Jaylen Brown leads Celtics over Timberwolves with hot start, big shot late: 9 takeaways
Boston survived a chaotic final possession by Minnesota to seal the win in regulation.
Jaylen Brown and the Celtics survived a tough afternoon challenge from the Timberwolves on Sunday, claiming a 107-105 victory that came down to the final possession.
Here are the takeaways.
Jaylen Brown started incredibly hot.
Jaylen Brown hit his first 3-point attempt of the game on the Celtics’ second possession of the game. On the next possession, Brown hit his second 3-point attempt of the game. On the next possession, Brown hit his third. Precisely a minute later, he hit his fourth. After picking off a steal, Brown mixed Rudy Gobert up with his handle and buried his fifth. Just three-and-a-half minutes into the game, Brown already had 15 points.
“I had just hit four in a row,” Brown said. “And then, yeah, that one was going up. And then, even having that, even though I hit five, still having shot discipline. I didn’t like six and seven, the next two. I could have been a little bit more patient. It still felt good, no need to rush it. So if I get into that situation again, I’ve got some more good information.”
Brown finally attempted a heat check that was a little too difficult which missed, and he held up a hand to apologize, although there couldn’t have been too many people in the arena upset with his decision-making at that point, and he passed up on a couple of 3-pointers afterward trying to get a better shot for his teammates, which Mazzulla appreciated.
“I went to him, and he was like ‘yeah, I just got to make sure we get our rhythm back as a team,’” Mazzulla said. “It’s great to have guys like him that you could do that, but also can point out where it wasn’t a negative impact, but it was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to get our offensive rhythm and connectivity there.’”
Brown cooled off a bit after his white-hort start, finishing with 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting. He had a couple of nice drives, a couple of nice post-ups, and a solid evening on the defensive end. He also hit maybe the biggest shot of the game with 1:15 remaining – a transition 3-pointer that pushed a tenuous two-point lead to five.
But for the first 3.5 minutes, Brown put together one of the hottest stretches we’ve seen from a Celtics player so far this season. Sometimes a star just catches a heater, and we all get to watch.
The Celtics survived a chaotic final possession.
The Celtics were the better team for lengthy stretches and built a lead as high as 19, but the Timberwolves ground their way back into the game multiple times and created a very solid opportunity for themselves on the final possession – Anthony Edwards drove into the paint and kicked out to Jaden McDaniels in the corner. McDaniels was open because Jrue Holiday was playing free safety on the set, and Jayson Tatum rotated over to defend McDaniels, who swung it to Naz Reid for what would have been the game-winner. McDaniels’ pass was a little low, and Reid had to collect and hoist a tough shot with Jrue Holiday flying out at him. He missed wide left off the rim.
The Celtics defended the possession very well – Brown pre-switched to keep himself on Edwards and forced him far enough under the rim that the Timberwolves star would have had a tough time sneaking in for a layup, Tatum read the play beautifully, and Holiday’s ability to see the entire play developing remains unmatched.
“[Edwards is] good going to his left hand, but I just wanted to crowd him a little bit, make it tough for him and waste some time,” Brown said. “And if he did go up to score, I was going to be able to challenge him at the rim. He kicked it out. I’m not sure if Naz Reid got it off, but I think it was a good defensive possession.”
Anthony Edwards talks a lot of trash.
Edwards is a fun player who injects energy into games by yapping back and forth with opponents.
Edwards has a relationship with both of the Celtics’ stars – he and fellow Georgia native Brown run in similar basketball circles in their home state, and Edwards spent the summer playing alongside Jayson Tatum on Team USA.
Add in how competitive games have been between the Timberwolves and Celtics over the last couple of years, and Sunday’s game had plenty of extra juice.
“It’s a part of the game. It’s basketball,” Brown said when a reporter asked him about Edwards’ trash talk. “At the end of the day it’s nothing personal. Just come out and keep playing ball and being competitive.
“Ant is one of the more competitive guys in this league. He’s one of the young superstars. He plays both sides of the ball, he plays hard, he wants to win. So I have respect for [that]. Plus we’re from the same background, I get it, I know what type of cloth he’s cut from. So to me it’s normal. I don’t see nothing of it. And people should celebrate it more. I think talking is a part of the game.”
Edwards, meanwhile, spoke out publicly about Tatum’s status in the Netflix documentary Starting 5 this summer, saying “y’all trippin’” if you think Tatum is the best player in the league.
“I mean, I saw it,” Tatum said. “We was talking a lot of s— to each other during the summer. I’ve got a pretty good record against Minnesota in my career. That was the one time they beat us so far.”
Edwards finished with 28 points on 9-for-21 shooting, adding nine rebounds and seven assists.
Something new from Derrick White?
Early in the fourth quarter, White finished off one of the nastier moves we’ve seen from him recently. Driving as fast as he could down the floor, White pulled a move out of Edwards’ bag – hitting the brakes hard and slowing down to allow two defenders to fly by as he stopped and dropped in a little jumper.
I don’t feel like this play by Derrick White got enough love.
— Tom Westerholm (@tomwesterholm.bsky.social) November 24, 2024 at 6:38 PM
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White posted 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting to go with nine rebounds, five assists, a steal and a pair of blocks. He scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and was a team-high +8.
White contributed in other areas as well – he finished with five deflections, and he contested eight shots total, second only to Al Horford (10).
“Sometimes it’s handling, sometimes it’s screening,” Mazzulla said. “Sometimes it’s defense, running that loose ball down, or the outlet pass down. [He] just makes big-time plays.”
Tatum found the range again.
Tatum didn’t have a particularly notable game – 26 points, 8-for-21 from the floor, eight rebounds and four assists – but he went 5-for-12 from 3-point range after shooting 0-for-10 from deep against the Wizards on Friday.
“Sometimes that s— just don’t go in,” Tatum said. “I didn’t do anything extra. Actually, we had an off day yesterday, I was chilling with Deuce all day and just came in, excited to play again. I knew I wasn’t going to go 0-for-10 tonight, so it all just balances out.”
Three of Tatum’s four assists came in the first three minutes of the first quarter by feeding a red-hot Brown. Feeding the hot hand can pay off in the box score as well.
The Celtics picked on Rob Dillingham.
The Timberwolves have a massive defensive advantage with Rudy Gobert in the paint (the Timberwolves outscored the Celtics 44-30 in the paint and 28-8 in the first half), and the Celtics were cognizant of him whenever he was on the floor.
But Minnesota also has the type of guard the Celtics love to exploit in Rob Dillingham – a very talented but physically challenged rookie who is listed at 175 pounds. Dillingham came alive in the second half and finished with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, but the Celtics’ job offensively was much simpler whenever he was on the floor.
The Timberwolves are an interesting Western Conference opponent given their combination of size, talent and defensive prowess at the wing – both Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are well above average defending on the perimeter with size and length.
Dillingham’s presence, however, might simplify things a little too much for the Celtics for the Wolves to play him significant minutes the next time the two teams meet.
More solid minutes for Xavier Tillman.
One game after being dusted off against the Wizards, Tillman once again played a more extensive role on Sunday. He played 14 minutes and scored three points with four rebounds, but he was solid on the defensive end and once again looked like he might merit more playing time as the season progresses.
“Just more switching,” Mazzulla said when asked what Tillman brought. “Ability to have more switching there. It’s a credit to him. Luke [Kornet] was out, but Neemis [Queta] and those guys, we just have to take take advantage of the versatility that our bench provides vs. different matchups and have to be able to go to different stuff, and so it’s key that those guys constantly stay ready and they all got to play their part, and they do a good job of that.”
Ray Allen was in attendance.
The former Celtics star hasn’t always had a great relationship with Boston, but he got a nice ovation when he was shown on the Jumbotron in the first quarter of Sunday’s game. Later, Allen joined the NBC Sports Boston broadcast as well as the radio broadcast, and he signed autographs for fans near the media section.
Fences, it seems, have been mended.
A back-to-back and a break.
The Celtics return to action on Monday evening when they take on the Clippers at 7:30 p.m. They will have two days off before traveling to Chicago to take on the Bulls on Friday in their final game of NBA Cup group stage play.
“For one, they obviously got some guys out, they lost Paul George and they have guys that are new to the team, and they have guys that have a bigger role and more freedom,” Tatum said when asked about the Clippers. “Not necessarily looking over their shoulder and a lot of guys, obviously, everybody plays better when they have more room to be free and learn things.
“Obviously they still got James Harden who is one of the best players of all time. On any given night, he can go off or obviously he leads that team in assists, so that should be a fun one tomorrow night and look forward to the game.”
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