Celtics
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics earned a 108-104 time beyond regulation victory over the Nets on Friday to enhance to 8-2 on the season.
Here are the snack bars.
Jayson Tatum is perhaps even higher.
It can't be overstated how lucky the Celtics are to have two players nearly as good as Tatum and Jaylen Brown, considering they're each also committed to recuperating every season.
Tatum was the very best player on the very best team within the league. Through 10 games this season, there's rather a lot to be said that he's reached one other level – that he's the NBA's most versatile player and a cheat code of a constructing block. There's rightfully a variety of emphasis on Tatum's supporting solid, but there's also a major reason Tatum's plus bench lineup has been so good over time, and with all due respect: That major reason isn't Luke Kornet.
On Friday, Tatum scored 33 points on 11-for-25 shooting. He scored points down the stretch. He scored a goal in time beyond regulation. He hit 3-point shots.
In the meantime, as he had done since last 12 months, he took advantage of the defense's full attention and provided six assists. That included one among the most important passes of the sport – a late assist from Sam Hauser – and one other of the most important passes, a left cross-court pass to Al Horford in time beyond regulation that cornered the Nets for the remaining of the period. Tatum recorded 4 of his assists between the five-minute mark within the fourth quarter and the ultimate buzzer in time beyond regulation.
Add nine rebounds (including some big ones late), two steals and a block, and Tatum finished with the form of stats you recurrently see from MVP candidates.
The difference this 12 months? Tatum still manipulates the defense and finds teammates, but he also scores on his own more often. Besides Tatum, only Payton Pritchard reached the 20-point mark, and the Celtics shot just 26.4 percent from behind the arc as a team. They really needed superstar production, and Tatum was able to deliver.
“I think he has the ability to impact the game on both ends of the court, a versatile basketball player,” Joe Mazzulla said. “So I don’t care if he gets 30 a night if he doesn’t do all the other things that are most important to winning. When he does that, we're a different team, and that goes for him, that goes for Jaylen, that goes for all of our guys.
“He made the decision in the middle of the game that he was going to have an impact on both sides, and when he does that, we're a different team, so he did a great job of that.”
The previous couple of seconds were chaotic.
The Celtics almost won in regular time.
As the ultimate minute wound down, the Celtics made two big stops with the sport tied, and Joe Mazzulla jumped as much as call a timeout and ensure that they had a probability to make it 2-1.
That proved prescient — because the Celtics got here out of the timeout, they got a glance in the ultimate seconds that they've gotten repeatedly over time when another person caught a pass in the course of the court and passed it to Tatum , who stormed across the roadway. In this case, the Celtics hit an inbounds shot to Jrue Holiday, who rebounded a pass to Tatum. Tatum hit a two-handed slam to present the Celtics a two-point lead.
Defensively, the Celtics were lucky – two players chased Cam Thomas, which freed up Cam Johnson for an open 3-pointer. The Nets sharpshooter missed his goal, but got the ball and was fouled by Tatum. Johnson did each, and Tatum's last-second shot bounced off the rim, sending the sport into time beyond regulation.
Tatum made one other technical error.
Tatum could be technical and celebrated his fourth win of the season in only ten games on Friday.
To be fair to Tatum, he was right: He appeared to have an open dunk in transition before Nic Claxton swooped in and blocked it. However, Tatum felt he had been fouled, and a replay showed he can have been right – Claxton didn't appear to get the ball in any respect on the tackle. Tatum made a scene and whistled for the technique.
Before the sport, Joe Mazzulla brushed off concerns about Tatum's technical count, noting that he wasn't that far behind (Mazzulla has one) and that Tatum probably won't maintain his torrid pace on the technical counts.
Still, he's currently on pace to complete the season with 32 points, which might bring a slew of 16-and-over bans.
The Celtics fought from three.
The Celtics thrive when their 3-point shooters can create and exploit space, but on Friday they struggled to search out range, which was one among the explanations the Nets were capable of sustain. Tatum shot 5 of 13 from behind the arc and Pritchard was 3 of seven, but the remaining of the team was just 6 of 33 (18 percent).
Al Horford was 3 of 9, Derrick White was 1 of 6 and Jrue Holiday was 0 of 4. Sam Hauser perhaps struggled probably the most – just 2 of 10, although he did hit an enormous triple at the top.
Hauser contributed in other ways.
Hauser made many other contributions besides shooting, especially on defense. He recorded three steals, and when isolated Nets players like Cam Thomas and Dennis Schröder tried to focus on him, he generally held up well.
And when he finally broke through, his relief was palpable.
“Whether Sam is open or not, we always want him to be a threat,” Tatum said. “It's not necessarily that we shoot every time, but we have so much trust in Sam that we were mad at him when he missed and he was mad at himself.” Al yelled at him on the bench like, “Hey, never hang your head.” The next one.'
“We always believe the next one will come because he is such a proven shooter and works really hard at his craft. So no, I never think, ‘Oh shit, Sam just missed his last two shots, I’m not going to pass it to him.’ No, I would never think that.”
Mazzulla noted that the stats here will likely start tipping in Hauser's favor soon.
“1-on-9 just means he’s about to face a 6-on-10 game here,” Mazzulla said. “So it’s just part of the game. He provided great looks. He has great looks. He has to shoot her. The boys have to surrender to him and we get on with our day.”
Jrue Holiday posted.
With Jaylen Brown out again (and three attempts all night chipping the paint off the rim), the Celtics needed some offense inside someone's arc, and Holiday provided 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting. He lined up Dennis Schröder and Cam Thomas within the paint and created space for a few layups. The Celtics scored just two baskets in the primary six minutes, each of which were layups by Holiday.
“He’s just a Swiss Army knife,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, he doesn't really care what his sub-pattern is. He just doesn't care. He just plays hard. He doesn't allow things to affect his efforts.
“I thought he made some physical plays midway through the first and second quarters that got us going again and allowed us to kind of be in that space. He just has the ability to impact the game in different ways and he’s always looking for ways to do that.”
Xavier Tillman began things off (it didn't go well).
Instead of Neemias Queta, the Celtics opened with Tillman – perhaps in an try and balance Queta with Ben Simmons' minutes, which might give Queta a probability to maneuver freely as a shot blocker.
Tillman struggled a bit on each ends, and the Nets largely ignored him defensively – opting to present up every open 3-pointer he desired to clog up the remaining of the Celtics. Tillman played just six minutes before being eliminated, and he didn't return the remaining of the best way, ending 3-0 behind the arc.
A reporter asked Mazzulla if Tillman and Jordan Walsh missed three-point shots.
“At the end of the day, they just have to feel that if they are open, they have to make it happen,” he said. “They work on it every day. I watch them do it. I trust them, and of course you want to pass and move the ball, but if you allow a good first pass, as good as defenses are in the NBA, it's harder to generate that late in the clock, and so they just have to “I understand and encourage myself that I want them to shoot when they are open.”
It's time (Lord).
Robert Williams missed a 12 months of basketball, but in an 11-minute return he scored 13 points, made all 4 of his free throw attempts, grabbed three boards, dished out an assist and recorded two steals and a block.
He also made the primary 3-point shot of his profession.
We're not asking for much here, but a healthy extension for Robert Williams could be incredibly cool to see.
An update from Maine.
Baylor Scheierman made his debut with the Maine Celtics and looked all the pieces an NBA player should look against G League competition. He scored 31 points to go, seven rebounds and 7 assists.
JD Davison, meanwhile, scored 31 points and provided 12 assists. He also threw down a nasty dunk after a lob from Scheierman.
Maine could have a fun season.
Three games in 4 nights.
The Celtics have a busy week ahead: three games in 4 nights, starting Sunday in Milwaukee, followed by the Hawks and Nets on Tuesday and Wednesday (and after Friday's game, it's perhaps price noting that the hyper-aggressive Nets are an uphill battle may very well be on the second evening of a consecutive night). They can then enjoy two days off before facing the Raptors next Saturday.
image credit : www.boston.com