Guard him close, and he can drive and move you aside with his shoulders. Give him space and he makes you pay. Double him and he finds the open man.
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“[I’m] truly at the point where I want to get over that hump, I want to get back to the Finals, I want to help us win a championship,” Tatum told reporters. “What I’m doing, I might not win MVP, but just trying to help us continue to be the best team in the league. If people recognize that and see it, then I appreciate it. But if they don’t, that’s OK.”
Tatum might not win MVP this season, but a huge stretch statistically over the next month or two could bend the narrative in his favor a bit if the Celtics keep winning.
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2. The absence of Kristaps Porzingis hurt the Celtics in their last matchup with the Pacers, and he left Saturday’s game early after being scraped in the eye. Porzingis returned briefly, but asked for a sub shortly afterward and went straight to the locker room, where he remained for the rest of the game after playing just 6:14.
Porzingis later told reporters he was “OK,” but he didn’t take questions.
3. With Porzingis on the bench, Al Horford played just under 30 minutes and pitched in 10 points, the team’s third-highest total.
More importantly, Horford dished out eight assists, and he set his teammates up in a variety of ways. Early in the first quarter, he whipped a tough skip pass all the way across the court to Jrue Holiday for a 3-pointer. He leapt and saved an errant pass from going out of bounds in the fourth and found a driving Tatum for a layup before he landed. He stole a pass, brought the ball up the court himself, then lobbed it to Brown for a two-handed slam that proved to be an exclamation mark.
“We can’t keep taking him for granted,” Tatum told reporters after the game. “Best teammate I ever had. Ultimate professional, and somebody we can count on …. He proved that again tonight.”
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Whoever agreed to come off the bench among the Celtics’ top-six players was always going to feel like an absurd luxury, but Horford’s versatility makes him seem particularly unfair. Need someone to grease the wheels of the offense and keep the ball moving? No problem. Need some rim protection, or a switchable defender? He’s on it (even at his advanced age). Need a corner 3 to space the floor? That’s one of his favorites. Need someone to beat a mismatch in the post? He seems to love barbecue chicken.
Horford is long past his prime, but this version is pretty impressive too.
4. On a night when Tatum was transcendent, it’s easy to lose sight of Jaylen Brown, but he was excellent as well: 31 points, 13-for-20 shooting, and four rebounds. The only area where Brown struggled was the free-throw line (4-for-8, more on free throws in a minute).
Brown got the Celtics off to a strong start by attacking Tyrese Haliburton with enthusiasm in the first quarter, hunting and going at the Pacers’ star. Haliburton couldn’t stay in front of Brown, and he isn’t strong enough to keep Brown from going where he wants, so Brown racked up 17 of his 31 points in the first two quarters as the Celtics built a double-digit lead. Brown also threw down a pair of enormous dunks in the fourth quarter as the Celtics pulled away.
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5. This step-through move is an interesting new wrinkle from Sam Hauser.
Hauser has good size for his position, and he makes defenses close out in a panic when the ball finds him on the perimeter. If he keeps improving his footwork and adding little tricks and counters to his bag, his offensive potential gets pretty interesting.
6. Hauser also participated in a very funny moment with Luke Kornet in the second half. After a foul on the other end of the floor, Hauser tried to step to the free-throw line in Kornet’s place (even though Kornet had been fouled). He nearly got away with it, but officials stopped him just before he took his first free throw.
Kornet made his first free throw, after which he pumped his fist and yelled something at the Celtics bench. NBC Sports Boston’s camera panned to Tatum, who appeared to be having a good chuckle over whatever Kornet said. After Kornet made the second, he pointed to his arm, mimicking D’Angelo Russell’s classic “ice in my veins” celebration, and the bench reciprocated with enthusiasm while cracking up with laughter.
Kornet finished with four points, going 1-for-2 from the field, but his free throws were undeniably icy.
7. The Celtics took zero free throws in the first half, but they finished the game with 19 — nearly as many as the Pacers, who shot 22.
As it turned out, the Celtics might have been better off shooting other shots than getting to the free throw line: They finished 10-for-19 and shot 6-for-14 from the line through the first three quarters.
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Saturday’s shooting was just a weird quirk, of course, but it was odd to see the league’s eighth-best free-throw shooting team (80.1 percent) tossing up bricks.
8. In a game against his old team, Oshae Brissett played just under 20 minutes and scored eight points while pulling down eight rebounds, five of which were offensive. Whenever he gets minutes, Brissett seems to understand his assignment very well (play hard, complement the Jays, don’t try to do too much), which makes him a great candidate for more minutes if the Celtics start resting a bit for the postseason.
9. The Celtics face the Pacers once again on Monday in Indianapolis at 7 p.m. They take on the Pacers again later this month on Jan. 30.
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