1. Jayson Tatum is Unbelievable
In his 11th game back from a torn Achilles, Jayson Tatum dropped a season-high 32 points with 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 0 turnovers on 12-23 shooting from the field and 5-10 from three. He also scored his 14,000th career NBA Point in this game, becoming the youngest player in Celtics history to reach this mark, passing Paul Pierce.
Tatum scored or assisted on the first 10 points of the game for the Celtics, setting the tone for what was going to be a big night.
He didn’t stop there, finishing with 20 points in the first half. Picking apart an elite Hornets defense with an arial assault from beyond the arc. Any concerns of his jump should be put aside with the he was able to get them off over some pretty great Charlotte contests.
The second half saw Tatum continue to hit some ridiculous shots coming from the midrange and driving to the basket. He went back to the old reliable to ice the game for the Celtics, hitting a three between the eyes of Miles Bridges to punctuate an incredible performance.
This game was the closest he has looked to the old Jayson Tatum. From the explosiveness, the playmaking, and the three point shooting, this was an all around great game. Tatum is averaging 20.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.1 steals in 31.0 minutes per game since his return which doesn’t even sound real. He really has lived up to the nickname as The Anomaly.
2. Hospital Celtics Supremacy
Something I didn’t mention about Jayson Tatum’s incredible performance was that he did it with both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White out with injury. Brown missed his second straight game with Left Achilles Tendinitis and White was out with a Right Knee Contusion.
The Hornets going into this game had been the best team in the NBA since the start of the New Year with a record of 28-13. In a more recent sample size, Charlotte was 7-3 in their most recent 10 games before facing Boston, with wins over the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and New York Knicks, three teams who have a better record than them in the Eastern Conference. Charlotte also dominated Boston in their most recent matchup, beating the Celtics 118-89 on March 4th in TD Garden.
The Celtics were looking for revenge and even without two of their starters, they were able to dominate the Hornets for pretty much the entire game, winning 114-99 in Charlotte. Boston is now 8-1 in games with Jaylen Brown out this year, showing how incredible they are when it comes to overcoming adversity.
3. Payton Pritchard Encore
In the Celtics win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, Payton Pritchard had one of his best games of the season, leading Boston with 36 points and 7 rebounds on 12-23 shooting. He followed up this performance with another big game against the Hornets, finishing with 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists on 10-18 shooting. He came up huge in this game when Tatum went to the bench as the primary scorer on the floor for the Celtics and Boston didn’t skip a beat.
Pritchard did most of his scoring from beyond the arc against Atlanta, finishing with 6 three pointers in that game. He only had 2 threes against Charlotte but did most of his damage in the paint and in the midrange.
It didn’t matter who the Hornets threw at him, Pritchard was going to get inside on his defender and rise up over them to make the basket. It was giving me shades of prime Steve Nash back in his MVP days with the Phoenix Suns with his ability to score over anybody.
4. Eurobasket Neemias Queta Returned
This summer, Neemias Queta represented Portugal in Eurobasket and was essentially the number one option for them. In these games, he was a force inside with an array of back to the basket moves and play finishing that were able to work in international competition.
With the Celtics he isn’t necessarily replied upon when it comes to his ability to create offense but we saw a glimpse of that Eurobasket Queta in this game when he finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds on 8-13 shooting. This is really impressive considering Charlotte have some really good defensive big men in Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner.
Queta was great as a play finisher in this game against the Hornets, getting set up for a lot of great opportunities underneath the basket. There have been times this season where he has had a hard time when it comes to catching these passes, sometimes looking lost and just not putting the ball up. That was the opposite in this game, stepping up big time with the Celtics missing two of their top scorers.
5. Sneaky Good Baylor Scheierman Game
One guy who got a big time opportunity with Brown and White out was Baylor Scheierman and he played a great game. In 28 minutes off the bench he finished with 14 points and 3 assists on 4-11 shooting from the field and 3-7 from three. He might have only made 4 shots but all of them came in some of the most ridiculous ways possible.
Whether it was a floater that touched the sky with the shot clock running down or hitting pull up threes from 30+ feet, Baylor Scheierman hit some big shots for the Celtics when they needed them most in some cases. He played some huge minutes for Boston in this game and his ability to make a positive impact on the game was big when it came to stabilizing the rotations.
Anytime Ron Harper Jr gets a chance to play big minutes for the Celtics it always feels like he makes a big impact. He did that against the Hornets where he only played 14 minutes but had 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 steal on 3-3 shooting and a +10. Harper Jr left the game midway through the second quarter with an ankle sprain but before that it looked like he was going to have another big game.
Overall though I just enjoy watching Ron Harper Jr get a chance to play with the Celtics rotation. Grinding his way through Maine and being able to make a legit impact in sparse minutes isn’t something a lot of NBA players can do. I will be very happy if he ends up with a standard contract with Boston so he can play in the playoffs because he has earned it.
7. Jordan Walsh Got the Start
For the first time since January 1st, Jordan Walsh was in the starting lineup for the Boston Celtics. It looked like he was rewarded for his performance against the Atlanta Hawks where he played 27 minutes off the bench and had 5 points and 3 blocks. Against Charlotte, he had another solid game, finishing with 3 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in 34 minutes and a +14.
Although he shot 1-7, his impact was felt the most with his defense on LaMelo Ball. Walsh made Ball work for everything on offense, being a big part in him finishing with only 19 points on 7-19 shooting and 4 turnovers. His constant pressure forced LaMelo into some tough shots and made him miss some pretty good looking three point attempts.
With Brown being out day-to-day, I hope we continue to get to see Jordan Walsh get minutes and get to see him play his hounding defense.
A big reason as to why the Celtics were able to win this game despite the talent disparity was their ability to shoot the lights out against the Hornets. Boston finished shooting 42-83 (51%) from the field and 14-34 (41%) from three point range. In contrast, the Celtics held the Hornets to 36-83 shooting from the field (43%) and 12-43 (28%) from beyond the arc.
Charlotte’s poor shooting night could be explained by the face they were on the second half of a back to back but that discredits the great defense that Boston played. They held Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball to a combined 12-32 shooting, slowing down the main cogs in the Hornets high powered offensive machine.
Celtics Shot Zone Chart (Via NBA.com)
9. Won the Turnover Battle
Boston’s defense is most effective when they can generate turnovers while limiting them on offense. In this game, the Celtics forced 11 turnovers on the Hornets while only allowing 5. Boston finished with 6 steals and 11 points off of the turnovers they generated from Charlotte.
They were super aggressive in the passing lanes, putting pressure on the Hornets’ ball handlers to force their steals. A very impressive performance against a top 5 team in offensive rating this season.
10. Best “Gap Year” Ever?
At the beginning of the season it looked like this season for the Boston Celtics was supposed to be what they call a “gap year.” Some people saw the losses the team had plus Jayson Tatum coming back late in the season and just expected the Celtics to take the year off. Well, if 50 wins for the 5th straight season and clinching a playoff spot as the second seed in the Eastern Conference is considered a “gap year,” this has to be the best one in NBA history right?
I predicted Boston to finish with around 45 wins this year and a top 4 seed in the East but I don’t know how many people even thought they were going to finish that high after the 0-3 start to the season. It really is a testament to the culture that Boston has cultivated to be able to always be competitive no matter the roster. There really is nothing better than being a fan of the Boston Celtics.