{"id":668253,"date":"2026-03-20T05:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/668253\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:43:22","slug":"celtics-reacts-survey-down-two-with-10-seconds-left-whos-taking-the-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/668253\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Reacts Survey: down two with 10 seconds left, who\u2019s taking the shot?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Celtics fans and fans across the country. Sign up here<\/a> to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.<\/p>\n

With the Celtics whole again (sans Nikola Vucevic as he recovers from a broken finger<\/a>) and heading to the playoffs, they\u2019ve got thirteen games to solidify their postseason rotation, further define their roles, and really hone in what they\u2019re doing when the games start to matter.<\/p>\n

As sparkling and unexpected as their 46 wins are in what many considered a gap year, there\u2019s much to be desired in their 13-16 record in clutch games. Their defense has more or less held up at 111.5 points per 100 possessions, but their second-ranked offense craters to 113 points. It\u2019s not too shabby compared to the rest of the league (9th), but considering that Joe Mazzulla has opted to win the possession game and limit chances, it puts a ton of pressure on the Celtics to take advantage when they\u2019re on the offensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

Despite coming off the bench since Jayson Tatum\u2019s return, Payton Pritchard remains one of the league\u2019s premiere isolation scorers in the NBA. He ranks in the 94th percentile in large part because of his 62.1 eFG% \u2014 that\u2019s better than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, James Harden, Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, and his teammate Jaylen Brown. With his array of dribble drive moves, body control in the mid-range, and effectiveness from behind the arc, he\u2019s one of Boston\u2019s best option with the clock running down.<\/p>\n

With Pritchard\u2019s move to bench, he\u2019ll have more responsibilities to shoulder the scoring for the second unit. In the starting five, Sam Hauser might be the biggest beneficiary of Tatum\u2019s return. Don\u2019t get it twisted though; that comes with expectations, too.<\/p>\n

As of today, an early season could spell threatens Hauser\u2019s career steak of shooting over 40% from behind the arc. He\u2019s at 38.6% right now. But I\u2019m sure none of that really matters to Mazzulla. Even with starting cameos by Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, and Jordan Walsh, it\u2019s Hauser with his shooting gravity and stroke paired with above average defense who will spend most of his playing time flanking the Jays.<\/p>\n

And how well have the Jays been playing? Well, there\u2019s no doubt that Jaylen Brown is a legit MVP candidate at this point. Not only is he averaging career highs across the board, over the last two weeks, he\u2019s starting to gain respect from the league. After being ejected in San Antonio and voicing criticism against foul-baiting stars after a loss in Oklahoma City, the bruising Brown has gone to the free throw line 49 times in the last four games, including hitting 19-of-21 in a physical game against Phoenix. That ability will be a big asset in April, May, and June.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s Tatum. The efficiency isn\u2019t there yet (30.5% from 3, just three FTAs a game), but you can see that he\u2019s getting his legs back and more importantly, gaining confidence attacking the rim more. He turned in his best game yet against the Warriors on Thursday with 24 points and 10 rebounds, hitting stepback threes (5 for 11) and challenging former teammate Kristaps Porzingis at the cup. He may not be in 1a form right now, but everything over the last two weeks tells you that that\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,65415,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-668253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-boston-celtics-discussion","12":"tag-bostonceltics","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116259914130550285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}