Finding Ways To Win On Nights You Mostly Play Like Dogshit Is The True Sign Of A Champion

We knew that one of the challenges of this season was the reality that every team in the league is going to treat their game against the Celtics like it's the NBA Finals. That's an honor you get only by being the best, so frankly I wouldn't want it any other way. When you're the standard, that's how things work. 

Plus, coming off what Jaylen had to say at Media Day, you knew the Pistons especially were going to be motivated in their first matchup against the Champs

Was he wrong? No. That's legitimately what happens. But if you were looking for bulletin board material to juice up a late October regular season game, that certainly did the trick.

As much as we would all prefer to avoid it, there are going to be nights when the Celts look and play like dogshit. That's just how basketball works, even for the Champs. What separates teams is who can still find a way to lock in when it matters and pull out Ws. It doesn't always have to be pretty over the course of 82 as long as you get your shit together when the time comes to win.

That's what this win was. Early, things looked pretty much like they have all season, with the Celts building a 20 point lead in only 18 minutes. From there? Disaster. From that moment on they played some of the grossest looking basketball you'll ever see until about 9-10 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Out of the 48 minutes of game time, I'd say the Celts played well for 28 of it. That's not going to cut it against contending teams and it's certainly not going to cut it in the playoffs, I think we can all agree there.

But that's the beauty of the regular season. Every game matters. Every situation matters. Getting reps in of having to win in a variety of ways is extremely important, whether that's needing to lock in defensively, executing in the clutch, having a situation where you were up 20 and then are suddenly down 4 in the 4th quarter, all of those situations matter and are valuable as this team navigates throughout the year. 

So while on one hand it's a little frustrating and annoying that they had that much trouble with the Pistons, I also think DET deserves credit. They played great, weren't intimidated, and went blow for blow with the Celts' best players. On the other hand, I don't mind getting 

A) an early season wakeup call

B) the Celts having to handle and respond to a big blown lead situation

Do I wish they never blew that 20 point lead? Of course. But that's going to happen. Teams go on runs, and being on the road with the crowd going crazy, it was great to see the Celts step up when it came time to win the game and they found a way (starting defensively) to get the job done. 

With that said, let's dive in.

The Good

- Well, Jayson Tatum finally had the play a 4th quarter for the first time this season. It was bound to happen at some point and while I don't think anyone thought it was going to be last night once the Celts went up 64-44 midway through the second quarter, the bigger takeaway for me is that once again, Jayson Tatum looks incredible

As a reminder, this is the first 10 quarters of Jayson Tatum's season

Tatum is the first player in the play-by-play era to have at least 67 points and 13 3PM in the first half of the first three games of a season. He's only the 8th player in the last 50 years to have averaged at least 33/6/6 over the first three and only the second forward to do it (Kevin Durant).

Do people understand what we're watching yet? Do you get it? 

Welcome to the early stages of Jayson Tatum's NBA prime years. It's as glorious as we all hoped it would be since he first entered the league, and the scary part is things are only going to get better. 

There are two things that I can't help but notice watching Tatum start the year. The first being you have to have rocks for brains to ever allow your center to be matched up with Tatum on an island. Look again at how many times Tatum had Jalen Duran in hell while in space. If you want to be a team that switches everything, just know you have to accept that Jayson Tatum will destroy your big in space. If you don't switch, well that's game over for you too so really you're in a bit of a pickle. 

The second thing is Tatum's pull up shooting is the best it has ever been, and it's coming at a VERY high clip. To start the season Tatum is averaging 48.4% on pull up 3PA, and he's taking 10.3 of them again. 

Go ahead, read that sentence again. 48.4% on 10.3 a game.

Joe knows this so what does he do? Plays like this

God damn do I love Joe's brain.

The Kornet screen comes HIGH as shit which allows Tatum to have the space to start to get downhill, once the Pistons switch, you see Pritchard in the perfect position to screen Kornet's man, which gives Tatum all the space he needs since Prichard's defender is way below the line in drop. You give Tatum this much space

and that's a layup. Jrue's defender can't help since he's in the strongside corner, neither Pistons defender is close enough after the screens to even come close to contesting the jumper, and Tatum cashes it. It's not a complicated play, but basketball doesn't have to be complicated. We see Tatum get a high ball screen and then take one or two dribbles into his pull up all the time, so this is a nice little wrinkle from Joe that is going to get Tatum a clean look WHENEVER they want it. That rules. 

- If we've said it once we've said it a thousand times. Derrick White is a tremendous Celtic. Him being on this team is such a blessing and I cannot stress that enough. He does everything you could want from a basketball player in pretty much all aspects. He plays hard as shit, he's versatile, his IQ is off the charts, he's the perfect teammate, he's an elite shooter, he can finish in the paint, he makes his FTs, he can pass, he can defend at an All NBA level, he's the best rim protecting guard in the NBA (fact not opinion). It's all incredible

The play of the game for him was obviously the block on Cade, which was about as insane as you think

Perfectly timed, perfectly executed, and the perfect example of why Derrick White is Derrick White.

Oh and the vibes? They remain immaculate

- All this talk about how the Celtics are "boring" and how their 3P approach is ruining the league to the point where the NBA needs to change the rules, I would just like to ask those people what the fuck they are watching? 

Take the two biggest possessions of the game for the Celtics which essentially won them the game. Imagine there are people who find these possessions boring because they ended in 3s?

Manipulating the defense, fantastic ball movement, wide open shots. This is basketball in it's purest form, but because Al Horford didn't shoot it and Jaylen didn't try and dunk it which probably ends in FTs anyways, somehow those possessions aren't fun to watch? Do these people understand how insane they sound? Or, is it just because this is happening with the Celtics that they have issues with it? It's hard to say (no it isn't).

It's no surprise that the Celts' offense looked like dogshit once they got away from this type of approach that built them their 20 point lead in the first place. The ball wasn't moving, there was more iso ball and contested 3PA, it was all gross.

But this? This is the way. Once the Celts got back to their shit, their offense got back to flowing and they won the game. That is not a coincidence.

- After how brutal he looked against the Wizards I said Al Horford needed to be better is minutes and boy did he deliver

17/5 with 3 steals in 32 minutes is exactly what the doctor ordered. Much more active defensively, the shot looked great, he looked more spry, and he finished a team best +21. This is why we never doubt Al, he always makes up for his dud performances.

- Remember how Jaylen Brown at the top of this blog said when the Celts play the Pistons they let Pritchard/Hauser cook? Well, no Hauser in this game but Pritchard? Yup, Pritchard cooked

Ho hum, just a little 19 points and 5 3PM (again) off the bench for Pritchard in 19 minutes. Is that good? 

Just so you're aware, Payton Pritchard has started the year with 3.7 3PM off the bench while shooting 42.3% on 8.7 a game. There's a reason he has the ultimate green light and we're seeing it.

- Jaylen's spot is weird because overall I didn't think he played all that great, especially early. Big time CTE basketball from him and Jrue, and he did shoot 6-24 which was triggered for a number of reasons (shoutout 2010 Finals). But I will say that even on a "down" night for Jaylen, what he did in the 4th quarter was extremely impactful when it came to this win.

His rebounding down the stretch was huge, oftentimes taking on the challenge of boxing out Duren, who is a top 5 rebounder in the NBA. His big 4th quarter steal helped settle things down defensively, and of course the 2 FTs to ice it where beautiful to watch.

In fact, his 17-19 start from the FT line (89.5%) might be the biggest surprise of the entire season so far. While I don't think he'll live in that range all season, is high 70s/low 80s on the table? For a guy that shot 70.3% last year, that would be a massive development considering he's taking 6.3 FTA a game to start the year (a career high)

The Bad

- Listen, if we want to talk about how this is a new year and last season is over and it's time to turn the page, then we also have to be honest when it comes to what we've seen so far, and so far the Celtics defense has been horrendous (by their standards). In terms of rating, the Celts currently rank 13th defensively after playing the Knicks, Wizards, and Pistons. That's gross.

If you subtract garbage time, their defense ranks 16th in the NBA in points per possession. We're seeing them give up 30+ point quarter after 30+ point quarter, their point of attack defense has been substandard based on what we know they are capable of, and last night was a perfect example of that.

Both Cade Cunningham and Ivey got whatever they wanted. They were aggressive, they played with force, and the Celts really didn't have an answer for it.

Maybe you think this is just the Celts ramping up and they are easing into things since it's a long year. OK, that's fine. That still doesn't excuse poor defense. Let other teams do the whole "we're saving till the playoffs" bullshit. What makes this team the wagon they are and the champs they are is the fact that they bring it every night, not just in the Spring. What sets them apart is the fact that they are elite on both ends of the floor from October to June, and that has NOT been the case defensively.

Offensively? Best in the NBA with a ORTG of 129. Tighten up the defense a little bit and we're cooking.

- I haven't really loved the ball movement at all these last two games. Coming off the opener, what they've done against the Pistons and Wizards is way too iso/hero ball for my liking. There will always be a need for those possessions, but only 21 AST against WSH and only 19 AST last night, maybe it's the fact that they are playing poor defenses that make the Celts think they can just beat their man, but that did NOT work last night.

Jaylen forcing the issue way too often on a night where he couldn't hit shit, the ball sticking and nobody moving which resulted in low percentage shots like a Luke Kornet contested hook shot from 8 ft or a contested Tillman 3PA. It's like the Celts decided to play how people say they like the NBA game to be played, and it was awful. Don't listen to those morons and just play Mazzulla Ball. We know that works.

- As amazing as Tatum has been to start the year, what the fuck is with his FT shooting? 55%? Small sample sure, but what the hell is that? 

The Ugly

- Perhaps one of the most CTE Jrue moments we've ever seen with his decision to help on this Cade drive with the Celtics up 4 in the final seconds

He's way too smart of a player to be making a mistake like this in that situation. At this point in the game, 2s don't hurt you! Let them take all the 2s they want! Instead, you help off the strong side shooter? A guy who had already been 4-7 from deep in this game and was put in specifically to do what he did in that clip? This is what I mean about the defense not being locked in yet, this was as poor a decision as Jrue will make all year which is bizarre because I thought his defensive presence was a big part of their late comeback.

This moment though? That's CTE basketball at its worst.

- Over the final 24 minutes of this game the Celts had an ORTG of 106.3, a DRTG of 119.1 and a net rating of -12.9. If that's worthy of this section, I'm not sure what is. Going 5ish minutes without scoring, getting no stops whatsoever, those 48 possessions were mostly filled with shit.

And yet, here the champs sit, a perfect 3-0. This is now the 3rd straight season Joe Mazzulla has his team off to a 3-0 start, and a much better test comes Monday with the Bucks coming to town. We saw how the Celts responded with their test against another potential Eastern Conference challenger, so let's see how they handle the next one. Hopefully, it's much better than the shit we watched last night.