Ten takeaways from the Celtics’ win over Charles Lee’s Hornets

1. Flipping the script.

After Tatum launched 18 3’s towards the Pacers, he made it clear that he ought to’ve approached that in a different way.

Boston began this recreation making a real effort to ascertain their offense from the within out. Their first handful of makes an attempt got here from contained in the arc, with a number of being designed post-ups.

Even on events the place they’d sometimes shoot 3’s – like an offensive rebound, or the ball swinging on the perimeter – they nonetheless tried to the touch the paint first.

They nonetheless bought up a good quantity of three’s, however with much less frequency and poor effectivity for his or her requirements. It was the factors within the paint that saved them afloat. It’s uncommon that the Celtics lose the 3PA battle, so it was encouraging to see them discover one other means.

2. Charles Lee’s Hornets.

On the opposite facet of issues, Charles Lee performed an enormous half in forcing the Celtics to win a unique means. He has Charlotte capturing a excessive quantity of three’s which Boston struggled to maintain up with, and that’s saying one thing.

Defensively, Lee has a deep understanding of what the Celtics need to do. The Hornets took lots of the Celtics typical open perimeter appears to be like off the desk. It was half technique, half deficiency, however Boston was typically funneled away from the 3PT line and into the paint.

With restricted rim safety, the C’s didn’t flip down many paint drives. It left them near dropping the maths recreation although.

3. Jaylen found out they’ll’t guard him.

Brown completed the first quarter capturing 2/6 from the sphere, and appeared like he would possibly battle to get going. His effectivity didn’t utterly rebound from the gradual begin, however felt considerably extra managed in his method.

aylen appeared to appreciate shortly that there wasn’t a single Charlotte Hornet that ought to have an inexpensive probability of stopping him. He put his shoulder down, carved out a lane and both discovered himself with a straightforward layup or two photographs from the stripe. LaMelo Ball turned a constant sufferer for him on this regard.

This one was distinctly vicious:

The composure was spectacular too with Jaylen organizing the offense and persevering with to instantly goal LaMelo each time potential.

Jaylen discovered a seal, and the Celtics enabled him to hunt away. This aggressive mindset was highlighted by his 10 free throw makes an attempt, of which he hit 9.

4. MVP chants on the street.

Tatum was good on this one. He nonetheless settled some, however spent lots of the sport attacking the rim. He earned MVP chants within the Hornets enviornment after scoring 16 factors within the 1st quarter, whereas taking part in all 12 minutes.

He completed with a game-high 34 factors, making this the fourth time he’s reached 30+ factors in six video games. Jayson rebounded effectively, grabbing 11 boards, and stuffed out the remainder of the field rating with three assists, three steals and one block.

Like Jaylen, his aggression led to lots of free throws. The entire was considerably inflated on account of a number of technical fouls on the finish of the sport for the Hornets, however he was nonetheless in assault mode. With the unusual nature of the foul he acquired from Grant Williams, you possibly can’t say he didn’t deserve the photographs both.

5. Navigating Horford relaxation nights.

Boston elected to relaxation Al Horford on the primary half of a back-to-back, beginning Luke Kornet in his place. Barring one thing unexpected, Kornet with the starters must be the expectation till Porzingis returns. What number of minutes they’ll get out of him and the remainder of the bigs continues to be up within the air.

Luke was stable, nothing spectacular, however stable nonetheless. That’s sometimes what you’re going to get from him, and on a staff this proficient, they’ll typically reside with that. He completed the sport as a +16 in 23 minutes. None of his stats bounce off the web page, however that quantity reveals decently sufficient the truth that they fared fairly effectively when he was on the courtroom.

Neemias Queta was the one different heart to the touch the ground on this recreation with Tillman amassing a DNP. Queta truly performed for barely longer than Kornet, and completed the sport with 12 factors on an ideal 6/6 from the sphere. His begin to the sport wasn’t very inspiring, however he turned that round ultimately.

With a rematch lined up shortly, getting 48 heart minutes from these two implies that Tillman ought to have contemporary legs to assist out when known as upon for the 2nd night time of the back-to-back.

6. Jordan Walsh’s temporary look.

Walsh logged simply six minutes on this recreation, however not the usual rubbish time run that you just would possibly anticipate by glancing on the ultimate rating. For starters, that rating is actually not an correct reflection of the kind of recreation this was. Jordan truly checked in initially with eight minutes left within the 2nd quarter.

He bought his first contact seven seconds later, and made essentially the most of it.

Leaping off the bench chilly and hitting your first shot is at all times an important signal, particularly for a participant that’s working exhausting to develop his jumpshot. Walsh knocked down one other 3 not lengthy after his first.

He noticed little or no run after this encouraging stretch, and that’s sadly going to be life for him at occasions. It’s nothing towards him in any respect, however it’s troublesome to crack this rotation and not using a ton of minutes to go round. Persevering with to achieve success in these small pockets of the sport will at all times maintain him on Mazzulla’s radar although.

7. Momentum silencer.

Sam Hauser continues to be working himself again into kind, so he understandably didn’t put collectively an enormous recreation. He did knock down two 3’s, with one being notably necessary.

Late within the third quarter, Charlotte began to realize some actual momentum. They put collectively a number of stable possessions to chip the Celtics lead right down to 1, and the followers have been behind them. Tre Mann snagging an offensive rebound and placing it again up over Queta was particularly irritating from Boston’s POV.

On the very subsequent possession, Tatum slips out and Pritchard finds him on the roll. The Hornets rotate and make the basic and deadly mistake of leaving Sam Hauser huge open.

In case you look behind the Hornets bench, you’ll see an exquisite illustration of what silencing a crowd appears to be like like. The chants for protection ended abruptly, and followers have been seated as soon as once more. Finish of quarter minutes are at all times necessary, and Sam’s shot helped the Celtics head into the 4th with a 6-point lead.

8. Pritchard’s uncommon influence.

We’ve come to know and love the large scoring nights from Payton Pritchard, however this recreation was totally different. He didn’t mild the Hornets up from 3PT vary. In reality, it was probably one among his worst capturing nights. Payton completed the sport ⅙ from the sphere, lacking all 5 of his photographs from past the arc.

It wasn’t simply belief, or an absence of higher choices that allowed him to play 27 minutes and end as a +13. His ball strain and exercise on protection have been each legitimately good. He had 5 steals, and whereas a pair have been of the “Proper place, proper time” selection, he wasn’t simply floating round on the market.

LaMelo Ball and Tre Mann each had good scoring nights, however Pritchard combating by screens and choosing them up early made their lives marginally tougher and helped out ultimately.

9. Mazzulla lit a fireplace.

Boston began to let Charlotte shut the hole within the 4th quarter, and Joe Mazzulla was not having it. The Hornets minimize their lead right down to 1 on a step again jumper from Ball, and that was adopted instantly by an offensive foul name on Queta.

This seems like a poor name for my part, however Mazzulla felt a lot stronger about simply how unhealthy it was.

His response went on for fairly some time, and it took two assistants to ensure he didn’t take it a step additional and find yourself with an ejection. Joe may be very passionate, however he’s often extra composed than this. I’ve to imagine for that purpose that it was not less than partially a motivation tactic to assist hearth up his staff to shut the sport.

Even when it wasn’t meant that means, it appeared to have labored. Boston completed the sport on a 24-10 run, and Queta put Miles Bridges on a poster.

10. Protecting that fireplace.

The followers can see it, and the gamers will probably admit that the protection hasn’t been as much as their commonplace but. Figuring out how this Hornets staff operates now, I’d wish to see the Celtics make an actual effort to close them down on the second night time of the back-to-back.

Charlotte shot a ton of three’s, however far too many have been open appears to be like that got here from Boston both over-helping, or being late to rotate. If the playoffs began right this moment, I can think about it might look a lot totally different. This staff talks lots about constructing good habits although, and it’s price being disciplined even in early November.

In the event that they take the fireplace that Mazzulla created (that Grant Williams poured gasoline on), and channel it to their defensive depth, they’ll finish this two recreation mini-series on a really excessive notice.