Simons scores 25 points as the Celtics earn their first victory by beating the Pelicans 122-90
Simons scores 25 points as the Celtics earn their first victory by beating the Pelicans 122-90
Just to start kind of with the, the, the 4th there. What, what did you kind of see it kind of let things kind of go away they got so quick, uh, they just took the fight to us. Um, they, they were *** tougher team, mentally tougher than we were physically tougher than we were, um. You know We, we, this is something that we have to um get back to the drawing board and we, we have to come out and be *** tougher team and tonight on our home floor like I told our guys, all of us, we gotta take more pride in in how we approach the game. Yeah, one of the numbers that jumps out is, uh, they came in 29th and rebound and I think I’ll rebounded you guys by 19. What did you really see in that aspect of the game? Yeah, for sure, um, *** lot of missed shots, uh, led to rebounds and those are rebounds that we talked about we should be going after offensive rebounds. We should be having second chance opportunities again that comes down to sticking your nose in there, being tougher, um, having some, some, uh, understanding of what the game plan is and, uh, starting with myself, uh, I, I gotta hold our guys accountable, uh, to being better and we this, this, this wasn’t indicative of who we’ve been. And what did you kind of see just the, the struggles on offense, uh, especially just like in the 4th quarter where did you see just kind of the way things died on that end, um, I thought we, we fought to kind of hang in there for *** little bit and then, um, *** couple bounces didn’t go our way. I think we had like *** pass that bounced off somebody’s foot. They got it scored, uh, but at the end of it it is it’s more about us trusting each other as *** team, um, so that’s what the game comes down to. We knew that they were gonna be in the pain. Forcing kickouts we gotta trust the pass and then the next best decision. It was it kind of just *** last second decision to go with mey over Steak Bay in the start lineup, uh, I guess what was kind of the thing behind that? Yeah, yeah, I mean just matching up with their bigs, putting even in the game, giving us rebounding opportunities. It was one of the things that Joe talked about when he got his jobs how they would play hard on both ends of the quarter. What do you kind of say about that and you see *** performance like tonight? I’m disappointed, disappointed, um, and How we approach the game, I’m disappointed and uh. You know, just the lack of toughness on the floor more than anything, um, that’s the part that is difficult. It’s one thing to to to not win *** game it’s *** whole another thing to get um. You know, just kind of punked on your home floor, uh, and I’m *** part of that it’s not just our guys it’s all of us and so, um. Tomorrow is something we’ll talk about, something we’ll continue to stress and continue to try to move forward and be better. I wanna ask you about uh DeAndres made his first I think I thought he was, he gave us some solid minutes, uh, physical force down low, some good rebounds, um. Like what I saw from DJ tonight. Now it’s not the start I think Jeremiah be wanted for his first NBA start, but what did you say to him after the game? Uh, he’s just gotta remain encouraged, you know, his 3 NBA game, um, he’s gonna have moments like this, uh, but you know, the guys around him he’s gotta help him, um, but this is, this can be typical sometimes, um, especially for your first NBA season. And we’re talking about that trust everybody need to have trust in the past and all that. How much more important is that when you don’t have Zion who’s the er? It’s, it’s all we talked about is we have to do it together. We cannot come out with *** mentality that you know one individual is gonna carry the team, um, and, and that’s what we saw tonight we saw our group step on the floor #1 they just were *** tougher team than we were and then 2. You we saw *** team that just collectively didn’t come together and do try to do it together. It was *** tough night for trade tonight. Uh, it seemed like the Celtics were able to run him off the line successfully, but also kind of put him in positions to be more of *** playmaker rather like *** shot taker just play. Um, what does he have to do to kind of get be more aggressive and maybe perhaps like take more ownership of the offense there as opposed to just, you know, accepting that, you know, the that team’s keying in on him and and running off *** lot of stuff again it comes down to, uh, mentally. Just having the having the toughness that you need to understand how you’re being guarded, uh, we talked to Trey about just more.5. Um, I thought the game before he did *** great job of, of, of trying to get his teammates more involved. He’s gotta make quick decisions, um, and then once you share it and the next guy drives it, normally your man is helping you that that’s how you get the open shots, but just quicker decisions, more paint drives, more kickouts, more respace. Coming into this game, you know, uh, one of the identities of of Boston Celtics is they’re gonna take *** ton of 3s. They got over 50 tonight. Is it require *** level of of mental focus to just know that, OK, no matter what you do, like they’re just gonna keep getting the shots up. It does. It’s *** multiple effort game anytime you play against them, um, it starts with our our ability to guard the basketball, keep them in front of us. You have to contest all shots and then they did *** better job than us of offensive rebound and so they got extra possessions, led to kickouts. Uh, we made some plays that, um, you know, I know we would like to get back *** couple balls, bounces their way and you don’t wanna give *** team like this opportunities to score, um, extra points. Performance like this against *** team like Boston guards and whatnot, how much could it be *** learning experience for *** young guard in this league. It’s *** big time learning experience, uh, for fear he’s gonna be better for this, um, unfortunately, you know, you don’t wanna have to go through some of these tough games, but that’s just *** part of the league, um, so we’ll regroup, we’ll get together and, and, and continue to, to make improvements. It’s still very early in the season with 3 games, but does this feel like one of those kind of look in the mirror moments, uh, for this team that you kinda go through during the course of *** season? For sure you have to, um, any time you have *** game where *** team just physically takes it to you on both ends of the floor, there’s no way you can leave that game, uh, and not, and you know start like again starting with me I’m, I’m in it with them looking ourselves in the mirror and figuring out OK, what can we do better to, to help ourselves have better opportunities to win the game. And it’s just how tough is it, you know, this early in the season to be having these conversations about needing to be more physical, having to play with more effort, you know, when you still got such *** long way to go. It happens um you gotta address it, you know, hold each other accountable about, you know what it is, um, you don’t wanna have this this early, but there’s times it happens it’s good to address it now. Would you think it’s something that you could do differently to get that message across or Keep coaching them, keep coaching them, you know, keep having an understanding of what we’re doing on the floor, uh, keep watching film, keep practicing hard, keep, um, implementing good habits.
Simons scores 25 points as the Celtics earn their first victory by beating the Pelicans 122-90
Simons scores 25 points as the Celtics earn their first victory by beating the Pelicans 122-90
Updated: 10:14 PM CDT Oct 27, 2025
Anfernee Simons made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points, and the Boston Celtics earned their first victory over the season by pulling away to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-90 on Monday night.Payton Pritchard added 18 points for the Celtics, who outscored the Pelicans 31-4 in the final 9:14 after they led by just five.Simons scored 12 in the fourth quarter for Boston, which had dropped its first three games. Luka Garza had 16 points, while Jaylen Brown and Josh Minott finished with 15 apiece.Jordan Poole scored 22 points for the Pelicans, who played without Zion Williamson and fell to 0-3. Rookie Derik Queen had 12 points.Williamson missed his first game of the season with a left foot bone bruise. He had scored 27 points in both of the first two games.Poole’s 3-pointer cut it to 91-86 early in the fourth quarter before Simons made three 3-pointers and Sam Hauser had two in Boston’s powerful finish.Up nextCeltics: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.Pelicans: Visit Denver on Wednesday.
NEW ORLEANS —
Anfernee Simons made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points, and the Boston Celtics earned their first victory over the season by pulling away to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-90 on Monday night.
Payton Pritchard added 18 points for the Celtics, who outscored the Pelicans 31-4 in the final 9:14 after they led by just five.
Simons scored 12 in the fourth quarter for Boston, which had dropped its first three games. Luka Garza had 16 points, while Jaylen Brown and Josh Minott finished with 15 apiece.
Jordan Poole scored 22 points for the Pelicans, who played without Zion Williamson and fell to 0-3. Rookie Derik Queen had 12 points.
Williamson missed his first game of the season with a left foot bone bruise. He had scored 27 points in both of the first two games.
Poole’s 3-pointer cut it to 91-86 early in the fourth quarter before Simons made three 3-pointers and Sam Hauser had two in Boston’s powerful finish.
Up next
Celtics: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.
Pelicans: Visit Denver on Wednesday.