Kristaps Porzingis returns from injury as Celtics romp over Clippers: 9 takeaways
The Celtics got Kristaps Porzingis back in the lineup and put together a dominant 126-94 victory over the Clippers on Monday.
Here are the takeaways.
Kristaps Porzingis looked rusty (but he’s going to help a lot).
The Celtics started the game by running absolutely everything through their returning star big man, mostly through the pick-and-pop plays that are essentially unguardable when the Celtics are at their best. Porzingis took the first three shots and turned the ball over once on the first four possessions of the game. He made his second attempt – and TD Garden erupted – but he missed the other three and struggled a bit from deep.
Meanwhile, after a few minutes up and down the floor, it was abundantly clear that Porzingis hadn’t played NBA basketball in a while. No matter how much you play in practice – and no matter how many G-League players get roped into helping you prepare for your return – there simply is no way for a player returning from injury to truly prepare for how fast the game is at first, and Porzingis doubled over grabbing his shorts after a few minutes. In a second-quarter appearance on NBC Sports Boston’s broadcast, Brad Stevens quipped that Porzingis looked very much like a player who hasn’t been on the court in a while.
“Obviously the first wind is pretty crazy,” Porzingis told reporters after the game. “Lungs burning, legs burning, everything. But after that, it was decent and just normal. Like even on the couple of lobs, like, JB threw me a lob, Payton threw me a lob, like, both of them I had flat tires like crazy. Like, didn’t get up at all. But it was good to be back out there.”
Still, Porzingis showed a lot of flashes of what Boston has been so excited to see with him back in the lineup. He was a lob threat around the rim (and a little more reliable even in his physically limited state than Neemias Queta), and in the third quarter, the Celtics went to him in the post, which isn’t something they have been able to do with their bigs this year. Much more importantly, he proved the Celtics with rim protection that has also been missing this season – Porzingis blocked two shots and affected even more, with 11 total shot contests (10 inside the arc) according to the NBA’s tracking.
Porzingis finished with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting, with six rebounds and two assists. He will probably need some real time to get himself back in shape, but when he does, he should make the Celtics – who already looked like the best team in the league without him – significantly better. Good luck, everyone else.
Porzingis’ teammates were excited to have him back.
Jaylen Brown was asked nine questions during his postgame presser about Porzingis’ return.
One of the questions was about an alley-oop he tossed to Porzingis in the second half, which Porzingis punched home (flat tire and all).
“Cookies and Cream is back,” Brown said, smacking the table and smiling. “Let’s get it.”
For Brown, Porzingis’ presence opens up other offensive opportunities as well. A reporter noted that Brown got a back-cut – something that has been lacking from his game this year. On the NBA’s stat site, a player needs to have 10 cuts to have any statistical data listed. Brown isn’t listed yet this year after scoring 1.25 points per possession on cuts last year, averaging nearly one per game.
“I used to get a back cut, multiple every game, easy baskets that just help get you going,” Brown said. “I got maybe got one or two this whole season. But KP coming back, I get one in the first play. He’s back. He’s looking for you. He’s looking for me, looking to get me easy ones, and I’m looking to get him easy ones.
“And that translates to rhythm, that translates on defense, so shout out to KP.”
Pritchard agreed.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “The walkout was incredible, so that energized us. He just can do so many things offensively, defensively that it just makes our life easier.”
The Celtics caught fire in the second quarter.
On Sunday, Jaylen Brown made five straight triples to start the Celtics’ win over the Timberwolves.
On Monday, it took about a quarter for the Celtics to get unreasonably hot, but they started tossing fireballs at the rim in the second quarter. Sam Hauser hit the first 3-pointer on the first possession. Payton Pritchard followed with the next. Pritchard hit another on the next possession. Derrick White got in on the action. Jaylen Brown knocked down his first. By the time the smoke cleared, the Celtics were 12-for-17 from 3-point range in the quarter, setting a new franchise record and tying the NBA’s record overall for 3-pointers in any quarter.
The 51-point outburst gave the Celtics their third-highest quarter in franchise history and a 29-point lead going into halftime.
The Celtics cooled off in the second, and the Clippers briefly cut the lead into the teens before Pritchard helped the Celtics re-establish control (more on him in a minute).
But the Celtics finished 22-for-51 from deep to the Clippers 7-for-26. Opposing teams are going to have a very difficult time beating the Celtics when they take just four more triples than the Celtics make, and we would hazard a guess that the Celtics will be undefeated in any game when they outscore opponents by 45 from behind the arc.
Payton Pritchard helped reset when things got a little shaky.
The Clippers never really threatened the Celtics, but things briefly got a little shaky when they cooled off in the second. After Derrick White missed a 3-pointer with 4:27 left and Amir Coffey scooped in a layup that cut the lead to 15, Joe Mazzulla called a timeout.
During the timeout, Mazzulla swapped in Pritchard, Hauser and Queta for White, Porzingis and Brown.
Immediately, when things started back up, Pritchard hit a 3-pointer. He hit another on the next possession. Hauser hit one on the next possession, which pushed the lead back to 20, and control was reasserted.
The point has been made ad nauseum, but one of the Celtics’ superpowers is the fact that when they go to their bench, they can bring in two players who can immediately change the course of the game with nine points on three possessions, and because you have to worry about both of them, you have so little extra brain space to worry about, you know, Jayson Tatum.
Pritchard scored 20 points, including 6-for-10 shooting from deep, and dished out four assists.
“Everyone talks about the shooting, but I think he’s really just grown as a player over the last few years to where he finds different ways to impact the game,” Mazzulla said. “The shooting is an obvious one, but his ball pressure and his defense has impacted games this year, last year in particular.”
Pritchard keeps making a Sixth-Man-of-the-Year case (on the court, not off it).
Pritchard, predictably, doesn’t want to talk much about end-of-year awards in November.
“I’ve said this before, it’s really out of my control,” he said on Monday. “If I get voted for that and get that honor, that’d be incredible. But I’m not going to chase it and try to go get stats. It’s more about playing winning basketball and if I’m fortunate to win it through that, that’d be a huge honor.”
Brown, however, admitted that while it’s early in the season, “Payton’s been balling.”
“He’s been a superstar in his role all season long,” Brown said. “He’s always been a hardworking guy that shows up early, puts his work in, but now it’s like you’re really starting to see the growth. I think Payton could be significant on any other team.”
Brown also appreciates Pritchard’s decisions in footwear – Pritchard has been sporting Brown’s new brand.
“He’s been looking good wearing his shoes too. 7-4-1. So shout out to him for that,” Brown said, smiling.
Neemias Queta had one of his best games of the year.
Ironically, given that a player who may very well limit his playing time this season was back in the lineup, Quetta had one of his best games of the year to date – 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and four blocks, as well as six screen assists which created 15 points. He was a menace around the basket and remains a little harder to beat off the dribble than opposing teams are expecting.
There will be plenty of nights when Al Horford takes the evening off, and Porzingis should probably spend some time resting as well before the postseason, so the Celtics did well preparing Queta to be a semi-regular part of the rotation.
This sequence was incredible.
This was one of the better sequences of ball movement this season from a team that probably moves the ball better than any other team (and it really only involved two players).
White finished with 19 points, shooting 6-for-12 overall and 5-for-9 from three, and seven assists.
Jaylen Brown explained his seatbelt celebration (sort of).
You may have seen Jaylen Brown pulling a pretend seatbelt across his body after a big play on the offensive or defensive end this season, and you may have wondered, “What celebration is that exactly?”
“I’m not sure,” Brown said when a reporter asked him about it after he busted it out twice on Monday. “I think it’s like just strapped in. On defense, when you get a stop, sometimes you got to put the seatbelt on people. Even on offense, you know what I mean, I’m just strapped in. So I like it. I think that might be my new celebration this year.”
The Celtics have an insane stretch coming up.
The Celtics have three days off, but after that, their December quickly becomes a wild stretch. They face the Bulls on Friday in their final game of NBA Cup group play before embarking on a five-games-in-seven-nights stretch that will test them with games against the Heat, Cavaliers, Pistons, Bucks and Grizzlies.
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