Don't Look Now But The Celtics Continue To Look Like A Team That's Ready To Defend Their Title

Jamie Sabau. Getty Images.

Of all the ways to start off your longest road trip of the year, which just so happens to be a West Coast trip, I'm not sure it gets better than what we saw take place in Utah. West Coast trips are always a little wacky, especially at this time of year. You don't have to take my word for it; just look at what's going on with the Cavs, who are in the middle of their own 5 game West Coast trip (0-3). Weird shit tends to happen, always has, always will.

Then you add in the fact that these games quite literally mean nothing for the defending champs. Even with the Cavs dropping 4 straight and the gap between the 1 and 2 seed now shrinking to 5 games, look at where we are in the calendar. The 1 seed is just as dead today as it was a week ago. Given the Knicks are dropping like a stone, there is no threat to the 2 seed either. 

That has the Celts in this weird limbo zone. They need to balance playing well, winning games, and keeping all of their main pieces healthy for what takes place 3 weeks from now. While other teams in the league have something to play for because their seeding is all TBD, that is not the case here. You have to fight the desire to relax mentally, stay locked in, and play Celtics basketball all while not getting hurt. 

Now, things certainly get a little easier when you're playing a team in the Jazz that are well into their tank for Cooper Flagg. Last night sort of felt like a transaction where everyone got what they wanted. Celts got the blowout win to start their trip off on the right foot and to keep their positive momentum going, and the Jazz got the loss they very much needed given they sat everyone and are currently allergic to wins. This is not how things are going to be the rest of the trip, with the Blazers, Kings, and Suns all playing hard and needing wins. The Spurs finale could go either way in terms of their desire to win, depending on what Mamu and Flavor Flav have cooking. The point is, when you are gifted a game against a tanking team, that is a time you need to handle your shit.

Well, consider the shit handled. Let's talk about it.

The Good

- With Jaylen Brown out the first two games of the trip, that of course meant it was time for someone to step up and assume that #2 scoring role. While the beauty of the Celtics is that they can have a wide variety of players morph into that guy on any given night, deep down we all know who truly has to be that guy.

Kristaps Porzingis.

That's why he's here. When he's healthy and on the floor, he has the two-way talent to fill that responsibility when one of the Jays is out. The defense, the spacing, the 3s, the efficiency, the passing, there's a reason he's a basketball cheat code. In a matchup like this, KP had to dominate. So what did he do? Dominate

Since returning from the bubonic plague, KP has been a version of a player that if the Celtics get in a playoff run, they may never lose. Granted they already went 16-3 without even really having KP so I'm not sure how hot of a take that is, but the numbers have been incredible.

25.3/8.3/3.0/1.3 on 61/31% splits and a +9.3

This is also where I tell you this sample comes against BKN/BKN/UTA but I'm sorry, am I supposed to give a shit? I'm just happy this dude is alive and he's out there throwing up 20/10s with ease.

What we've seen from him is a level of play that takes the Celtics ceiling and raises it to a level we have yet to see a team in the NBA match 4 out of 7 times. He's 4-9 from deep over his last 2 games so hopefully that means his outside shooting is coming back to form because everything else has been as close to flawless as we've ever seen from KP. One of the biggest reasons his FG% dipped, especially on his post ups because he was smoking those open 4-5ft little jumpers. But since he's come back? 

KP is 11-15 in the paint (non-restricted area). That's good for 73%. 

You see the highlights above, that little mid-paint jumper has returned to being an automatic bucket. On the season, KP is down to just 47% on that shot, after shooting 51% last season. So if you're telling me I can start to expect at the very least, last year's production from the paint (non-RA) zone, well that changes the equation for me. For the Celtics to really punish teams for switching onto our 7'3 demon, he has to consistently bury that little jumper. Teams will eventually stop conceding 2s, and now Jayson Tatum has the matchup to do whatever he wants. This is why KP is such a cheat code.

Seeing what version of KP we have right now, I urge you to join me in taking several moments throughout the day and praying to the Basketball Gods that they bless him with health for the rest of the season and playoffs. We went through the injury sacrifice last year. We proved to be worthy. Just give us a clean bill of health for a KP run considering who knows how long he's going to be on the team after this season.

- Every single second we get to watch Jayson Tatum play basketball for the Boston Celtics is a blessing. Every dribble, every pass, every shot, every steal or block. It's all a blessing. Coming off a week of rest, you knew Tatum was going to be locked in and ready to go, especially facing a team that has zero way of defending him

Ho hum, just a light 26/6/6/3 and a starter best +18 in his 33 minutes. 

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about Tatum's night. He carried things early (with some KP support) to ensure the Celts got off to a solid start on the road (14/3/3/ on 6-9, 2-4). His shot making was insane and he looked as fresh as we'd seen him in weeks. To me, this was exactly why Jayson Tatum needs rest down the stretch. When he has rested legs, good fucking luck. Try and find him 2 or 3 more games before the end of the season and we're cooking with gas.

I also enjoyed how he's now able to cheat, all because he found a way to do something that refs have never seen before

As awesome as this play was, I would be bullshit if someone was allowed to have a kick ball like that against the Celts transition defense. Thankfully, my favorite player did it for my favorite team, so I am allowed to love it. 

Tatum was also one of the few who set the tone defensively, and when the rest of the roster sees the best player giving his all in a mid-March game against a tanking team, that shit is contagious. The best players set the standard, that's how the NBA works, so it's such a blessing that the Celts' best player only knows how to play to one standard. Winning. 

And sure, his shot selection felt like he settled down the stretch, but again who gives a shit? It was a blowout and the damage was done. And sure, his ball security was ass (again), but like I said, weird shit happens on West Coast trips. Just like with KP, in game like this while you're shorthanded, the best guys need to show up and carry, which is what happened.

- When you look at the box score you see the Celts only made three more 3PM (17-14) and were actually outshot from deep (40% vs 33%), how the hell did they win in blowout fashion? Simple. They dominated the margins

Celts won the rebounding battle 48-38, with a majority of that damage coming on the offensive glass (16 OREB). This helped the Celts own 2nd chance points 33-10, as well as points in the paint 50-40. 

They also finished with a rather insane 13 steals, which is what led to the huge gap in fastbreak points (18-6). 

When it came to the ever important shot margin, the Celts won that 97-84. When you have 16 OREB and also force 17 TOs, that's how you win that battle. Then on the other end, they only had 10 TOs themselves.

- Once you start adding everything up, from the great KP/Tatum showings, being awesome at the margins, and then the shooters making their 3s, I'd say 99.9% of the time that's a game that ends in a blowout win.

Both Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser combining for 32 points on 11-23 (8-19) and a +29 was every bit as important to this win than what the starters were able to accomplish. After what felt like a pretty tough stretch, I was really impressed with how Sam Hauser played. He was nails when it came to his open looks from 3 which is always going to be important, but he was also more than solid when it came to his defensive positions. A much better performance from Hauser when it came to staying in front of drives, and it never really felt like he was getting cooked on that end or was being targeted by a matchup that he couldn't handle.

Then once it came time for Pro Am Pritchard to take over, he went nuts in the 4th to close the deal. As we know, these are the types of games where you can usually bank on the shooters to play well, and while it's fair to also want to see this against the contending teams, I say take it one day at a time and just enjoy the show we got last night

- It took a little while for Jrue to snap out of another classic CTE performance, so for this section we'll focus on his 2nd half which I thought was exactly how he needs to play. Aggressive offensively (all of his 8 points), but in a way that made sense. Using his size to bully his defender into the paint for an easy paint finish as opposed to low percentage fadeaways like we saw in the first half. 

Digging in defensively and causing havoc, basically doing Jrue Holiday things

We continue to get more and more signs that Jrue is ramping up for the postseason run. I'm at the point where I don't event hink about his Mallet Finger while he plays, so to me that's a non-factor at this point. His shooting is fine, his dribbling is fine, he's not favoring it etc. I'd say how the Celts navigate Holiday's minutes are just as important as anyone else, because a fresh Holiday who is now giving 100% is a different caliber of player. 

I do wish he'd keep his CTE minutes at a minimum, but perhaps that has more to do with the opponent than anything else. You maybe try riskier/low chance stuff against the Jazz that you'd never do against a team with a pulse sort of thing. At least that's my hope.

- #FreeJordanWalsh. That is all.

- I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but the Celts had back to back games with awesome 4th quarters. Cherish this moment, because we all know how much of a prayer that is. I thought the Celts were great in that quarter at surviving the non-Tatum minutes which historically have proven to be a disaster in these 4th quarters when he's getting his rest, so that was great to see.

After the Jazz started the 4th making their first two 3PA, it did feel like their previous meeting where they nearly came back from a 20 point deficit because they went nuclear from deep in the 4th. So to see the Celts take those punches, not cave, and instead punch back all without Tatum on the floor was great. Then once he came back in, the lead ballooned and that was that.

The Bad

- I'm not sure what's going on with Jayson Tatum's ball security, but this turnover issue has to be cleaned up immediately. He has the ball WAY too much to be this careless, and honestly, we're witnessing one of the most careless stretches of his season.

Over his last 10 games, Tatum has 3 separate games of at least 6 TOs. He has at least 4 in 7 of his last 10. 

If you go back to his last 12, Tatum is averaging 4.1 TOs a night. The next closest on the team during that span is Jaylen, who's at 2.6.

Considering Tatum is a player that lives around 2.6 or 2.7 on the season, his being at 4+ is a bit of an issue. In last night's game, the Celts had 10 as a team, 6 came from Tatum. It's really the only negative to his game right now. It'd be one thing if these were mostly offensive fouls or moving screens, but they aren't. It's lazy passing, poor ball handling, bad entry passes etc. He's obviously going to clean it up, I'd just like it to happen already.

- There are a lot of ways to describe how effective the Celts were at guarding Collin Sexton, and I'm not sure a single one would be "well". In fact, it was the opposite. He finished 12-16 (4-6) from the floor, got to the rim with ease, and it didn't really matter who was matched up across from him, he cooked everyone. Credit to him for clearly being jazzed up (no pun intended but intended), but in a game where Jrue/White/Tatum all played in I did find it a little annoying nobody could slow him down.

He's going to win the battles in space against players like KP, but everyone else? Guarding your yard against score first guards is important, and I thought it was pretty poor in this game.

- The Basketball Gods collected the bill for Baylor's insane showing the other night which I suppose was to be expected. 0-4 (0-4) on all great looks that would have been sweet momentum buckets, Baylor bricked them all.

Granted that seemed to be contagious in this game, with Payton having those same struggles in the first half. I'm still annoyed that the Basketball Gods did not reward this type of ball movement. That was bullshit

- I'm just #noticing, but in the 7 games since Derrick White exploded against the Blazers, he's been a bit of a brick. Just 37/29% splits since that monster performance, and a 3-8 (2-7) last night, it's just something to monitor. White has finished under 30% from deep in 6 of his last 7 games, so to me, that's enough to call it another shooting rut. Considering he's taking around 9.6 3PA a night, that efficiency has to come back to normal. 

At that volume, I don't need 40%, but I can't have things being in the 20s. His shooting is too important, especially when the Celts are shorthanded. The good news is we've seen him climb out of these ruts before, so it's only a matter of time before he sees a few go in and nature starts to heal.

The Ugly

- You'll never believe this, but the Celtics were once again horrific when it came to throwing entry passes. I mean some of the worst shit you'll ever see, including the very first possession!

I don't care if I have to keep putting this shit in every blog. It infuriates me. How is it possible that every single Celtic is absolute dogshit at throwing entry passes? Especially considering how prominent post up offense is for them? Every single game we get 2-5 TOs through god awful entry passes. The guards, the wings, the bigs, it doesn't matter. Everyone turns it over at an alarming rate and mark my words, this is going to bite them in the ass in a playoff game.

This isn't something that has only showed up in these meaningless games. This has been a Day 1 issue, and we've seen no signs of it ever not being an issue. I would bet my life that if you listed which team in the NBA had the most entry pass TOs, the Celts probably have a Grand Canyon sized gap between them and #2 on that list.

But hey, a blowout win to start a road trip is exactly what we were all looking for, so big picture that's all that matters. Start the trip off on the right foot, keep stacking Ws, stay healthy, and get the hell home. That's the only goal of this trip in my opinion. With a B2B coming up you know KP/Al are going to rest and Jaylen is already out for Sunday, so now is the time to lock in. Play like they did last night, and things will be fine.