Jaylen Brown and short-handed Celtics hold off resilient Pistons: 9 takeaways
Boston powered through to a 130-120 win without Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday.
Jaylen Brown and the Celtics didn’t need Jayson Tatum or Jrue Holiday to hold off a Pistons team that refused to go away on Wednesday, as they improved to 2-1 in their chaotic week with a 130-120 victory.
Here are the takeaways.
Jaylen Brown had a night to cook.
With Tatum sidelined, Jaylen Brown was at the controls of the Celtics’ machine, and he performed admirably in that role, especially in the first half as the Celtics threatened to blow the Pistons out of TD Garden. Brown scored 28 points and dished out nine assists, controlling the offense for lengthy stretches and getting teammates involved. He got to the paint frequently, and he got to the line 11 times (where he only made seven of his attempts, but generating the free throws is an important part of the battle).
Afterward, Brown noted that his passing is a “credit” to his development.
“I’ve improved on things,” Brown said. “A lot of my weaknesses in the past I’ve attacked. Being able to run a team and an offense is something that I look forward to in those moments.”
Joe Mazzulla agreed wholeheartedly.
“It’s been fun to see him grow over the last few years in his reads,” Mazzulla said. “If you’re watching, you’ll see him be able to process the game in real time and see the adjustments that are being made on him and recognizing the matchup, recognizing the spacing. […]
“It’s fun watching him just continue to grow in the game and understand it in real time and get better, and it’s fun talking to him during the game about it too.”
The Pistons rallied in the second half and kept the game competitive with more disciplined defense which slowed Brown down a bit, but his ability to score and his willingness to get others involved helped jumpstart a Celtics offense that mostly got what it wanted all evening.
Brown did disappoint his good friend Kristaps Porzingis, however, when he opted out of a third-quarter heave. A reporter asked Porzingis about the moment after the game.
“100 percent [he should have taken it],” Porzingis said. “You saw me? I was like, ‘Come on man.’ He gave me some BS excuse like ‘I didn’t catch it properly.’ No. He didn’t want to shoot it. Next time you gotta shoot it, 100 percent.”
Derrick White was the team’s primary facilitator.
While Brown played a role, White was the team’s primary point guard, and he thrived in the role on Wednesday. He finished with 11 assists, and out of all 11 assists, the recipient only dribbled once (we’ll cover that play a little further down).
White’s 3-point shooting has gotten a lot of attention, and deservedly so – he’s become a genuine marksman, and his 3-point celebration is the best on the team. But White created a lot of really easy looks for his teammates on Wednesday – in addition to four assists for 3-pointers, he dished out seven for baskets in the paint and connected on a pair of lobs.
The Celtics have so many players who can handle the ball that each individual players’ ability to facilitate and generate good looks for others might get lost in the mix a bit, but both Brown and White showed how good they can be with two of their fellow ball-handlers sidelined.
Brown and Cade Cunningham exchanged posters.
Brown has had bigger and better dunks this year, but he did punch in a two-handed slam over Isaiah Stewart after cruising past Pistons rookie Ron Holland.
Brown followed the slam with a celebration that somewhat surprisingly did not earn him a technical, but which we will not describe in detail here in case an NBA official is for some reason reading this and weighing whether to fine him (Brown, for his part, said “Oh yeah” when a reporter asked if he expects to hear from the league).
Pistons star Cade Cunningham, meanwhile, answered Brown’s poster with a big one of his own on a Celtics player who doesn’t get victimized much: Derrick White. Cunningham got out in transition and punched in a one-handed dunk directly in White’s grill, followed by a mean mug that appeared to make White smile.
White and Cunningham could be seen chatting after the game, and while we can’t read lips here, the conversation looked very friendly and amicable.
Part of being the best shot-blocking guard in the NBA is knowing and accepting that every now and then, you will get got.
The Pistons were red-hot from three.
Malik Beasley finished 6-for-11 from deep. Tobias Harris was (Sixers fans, look away because this might drive you mad) 6-for-9. As a team, the Pistons shot 20-for-39 from behind the arc – 51.3 percent.
And yet, the Celtics – who shot 39.6 percent from deep – still made one more 3-pointer because they launched 53 of them.
“Shooting has just gotten better around the league in general,” Mazzulla said. “I think more teams just have that, and the variance of that is going to get to you sometimes.”
How are you supposed to defend this play?
Late in the second quarter, the Celtics ran a set that simply looked borderline unguardable.
The pick-and-roll starts near the half-court line between Porzingis and White. White has the option of running through the Porzingis screen, after which Pritchard is near the elbow to set a secondary screen if White needs to scramble the Pistons defense any more.
The Pistons, however, opted to switch without much fight, which put them in an unenviable position with Tim Hardaway Jr. trying to contain Porzingis while Stewart picked up White. Porzingis fought his way to the elbow and kept working his way backward until he had a very easy turn-around jumper from about six feet over whom he has roughly a 10-inch height advantage.
The Pistons just didn’t have many good options, and perhaps most frightening for the rest of the NBA is that for the entire play, the Celtics’ best player was sidelined with knee soreness and their second-best player was camped out in the corner watching it all unfold. Having Porzingis back is a massive boost.
Porzingis remains a fan favorite.
After drawing a foul in the fourth quarter, Porzingis lingered a moment near the baseline, looking into the stands and soaking in the cheers with his arms outstretched. He shot a wink to a fan with a huge grin on his face.
“When I got here, the fans showed me a lot of love from the first moment, and then obviously the success that we’re having as a team is helping,” Porzingis said. “But I know that if I have a moment like that in the game, especially that crowd that’s sitting on the baseline, they’re always super engaged.”
Porzingis called it a “privilege” to play for a team with so many weapons, although he did admit that under other circumstances, he might want a bigger role.
“As a player you always want, I don’t know, more shots, more minutes, more role,” he said. “I think everybody feels like that all the time. It’s just a matter of us controlling our own egos and stuff, and playing as a team. I don’t know if it’s, like, something I enjoy. I’d rather shoot 40 shots, you know what I mean?
“But it’s, of course, a privilege that we have such a talented team. I don’t know how many guys that can score 20, and it will not be a surprise. We’ll be like, ‘Yeah, this guy can get 20, easy.’ So it’s a big privilege we have. And that’s why this team is who we are.”
Porzingis finished with 26 points (8-for-17, 3-for-7 from three) nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Payton Pritchard cooled off a bit, but he came alive in the fourth.
For most of Wednesday’s contest, it looked like Payton Pritchard might finally fall back to earth a bit after a dominant stretch that even caught the eye of the national media. Pritchard has been one of the more novel storylines of the Celtics season, particularly over the last few weeks, but he missed some decent looks in the first three quarters, and he even bricked a couple of triples as the first and second quarters wound down. Wednesday just didn’t seem like his day.
But Pritchard can heat up in a hurry, and he did in the fourth. First, he buried a three on the Celtics’ first possession. Then a minute later, he made another. He missed two more in the middle of the period, but with 3:14 left, he grabbed an offensive rebound, and he hit one to put the Celtics up 13. He grabbed another crucial offensive rebound with the Celtics holding on to an eight-point lead with 1:34 left, bleeding the clock a bit, and finally, he stuck the dagger into the Pistons with 45 seconds remaining with a 27-footer from straight away that gave the Celtics an eight-point cushion.
So on a night that looked like it might be a mediocre one, Pritchard finished with 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting and shot 5-for-13 from deep to go with five rebounds (four offensive) and three assists.
“I just thought he made big-time plays, whether it was the offensive rebound, whether it was the play at the end of the game, or just pushing the pace, he kind of just has the ability to affect the game in different ways,” Mazzulla said. “[…] He can just impact the game in so many different ways.”
Sam Hauser returned with a flourish.
After missing Monday’s game for personal reasons, Sam Hauser was back in the lineup, and he scored 20 points, including 7-for-12 shooting overall and 5-for-10 from deep.
Those of you who are proficient at math might notice that since he scored 20 points, that means Hauser had a pair of two-pointers and a rare free throw, and yes, that means he created and converted an and-one – this one a lefty layup in transition through contact.
Even his defense earned some attention.
The Celtics have so much falling into place right now even when players are missing from the lineup, and Hauser rounding into form is a big part of it.
Two games in three days (then two in 11).
The Celtics are now more than halfway through their hell week with two games remaining against the Bucks and Grizzlies on Friday and Saturday – both of which will be very tough contests.
After that, however, they get a huge break as the NBA Cup tournament takes place, with just two games in 11 days – one each against the Pistons (at home) and the Wizards (in Washington).
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