Celtics RISE UP Standings After Win vs Raptors | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell

Celtics RISE UP Standings After Win vs Raptors | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell

Jaylen Brown with the flush. Tatum the drive. Tatum the finish. It is 18. The mission commanding is accomplished. The Celtics just improved to 15-9 with a big time 121 113 win over the Toronto Raptors. Feels like every night we’re saying more of the same, but this basketball team is playing really good. This is a good basketball team. I didn’t know that this was going to happen, honestly. Um, and so it’s been fun to watch. That’s five straight wins. This is another Eastern Conference playoff teams. I mean, they’ve just racked up wins against the Pistons, the Cavs, uh, the Knicks, the Magic. Now we have, uh, the Lakers, obviously a little bit short-handed, but now we have the Toronto Raptors, who were the three seed in the Eastern Conference entering this game. Now the Celtics are the three seed. So, pretty remarkable turn of events here that after starting the year 0 and3 and then after that having some bad losses to the Utah Jazz and the Brooklyn Nets and it just seemed like this team was going to be flirting with 500 basketball all season long. Um, and it’s not that they’re definitively not that, but right now they’re six games above 500 about a quarter into the season and things are just clicking. It feels pretty sustainable. Um, it feels like their style of play is sustainable and and yes, they’ve been shooting the ball well. Um, but generally speaking, a lot of what I’m seeing so far feels like something that could spill over into the rest of the season. So, let’s talk about what was the were the keys to this game. I mean, first of all, I should mention they’re now 10 and two with Jordan Walsh as a starter, which is just kind of mind-blowing when you think about where this team was before that. I’m not going to give Jordan all the credit, but he’s been playing some excellent basketball, two-way basketball. uh entering tonight, he was shooting 45% from three. Um which, you know, his defense is what’s going to put him on the floor, but the fact that he’s been spacing the floor, he’s been having good rim reads, clo, you know, driving the ball, shooting threes well, like all of that, like his offensive game has been really smooth. He’s been making good passes. Um and obviously hitting the three is the important part there. Jordan’s been doing all of that and he did more of that in this game honestly. You know, he fouls out of this one. This wasn’t like the Jordan Walsh game compared to some of the last few ones here. Um once again he’s 48 from the field. Um he has six rebounds, three steals, and he fouls out with six fouls after 26 minutes. Uh Joe turned to Sam Hower at that point for some fourth quarter minutes there. Um but generally speaking, the reason why they won this game, if I’m going to pinpoint it to one person, is Derek White. And I love saying that because for a while there, there was not a lot of uh Derek White in the positive takeaways in this podcast because Derek started off the year in a shooting slump. It was not just threes, it was around the rim, it was mid-range, it was just everything. He was just out of sorts. And in this game, he has 27 points on 10 of 21 shooting. Plays 37 minutes. Uh Jaylen played 39 minutes and Peyton played 38 minutes in this one. So those three guys, Joe Misoula, turned to them early in that fourth quarter and and never looked back. Um, but Derek has 27 points and he has eight in the fourth quarter and it felt like he had more than eight, but the way that he was able to just hit the big threes. He had one corner three that he kind of picked up a loose ball and spun completely all the 360 and hit that three. Uh, there was another play where he found Peyton for a three late in that fourth quarter. Peyton was also a key contributor down the stretch. He had two threes in that fourth quarter. Um, and so the Celtics build a 23-point lead in this game. And in the third quarter, the Raptors outscore them um by 12. And then in the fourth quarter, Celtics come out and immediately get outsc scored back toback baskets by the Raptors. And so at the 11 minute mark, Joe put in Jaylen, Peyton, and Derek, uh and close out the rest of the game with those guys. Um and I thought the game was, you know, they the Raptors regained the lead in the fourth quarter. This is a, you know, an arena that loves their loves their team, like super lively environment, all that. And the next thing you know, this Celtics team just responds in a in a massive way. And Derek was critical in that stretch. He draws a charge. He hits his big threes. Um finishes with eight in the period. Also, we’ll give a shout out to Jaylen Brown who was great from the line in particular. He was nine of nine from the line. Had all the clutch wins in the fourth quarter. Uh was a plus 18, which was tied with Peyton Pritchard for the highest plus minus of the night. Um but really to me, this is the Derek White game. you know, he got NBC’s Tommy Award and I I got to watch his game from home again. Um, and it was cool to see what just was all around play. And the biggest sign for me with the Derrick is clicking is when Derek is pulling up for threes where you’re like, “What? Like, what are you doing?” You know, and then those are the threes that go in. So, I learned a long time ago that with Derek White and you’re thinking about shot quality, it’s not the same as a lot of players where you’re thinking, you know, that’s not a good look. like you’re, you know, you’re, you know, you’re dribbling and you’re pulling up and there’s a guy right there. Derek’s threes are like in his own category. Like sometimes I say he has a Steph Curry like shot profile in the sense that it’s like the no no yes threes that he has. Um, and he was six to 15 from three tonight. Over his last seven games, he’s shooting about 40% from three, averaging 22 and a half points. So, the tide has officially turned for Derek White. He’s playing the kind of basketball that many expected him to be playing the season and the his confidence is growing and this team will ultimately go as he goes. We’ve known that for a long time that when Derek White is playing good. This was the case when they were with Tatum and Porzingis and Holiday, the team usually played well and when he was struggling, the team usually struggled. Like he is the barometer for this team and that continues to be the case. And so it’s no surprise that the season is turning around just as he’s turning around his season. Um and so there were kind of like two things that happened concurrently, right? Derrick White turns the season around, Jordan Walsh goes in the starting lineup and the Celtics are winning. And so both of those factors were critical uh to kind of understanding where this success is coming from, right? So that’s the first thing that I stood out to me from this game. The other thing I’m going to say is Jaylen Brown once again is just consistently putting up these big-time performances. It’s another 30-point night for him. He’s now had 30 points in seven of his last eight games. The only exception was a 19-point triple double um against the Cavs. So consistent basketball, right? He was nine of 19 from the field, perfect from the line, nine from the line, and then he had eight rebounds and five assists, a steal, a block. He’s just doing a little bit of everything. And I like that down the stretch in that fourth quarter like other guy, it was other guys who took over, but consistently like he comes out of the gates was just the right mindset. You know, he’s driving to the basket, putting pressure on the rim, but also dishing it out to his teammates and getting other guys involved. Um, and I continue to feel that he should have like he should feel he should have had more than five assists in this game, but that the assist numbers don’t always reflect how you necessarily feel about a player’s passing performance, but 30 points every single night, right? Like there was a graphic after the game that showcased that he’s I think he’s second or or third most all time at 30 point games in the first 25 games of the season. So, this has just been consistent as far as Celtics history, I should say. So, it’s just been consistent basketball for him and it’s not something that you want to take for granted, but you start to take it for granted from time in and night time out. I feel like that’s been the nature of the Jaylen and Jason era is that there’s just been this consistent excellence and there’s this consistent like they make it to the conference finals every year and you start to take for granted like the kinds of numbers that Tatum was putting up and the kinds of numbers that Dylan’s putting up now and the reality is is that this is greatness, right? And so it’s it’s cool to stop sometimes to just think about how um how amazing this level of basketball is and how even a night like tonight where I actually felt like he missed some shots he normally would make um around the basket. You know, the couple times I felt like he got some tough calls that he was probably fouled but he wasn’t called for a foul. Like all of that um continued, you know, still culminated in a 30point game for him. So that was critical in the win. that was critical and he was critical in why they jumped out to a 20-point lead and looked like they were kind of going to blow this game open early on and the Raptors responded, but Jayen was a big reason why they even had to. Right. The other guy I wanted to mention was Dimish Kada who I also think is somebody that’s starting to fly under the radar because he’s almost like November’s news or October’s news. We didn’t know what Kada was going to look like as a starting center for this basketball team. Like we had no idea if he was going to be able to hold up. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to play the kinds of minutes that he’s been playing. How was he going to be able to hold up defensively? Was this team going to be a rebounding disaster? Because early on, obviously we all remember this team was a rebounding disaster, right? And it was just a the first few games, but it seemed like maybe this is a roster construction issue, right? So, in this game, Kada doesn’t do anything mind-blowing, but I thought this was another night where he was just solid. 11 points, 11 rebounds. Six of those rebounds were on the offensive glass. Four assists, two blocks, a steal. Like this guy is just playing at a very high level. I thought defensively he made big play after big play. And then again, I don’t want to take for granted an 11 point 11 rebound double double. Like that’s the numbers that you were hoping to get out of your starting center this year. And this guy’s on a minimum deal. Um and this guy has never played real substantial endgame minutes. And so it’s easy to say like, okay, well, they had no other choice but to make it work with Kada. But it could have just not worked, right? And it has been working. And the net rating numbers all reflect how much better they are with him on the floor than off of it. The defensive rating numbers do the same. Like with him on the floor, the Celtics have one of the best defenses in the league. And so the more he can play, the better. And in this game, he plays 34 minutes, which is a big step up from where he was earlier in the season. And I think that was a combination of the rotation, but also of Kada kind of getting in better NBA conditioning like levels. And that’s not to say he was out of shape before, but I think there’s only one way to simulate like real NBA minutes, and that’s actually getting those minutes. Like, you can’t really simulate that in practice or shoot around or in your own offseason workouts. And so, he’s getting that opportunity now to really play big-time minutes. Um, so big shout out to him and I don’t think that it’s something that should be taken for granted. And just want to give a shout out to our friends over at Prize Picks. Episode is brought to you by Prize Pix. 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If you want flexibility, choose Flex Play, where you can get paid even if one of your picks misses. And if you want the biggest payouts, go for the Power Play. No matter your play, Prize Pix is a great way to put your takes to the test. Download the Prize Pix app today and use code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. It’s code cls to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. So, I mentioned how we’re seeing now this kind of consistent level of basketball from Jaylen Brown now starting to be consistent from Derek White as well as after he turned the corner and then Kada who has become one of the most important players on this roster, right? But to be a good basketball team, to consistently be able to string together these wins, it takes more than just those guys. It takes everyone. Um, so I wanted to briefly mention I think this was the a perfect game from Peyton Pritchard from what this team might need from him on a nightly basis. He doesn’t put up any crazy numbers, but he has 15 points, six assists, he doesn’t turn the ball over. Um, he has two big threes in the fourth quarter, six of 12 from the field. Like he just gave the game what it needed and played 38 minutes. And that’s just the kind of like steadiness that they’re going to need. Obviously, the ball handling is critical, especially when the team’s getting pressed down the stretch. Having Peyton out there is huge. Um, but this this Celtics team’s key to success has been not turning the ball over, right? Like that has been the reality from the beginning of the year. It’s why they have the top three offensive rating in the league is because they have the lowest offensive uh turnover percentage. And in this game, they have 11 turnovers. It wasn’t like the best turnover game. Derrick White has five turnovers. Dylan Brown has three. But the fact that Pritchard is consistently not turning the ball over and that has been a hallmark characteristic to his game for a long time now is huge. And he finishes this one with zero turnovers despite having the ball in his hand quite a bit despite the six assists, despite the pressure down the stretch. So it’s not like, you know, this was not like a big time game for Peyton compared to some of the other games we’ve seen. But under the radar, like that’s the kind of game you need from him on a consistent basis. You know, six of 12 from the field. If he can consistently give you that, that’s great. Um, I like the minutes that Anthony Simons gave off the bench as well. And I’ll also note Sam Hower, who started the year and in a massive shooting slump, was three of seven tonight. And if you look at his game log from the last like five or six games, he is trending upwards as well. So they’re shooting really well right now. They shot 42.6% from three in this game. The Raptors shot 40.9% from three. So it’s not like there was a massive edge in the three-point department, but Helix just got up way more threes. Celtics get up 47. Raptors get up 22. Missoula ball, we know the drill. It certainly helps them kind of create that separation. And so the three-point shooting is going to go down back to earth a little bit just as earlier in the season it was going to trend a little bit upwards like we know that it’s something that goes up and down and it’s going to always regress to the mean which is in the mid30s you know 37% 38% is a good you know spot for a team. Um, but then what I like is that I don’t feel like the main guys, the high volume players have been shooting out of their mind. Like even tonight, Derek White’s six to 15, right? It’s not like he’s going crazy. Um, it’s good. It’s a good figure. Like, it’s fine, but it’s not like he’s shooting lights out. You know, Ken Per three of eight. So, it’s not like they’re getting these inflated numbers from one or two guys. It’s just like consistently guys are shooting well. Like, I joked about this today, but Josh May not hits his only three-point attempt of the game. He’s been shooting like lights out. I don’t know exactly why that is. Um, you know, he was shooting 43% entering last game. Like it’s just been consistent. I don’t know if the shot has just clicked or he’s feeling confident or whatever else it might be. Um, but that’s the kind of contribution that you need from up and down the roster. You know, Ugo comes in, hits his only three-point attempt. Like it makes a difference. It adds up, you know, that you’re getting those shots and a game you win by eight, every basket counts, right? So, that stood out to me as well is that right now the the team is shooting well and that’s not something that I’m necessarily going to like draw from too much because I know that fluctuates up and down, right? The last thing that I’ll mention is I know there’s always this feeling among Celtics fans that the Celtics are blowing leads and in this game once again they were up by as many as 23 I believe and then they blow that lead. They’re actually trailing in that fourth quarter. Brutal start of the fourth quarter. Brutal third quarter stretch there where they got outscored quite a bit in the last eight minutes of that period. Um, but what I like about the Celtics team is that they respond well to blowing that lead because at the end of the day in the NBA, you’re not going to have that many wireto-wire wins. They had a wire towire win against the Wizards. They had another one against the Lakers. Wireto wire means you you were leading the entire game. The Wizards gave them no resistance. The Lakers, they led by so much early on. They went on a little bit of a push, but it never went below like 19 points, I don’t think. So, that’s not really making much of a push. The Raptors really came back, right, and really regained control of this game. And that’s like a in in the scheme of the season and in the scheme of your team, that’s a good thing because all that being said, you blow that lead and you find yourself in position to regain momentum and now it’s much harder to do that, right? And Joe talked about after the game um that they just they missed some shots, but they also were a little bit disorganized, but they they snapped out of it, you know, and good basketball teams just snap out of it. It doesn’t always take like a massive substitution or something big from the coach, they just snap out of it. And so in this game, the big change was obviously, you know, early in that fourth quarter, Joe looks and sees that his bench unit was struggling. So he just immediately puts Jaylen, Derek, and Peyton into the game. And I think that was the right call. Yes, their minute load was a little heavier, but they’re off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. They play Milwaukee on Thursday. Um, but then they’re off again Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So this is like a very light week for the Celtics. This is the lightest week they’ll have probably all season because of the NBA Cup. And so, yeah, play those guys a little bit more. They’re probably all tired. They’re probably all feeling it. Jaylen got his rest night the other night against the Wizards. Derrick got a night off against the Cavs. Peyton, I don’t know if he’ll ever get a night off, but in general, this was the game to push your guys a little bit more because you do have now three full days off. They’re not even practicing on Monday or Tuesday. They have practice on Wednesday, then they have Milwaukee on Thursday. Um, in Milwaukee probably no, I mean, no Giannis because he’s out for the next month. So, I thought this was the right call. I like that he just put them back in and said, “You know what? We need to win this game. we’re gonna stop the bleeding right now. And those three guys did quite a bit of the quite a bit of what they needed and that reflected in their plus minus as well where Jill was a plus 18, Pritchard was a plus 18, Dererick was a plus eight. Um whereas some of the bench guys were in the negatives more. So I’m looking big picture. This was another good win against a Raptors team that I do think is a little bit uh I think this team is going to come back down to earth. You know, they started the year really hot, but they also played some inferior teams. They’ve now lost, I believe, four of their last five games. Um, and they have some talented players. Brandon Ingram, Scotty Barnes, Yakapoto, like we saw them all have some big moments. Jamal Sheided was huge for the Raptors in this one and kind of turning the game around. Um, but I don’t know that this Raptors team is like elite. Like I don’t I don’t foresee them winning a playoff series, I don’t think. Maybe they will. I don’t know. I’m not, you know, I haven’t watched them every single night, but just from what I’ve seen. But once again, we’re looking at an Eastern Conference opponent that is a top four seed and we’re saying, “Okay, that team’s not that good.” You know, Cavs were not not that good. The Knicks, I think they are pretty good, honestly, but Celtics just beat them right last week and they’ve been really bad on the road. And so, you go start to go down the line and you’re like, okay, there are really not formidable teams in this Eastern Conference. And this is something that I’ve talked about before in this podcast, but you look at uh Orlando, I mean, hopefully, fingers crossed, Fron Bagner is not seriously hurt, but that didn’t look great. And that team was already a little bit underperforming and Paulo’s been out. So, it’s just I don’t know. I look at this Eastern Conference and it just feels like the Celtics team is destined to make a real run. And I didn’t really want to say it a week or two ago because it felt a little premature, but now they’ve won 10 of their last 12 and it doesn’t feel like they’re punching above their weight at a crazy level. And it’s not like they’re feasting on terrible teams either. Like they’re playing legit teams, you know, those playing the teams that are out there in the Eastern Conference, right? And I don’t know, I just feel like they could make a real run. And obviously that would be bolstered a ton by Jason Tatum coming back. That would be huge. Um, it’d be great if know if they can stay healthy and everybody can kind of continue to be out there night in and night out because like I mentioned before, really the only injury they’ve had so far is a Kada ankle roll that kept him out of two games. So, nothing super substantive. Um, but every time they play one of these Eastern Conference teams, I feel more confident in their chances and their ability to potentially go on a real run here. And the one team that they’ve struggled with a little bit were the 76ers. They’re one and two against them. But those games were all so early in the year that which is kind of a bummer because I’ I’d like to see how they match up now. But I I’m not going to draw too much from like opening night and you know all three of those games were in the first couple weeks of the season and they were they were all down to the wire. So they definitely they definitely competed against this 76ers team. Um so yeah, I mean there are some teams in the Western Conference that alarm me more. Like I’m I am still wondering about the the Rockets and how you match up with their size and we all saw what happened when the Rockets came to town. Uh that was the worst loss of the year. You look at the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’m not sure anybody matches up with them too well, but in general, the Eastern Conference is just not invoking much fear in me right now. And so, it’s just been interesting to watch it play out. And we’re kind of doing the Eastern Conference tour and every single stop you get to, you’re like, “Okay, this team is okay.” Like, they have some good players and they’re making it a real battle, but there’s nothing to hear where you’re like, “This Celtics can’t stack up against them.” That’s where I’m at right now. Uh, this game kind of further for my confidence in this team that’s just growing night in and night out. I like what Joe Misoula did with the sub patterns. I like that Jaylen Brown just kind of carried the load in a lot of different ways. Um, and I love that Derrick White’s back. That’s the biggest piece of the news for the for the last week or two that Derrick White is just playing with a ton of confidence. He’s hitting the clutch ones and Jaylen Brown said it in his walk-off interview with Abby Chin. But when he’s reaching in his pocket for those threes, that is a very good sign. So, another good win, five in a row. They have a chance to make it six in a row against Milwaukee on Thursday, and that should be a very winnable game. Uh, this is a scrappy Bucks team, but also a Bucks team that doesn’t have its anchor on both ends in Giannis after he strained his calf last week. So, we’ll see how it all plays out, but another good win. Check out all of our coverage. We have a postgame show. Uh, Sherrod and Bobby took the postgame show after the Sunday victory, so you can check out what their thoughts were on this game. Um, and as always, I’ll be back with more content. We’ll have practice coverage coming this week on Tuesday. Um, my podcast is always subscribed Media, CNS All Access. Let me know what you thought about this game. Just continue to give me really encouraged. Let me know what you thought about this one and and we’ll have more coming up soon.

Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell recaps the Celtics’ 121-113 win over the Toronto Raptors, which propels them to 3rd place in the Eastern Conference and improves them to 15-9 on the season. Jaylen Brown put together his 7th 30-point performance in 8 games, Derrick White is averaging 22.4 points and shooting 41.7% from three over his last 7 games, and the Celtics were once again able to build a double-digit lead. Neemias Queta is continuing to trend upwards, and the Celtics fend off a big-time Raptors comeback. Where do the Celtics go from here?

00:00 Intro
1:50 Jordan Walsh’s impact
2:30 Derrick White took over in the clutch, finished with 27 points
5:45 Jaylen Brown is quietly scoring 30 a night –
7:45 Neemias Queta 11 points, 11 rebounds – and big impact
9:45 PrizePicks
10:55 Celtics are consistent in responding to runs

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