Derrick White, Jayson Tatum lead Celtics over Pelicans in late rally: 9 takeaways
A combative Joe Mazzulla said he hoped the Celtics would have to come back from deficits more often.
The Celtics battled through cold shooting in the first half and rallied in the fourth quarter to claim a 118-112 win over the Pelicans on Monday.
Here are the takeaways.
1. With 6:27 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Celtics trailing by three, Jaylen Brown backed Dyson Daniels into the paint, which pulled C.J. McCollum away from Derrick White. Brown bounced a pass out to White, who buried a 3-pointer and threw both of his hands into the air as if to say, “Finally.”
Prior to that play, White was struggling enormously. He made a 3-pointer in the first half, but he was 1-for-8 after three quarters before shaking off his slump with 5-for-6 shooting in the fourth.
“Obviously, it’s been a little bit of a struggle,” White said after the game. “Everybody was just telling me, ‘Stay confident, keep shooting.’ They were just trusting me, so it’s good to reward that trust from my teammates.”
White noted that he might not have taken the rest of his shots in previous years, but the Celtics were very glad he did. He buried a pick-and-roll 3-pointer as the Pelicans fretted about Tatum shortly afterward, and he pivoted between defenders for a tricky layup afterward. By the time White rattled in his final 3-pointer, the Celtics were in control.
A reporter asked Joe Mazzulla if it’s difficult for a player like White to maintain belief in himself when things aren’t going well.
“I guess it’s tough,” a combative Mazzulla said (more on this in a minute). “It shouldn’t be that tough, because as I told him, we support you, we’ve got your back. We need you. So I don’t care. As long as you’re taking great shots and you’re playing on both ends of the floor, just be yourself. I think that’s important.”
White finished with 17 points on 6-for-14 shooting.
2. The second half looked a lot different for the Celtics’ stars as well. Jaylen Brown scored 13 of his 22 points in the final two quarters, including an aggressive finish in transition as well as the dagger 3-pointer with a minute remaining. Jayson Tatum, meanwhile, dropped 14 of his 28 points. Both players flirted with triple-doubles: Brown scored 22 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out seven assists, while Tatum finished with 28-10-8.
“We just had to play clever,” Tatum said. “New Orleans was just too comfortable in the first half. Our presence wasn’t really felt in the beginning. We just had to make a series of plays. We had to play tougher, play with more pace, things like that. Basketball is a game of runs. We just had to make some plays, and the crowd got into it and we kind of feed off of that.”
3. Something seemed to have irked Joe Mazzulla in the aftermath of the Celtics’ loss to the Clipper, although it’s not entirely clear what. In an answer about the Celtics’ offense in the first half, Mazzulla said there is a “sense of entitlement” around the team that says the Celtics are “supposed to play amazing basketball every quarter, every game.”
A reporter asked Mazzulla to clarify, and he noted that he doesn’t believe the team is entitled, just that there is a narrative around the team he doesn’t appreciate.
“I just think this, it just happens. It just happens,” Mazzulla said. “Being down 10 in the NBA is really not, like, foreign to 99 percent of the NBA. That happens all the time. So at halftime, I said that. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ It’s a 10-point game. It’s three possessions. It’s an NBA game. The idea of having to go battle for a win, like earn a win is like, ‘Celtics have to earn a win tonight?’ Like, yeah. We’re playing in the NBA. It’s a good team. So like, we can’t lose sight of the fact that we have to earn a win every night. It’s going to be just as hard tomorrow. Doesn’t matter if the record is 5-20 or they’re undefeated. You see it all around the league.”
Mazzulla added that he hopes the Celtics have to rally for wins more often.
“I hope we get 10 more of them,” he said. “Like, I don’t want to be in a position where everything goes our way. So whatever we have to go through, whatever. It’s important for us.”
4. The Celtics were without both Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet. Al Horford stepped in capably, finishing with 11 points (3-for-6 from three), eight rebounds and four assists, but Neemias Queta was relatively quiet in his 10 minutes. Porzingis doesn’t sound likely to be out for long – he was listed as “questionable” before the game, and Mazzulla said his status is “day to day.”
5. The Celtics threw a number of defenders at Zion Williamson, and the Pelicans star was able to handle most of them at various points with his deeply unique combination of skill, strength and explosive athleticism. Even Brown and Jrue Holiday – both of whom have good size and strength of their own – went flying when Williamson bumped them, and his ability to get into the paint, clear space for himself and elevate high above defenders was on full display en route to 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting.
On the other hand, Williamson wore down defensively, and the Celtics were able to take advantage by driving right past him late. There aren’t many players more intriguing than Williamson, but there also aren’t many players who both give and take more over the course of a game.
6. White helped the Celtics pull away in the fourth quarter, but Holiday was crucial in the third as they stayed attached to the Pelicans and set up their fourth quarter run, scoring 12 points including two spot-up 3-pointers and two layups. He finished with 20 points total on 7-for-11 shooting.
7. On the lighter side: A man who looks somewhat like Jaylen Brown dressed in a full Celtics uniform and took pictures with fans outside TD Garden over the weekend. His presence went viral and was featured on SportsCenter and plenty of high-profile social-media accounts.
Brown, like everyone else, saw it and was a little confused.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m not sure how I should take it,” Brown said. “I guess it is a form of flattery. I know a lot of people got a lot of laughs about it. It’s cool, I guess.”
8. Brown also hit the Pelicans with the Kiss of Death celebration after his last 3-pointer, which Tatum popularized.
Brown said Tatum got it from him, but he was magnanimous about sharing.
“He can borrow it,” Brown said. “Usually, we both do it a great time. Usually that means we either won the game or winning the game. I’ll take it.”
9. The Celtics will return to action Tuesday with their fifth and (perhaps mercifully) final game against the Pacers this season. This time, however, the Pacers have a new face: New acquisition Pascal Siakam, who was dealt to Indiana from the Raptors.
“Tough team. Hungry team,” Brown said. “Obviously they play fast, got a lot of young guys who are hungry. It won’t be easy for us back-to-back. We’ll have to come out and be ready to play, because if not, they can get out and get hot early. They’ve been playing well. They got addition with Pascal Siakam, so I think that makes them better. We’ve got to be ready. They’re a different look, but we’ve got to be ready.”
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