“That was superior,” said head coach Joe Mazzulla after the Boston Celtics’ first lack of the season. “What a sport. That was sick.”
Boston was outdueled by the Minnesota Timberwolves in time beyond regulation on Monday evening, falling 114-109. Anthony Edwards steamrolled the Celtics, pouring in 38 factors to associate with 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
However the extra noteworthy storyline for Minnesota, and by proxy, Boston, got here on the opposite finish of the court docket. The Celtics entered the sport with the perfect offensive score within the league, however the Timberwolves utterly stifled them.
Capturing 39.1% from the sphere and 28.2% from distance, the truth that the Celtics even took the sport to time beyond regulation was a miracle. Minnesota managed to utterly clog the lane whereas concurrently limiting the Celtics’ potential to work out of mismatches – their major supply of offense this 12 months.
Jaden McDaniels performed a masterful sport on Jayson Tatum. He fought by way of screens, denied Tatum the ball, and restricted his potential to run the Celtics’ offense. The identical might be mentioned for Edwards, who checked Jaylen Brown, and Rudy Gobert, who did an upstanding job of limiting Kristaps Porzingis’ effectiveness down low.
With Derrick White nonetheless out after the delivery of his second youngster, Jrue Vacation welcomed an expanded offensive function, however he shot simply 4-for-16 from the ground and 0-for-4 from deep.
“Our opponents are at all times going to carry the perfect out of us,” Mazzulla said. “I assumed we competed at a excessive stage. Their defensive toughness outmatched our offensive toughness at instances.”
A Tatum-led flurry to start the fourth quarter helped the Celtics drag the sport to time beyond regulation, however as soon as they acquired there, the whole lot slowed again down. The Timberwolves had been comfy permitting McDaniels and Edwards to test Tatum and Brown one-on-one, respectively, which restrained the Celtics’ effectiveness on the offensive finish.
The Celtics shot 2-for-7 in time beyond regulation, together with 0-for-3 from behind the three-point arc.
Boston’s incapacity to search out offense was compounded by turnovers, as they ended the evening with 16 as a group, together with six from Tatum alone.
“Simply had method too many turnovers,” Tatum said with a laugh. “I gotta do higher. All of us gotta do higher.”
Tatum’s upbeat expression and Mazzulla’s positivity make one reality clear: The Celtics are treating this sport as a studying expertise.
Moderately than calling timeouts and getting a play organized, Mazzulla let the Celtics run the offense themselves down the stretch. With their new-look group in place, he seemingly prioritized a player-first studying expertise over potential group.
Tatum, who nonetheless managed to shoot 12-for-22 on the evening, had some slip-ups when dealing with the ball. McDaniels restricted his offensive management, however now he has one thing to look again on ought to this subject rear its head in one other matchup. He can take the loss, study from it, and develop.
An 82-0 season was by no means within the playing cards. It by no means is. And for the Celtics, shedding to a group that was locked in on the defensive finish ought to solely make their offense stronger.
