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#1 Hauser’s 30-piece
There’s nowhere else we must be beginning as we speak’s takeaways. Getting sixteenth profession star, Sam Hauser proved he has mastered the Incendio spell. He was a flamethrower, each as a motion shooter and when recognizing up. Right here is my favourite bucket from Hauser’s huge night time.
Just a little strong-side ‘twirl’ motion between Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser confuses the protection earlier than the sharpshooter makes use of the Luke Kornet display to come out to the perimeter and hit the shot straight off the catch.
I additionally preferred the above bucket. A easy motion three through a DHO in transition.
Hauser is among the many finest sharpshooters within the NBA. I don’t suppose that’s an outlandish assertion — and if it was coming into the sport, it definitely shouldn’t be now. Sadly, his likelihood of setting the franchise file for many made threes in a sport got here to an abrupt halt. Hauser fell awkwardly subsequent to the Wizards bench after making his tenth bucket, struggling an ankle sprain in consequence.
I used to be additionally a fan of Hauser chipping in on the glass, ending the night time with six rebounds whereas displaying his upside as a role-playing defender.
#2 Tatum remains to be a scoring machine
That is how the Boston Celtics opened the sport.
From the very first possession, they seemed to characteristic Jayson Tatum inside the offense. I notably preferred the play design: A “horns cross” permitting Tatum to work out of the “pinch submit.” We didn’t get a bucket from this opening possession, we did, nonetheless, get to see Tatum on the foul line inside the first 30 seconds of the sport.
After that, the tone was set. Tatum cooked from the perimeter.
He additionally did some work on the inside, with this secondary minimize and side-step layup being my favourite.
In fact, we obtained our standard two-way manufacturing, too. Tatum had 6 rebounds and 6 assists. But, It was his work within the passing lanes that basically impressed me. Even when dealing with a depleted Wizards roster, Tatum wished to regulate the sport and pressure run-outs. He had 4 deflections and three steals.
With Jaylen Brown out on account of harm, it was logical that Tatum would step into an even bigger function on offense relatively than follow his all-around performances that we’ve seen this season. Nonetheless, he balanced the 2 roles effectively and had a strong all-around sport.
#3 Pritchin’ in
Any issues we’ve had about Payton Pritchard as the first backup guard ought to now be up to now. He’s been strong all season. Towards the Wizards, in a barely larger function on account of Derrick White’s absence, we noticed an impressive efficiency.
Pritchard is nice at controlling the tempo of a sport. He can push the rock in transition. Is adept at “Nashing” the ball when the protection rotates over to guard the rim, and has improved his passing off the dribble since getting into the NBA. It’s solely becoming, then, that he ended with a career-high 13 assists to go together with his 14 factors and 5 rebounds in a strong double-double efficiency.
The Wizards tried to go at Pritchard on the defensive finish, placing him into 13 completely different taking pictures conditions — he held his man ot 46.2% from the sector and 1-of-5 from 3-point vary.
Xavier Tillman deserves credit score for the defensive possession proven above. Nevertheless, Pritchard’s display navigation has been an enormous enchancment this season. He can keep away from contact and add strain within the rearview when chasing ball-handlers in pick-and-roll conditions. His capability to alter speeds on a dime makes him a strong perimeter chase defender and permits strain to be utilized on each side of the ball.
When it comes to creating off the dribble, the above clip reveals what I’m speaking about. Pritchard isn’t shy to tug out his dribble and create passing lanes. These little one-handed shovel passes have gotten a legit weapon for him as a shot-creator within the half-court.
Lengthy story brief, this was an ideal night time for Pritchard, even when he was dealing with some of the lackluster defenses in the complete NBA.
#4 Jaden Springer
Regardless of the Celtics being dominant from begin to end, we nonetheless solely noticed Jaden Springer for a restricted time frame. Nevertheless, he’s a brand new face on the roster, and I need to no less than take a look at what he’s proven at any time when he will get a run on the courtroom.
This was one of the best instance of what Springer brings to the ground. He switches onto the baseline cutter with tempo and intent. He then makes himself huge, stays lively together with his fingers, and impacts the shot try, forcing the miss.
Springer seems to maneuver effectively. He’s fast, he hustles, and he understands his positioning. There’s little doubt that he’s a venture participant for a crew as deep because the Celtics, however you’ll be able to see how he may carve out a job for himself heading into subsequent season.
#5 Extra Tillman
Tillman did okay in his minutes. His positioning was good. His physicality was wanted towards Eugene Omoruyi, who was definitely seeking to make his presence felt on the ground — simply take a look at the shove on Horford earlier within the sport in case you want an instance.
When he’s within the sport, Tillman permits the ball to maneuver round. His screening and positioning make sure the spacing is strong and that ball-handlers will at all times have angles being created for them. On protection, Tillman gave the Celtics a switchable presence that held his personal on the perimeter whereas additionally affecting photographs across the rim.
I additionally like how rapidly he can transfer his ft to maintain the ball handler and the roll man in entrance of him. That permits him to shade the ball whereas additionally boxing out on the rolling huge when the shot goes up.
#6 Jordan Poole discovered success
The Wizards had been short-handed coming into the sport towards Boston. As such, it made sense that they’d closely characteristic Jordan Poole on the offensive finish. He’s struggled this season, particularly when enjoying within the beginning lineup. However, he discovered some rhythm towards the Celtics.
Nonetheless, I doubt he would have been that efficient if Boston’s rotation was at full energy. There are too many defensive weapons on the Celtics roster, and Poole would have struggled to search out gaps when attempting to get his shot off.
Nevertheless, Poole was efficient. He ended the sport with 31 factors on 63.2% taking pictures from the sector. Apparently, most of his offense got here from inside two-point vary. I wouldn’t say that is trigger for concern, on account of what number of gamers had been lacking from the Celtics rotation, but it surely was price mentioning.
#7 We noticed some Svi
I preferred what we noticed from Svi Mykhailiuk. We haven’t seen a number of him this season — such has been Boston’s energy in depth. Nevertheless, he flashed some upside as a passer and hit nearly half of his photographs. I used to be impressed together with his work on the glass, too.
Given the place Boston is within the Jap Convention standings and the video games they’ve left remaining, I’d anticipate to see extra of Svi within the coming weeks. Nevertheless, as soon as the playoffs get underway, I don’t suppose he’s going to characteristic except one thing goes drastically fallacious or the Celtics have blown a crew out and Mazzulla has emptied the bench.
Nonetheless, I’ll at all times take pleasure in seeing one-dribble pull-ups from taking pictures specialists, and there may undoubtedly be a job for Svi if a sequence calls for extra spacing off the bench. I’m not holding my breath, although.
#8 Ought to we now have anticipated extra from Jrue Vacation?
With Brown, White, and Porzingis all lacking from the rotation, I anticipated Vacation to be featured extra on the offensive finish. That would have been as a scorer, playmaker, or something in between. But, he continued to be deployed in his “jack-of-all-trades” function. I’m high quality with that.
Nevertheless, I feel this stretch run is an efficient time to assemble knowledge. Vacation has confirmed himself able to being a secondary and tertiary offensive possibility. This sport would have been the best time to see how that would search for the Celtics. I get that Hauser’s explosion from the perimeter possible restricted Vacation’s probabilities of being a featured scorer, however I do hope we get a few probabilities to see how that would look between now and the tip of the season.
#9 Oshae Brissett will get the beginning
Oshae Brissett obtained his first begin of the season towards the Wizards. He’s been a strong vitality participant off the bench all season. He performed his function effectively and displayed the defensive disruption that’s made him such a enjoyable function participant throughout his debut season with the Celtics.
I’ve mentioned this earlier than, however I used to be fairly low on Brissett coming into the season, primarily on account of his crossover with Lamar Stevens. Nevertheless, I’ve actually loved what he’s added to the crew and was completely happy to see him get rewarded with a begin on Sunday.
The scoring nonetheless isn’t there, and the rebounding can typically look a bit of questionable, however what he lacks in polish, he makes up for in hustle and energy. He suits proper in with the Celtics and is the kind of participant followers like to root for.
#10 Finish of season hoops
Right now of 12 months, when a crew has a big lead on the high of the standings, the video games usually really feel like a formality. I’d anticipate we’ll see a number of “accidents” between now and the tip of the season. There’s not rather more to be taught by way of execution or scheme. As a substitute, it’s about gathering knowledge and testing out some combos — particularly with rotation guys.
Nonetheless, we’ve obtained to offer credit score to the Celtics for sticking to their gameplan and securing one other win when it could have been straightforward to mail it in for an evening and dwell with the end result. That’s what makes this crew so particular; even on a random Sunday, with three starters lacking, they’re nonetheless popping out to hoop and get a win. That’s what makes me so assured of their capability to be a severe risk as soon as the playoffs start.
Wanting forward
The Celtics are again in motion tonight. They face the Detroit Pistons. Al Horford will undoubtedly miss the sport, because it’s the second night time of a back-to-back. Past that, we might want to look forward to the harm report back to see what else goes to alter heading into the sport.
Hopefully, it’s a bit of extra aggressive than what we noticed towards the Wizards, as that makes writing these takeaways a bit of simpler.
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