For The Love God, Will Someone On The Celtics Please Help Jaylen Brown

Jordan Johnson. Getty Images.

I wouldn't exactly call them "rivals" per se, but what I will say is that whenever the Celts and the Wolves match up against one another, their games are always electric. Nearly all of them recently have gone down to the wire or OT since around 2022-23, and last night was no different

Now, I can't say that I love the Celts becoming the first .500 team or better to lose to the Timberwolves this season as they were 0-7 in those games heading into last night, especially given the fact that the Celts are on a B2B today against the Cavs, but outside of the initial annoyance that the Celts dropped another winnable game I walked away from last night feeling pretty good.

On paper, the Celts should have been dogwalked in this game. The Wolves were healthy, hadn't played since Wednesday night and are loaded with size in both the frontcourt and on the wing. So the fact that the Celts gave them all they could handle was somewhat impressive. Is that a moral victory? Yeah kind of, but this entire season is weird so those types of performances matter. 

Is it very annoying that 4 of the Celts 9 losses this season have been by 4 points or less? In any other season, absolutely. In this particular season? I don't see anything wrong with playing hard, being right there until the end, and then ultimately falling short after a few tough bounces. It feels wrong, but remember, results like this do potentially help you. Given how tough the Celts' current stretch of the schedule is, you don't usually recommend fumbling winnable games on the road, but I just can't get myself to be too worked up about a result like last night because in the back of my mind, I have to keep reminding myself that Jayson Tatum exists. Pretty sure a few of those late-game OREBs would actually be Tatum DREBs, so it's hard to get too worked up. It just is what it is until he's back.

Now nearly a quarter of the way into the season, it's hard to truly nail who the Celts are. At 10-9 and the 9th seed, that's objectively bad. Yet, their +4.1 point differential is that of a 50+ win team. They own the 5th best offense in the NBA and the 10th best net rating (+4.3). If you look at teams last year that had a +4.3 net rating or close to it, you're looking at the Rockets (52 wins), the Knicks (50 wins), the Nuggets (50 wins) and the Grizzlies (48 wins).

So, who is this team?

The profile says they're playing at a high 40s/low 50s level. The record says they are barely over .500 a quarter of the way through the season. As I've said since October, this is an extremely hilarious team.

With that said, let's begin.

The Good

- It is a long standing rule in this blog that if over the course of 48 minutes we see a Celtic to something historic or something not seen since Larry Bird, they kick us off. Who was it this time? Jaylen Brown, come on down

Taking the challenge against Anthony Edwards head on, Jaylen Brown had what I would call  one of the best individual performances of his career. The most impressive part about this performance? Go ahead and look at the FTA number. This isn't the case where Jaylen lives at the line like the other top scorers in the league. He got there by playing ethical hoops and shotmaking. We're at the point where I can't even process what's going on with Jaylen from the midrange. Just look at some of those makes! The fact he's well over 50% on high volume from that zone is getting rather insane, but so far this season that shot is basically a layup for him, regardless of what the defense does. He's so good at creating space using his strength there's really nothing a defender can do.

And while I'll always be nervous about relying so heavily on that particular shot, at this point it's really the only way the Celtics can consistently score, so I say ride the wave. As you can see, the wave has been pretty fucking legit

Remember, there were real life humans who said with full confidence that Jaylen Brown was only good because he played next to Jayson Tatum, and that without Tatum, he would be exposed. As it turns out, Jaylen Brown is pretty good! Not only does he now have the entire focus of the defense, but the talent around him is a few notches down from what we're used to and not only is he still producing, he's been efficient as hell while he does it. 

His 27 first half points were the main reason the Celts had a 10 point lead at the break, and what I continue to be impressed with when it comes to Jaylen season isn't just the scoring, but his growth as a passer. Multiple times in this game we saw him take his time and be patient with his head up, finding a teammate for an easy bucket as opposed to forcing a contested shot just because he's "The Guy". I suppose it helps when you know you can still get 30+ FGA, but when you play a complete all around game like Jaylen did last night, that matters to me. He's much more than just a scorer this season, because that's what the role has required. 

What I'm asking for is that someone, anyone really, on this roster wake the hell up and help this man. Wasting these types of masterclass performances is very annoying, and the infuriating part is that all the Celts needed was an average performance from the "others" and this was a win. For a game like this to instead be a "despite the loss" performance irritates the hell out of me and frankly every player on the roster should give Jaylen their game checks.

- I'm only slightly kidding when I say that Neemias Queta was the best center on the floor in a game that included Rudy Gobert. Laugh if you want, but it's the truth

Mind you, Neemy also did all that coming off a sprained ankle. Watching what Neemias Queta is developing into brings such joy to my life, I can't even stand it. Heading into the year, we all were hoping for some sort of leap given his newfound opportunity, and then what he showed in EuroBasket suggested that we were in for a real treat.

Well you know what? Queta's season has been even better than our collective wildest dreams. He didn't just hold his own against a legit as hell frontcourt, he dominated. The more he plays, the more he gives you the feeling that the search for the center of the future might be over. Why can't it be Queta? His age fits, his salary is FANTASTIC, and the skillset is getting better and better as the year goes on. This isn't a situation where we saw Queta dominate the Wizards or some shit. A frontcourt of Gobert/Reid/Randle is as legit as it gets at the NBA level, and not once did I feel like Queta wasn't holding his own against that group.

8 OREBS? 7-8 from the floor with 2 blocks? Not fouling out in his 28 minutes? 

When I think of the roster moving forward, it was SO IMPORTANT that this team find a way to get cheap, playable talent for the next iteration of contention, especially at the big position. Through 19 games, Neemias Queta has been that guy and then some.

- Just something to monitor, but Sam Hauser (4-10 last night) is shooting 39.3% from deep over his last 5 games. Not quite his career 40%, but we're getting closer and closer to the norm for him. He's made at least 4 3PM off the bench in 2 of his last 3 games, and I think it goes without saying how important it is to have any sort of consistent shooting off the bench. It's been a pretty brutal start for Hauser, so seeing him get back to making the 3s we know he can make was a welcomed sight.

- Sadly, that's about it for this section. Outside of those three, things went south rather quickly.

The Bad

- Only the Boston Celtics could make more FGM than their opponent, win the rebounding battle, win the 2nd chance points battle, win the fastbreak points battle, win the turnover battle, and win the points in the paint battle yet not win the game.

So how the hell was that possible?

Simple. 

They lost the 3PM math 21-16 (-18), and they lost the FTM battle 16-9 (-7). While the Wolves were making 3s, the Celts responded by trading those makes for 2s. You'll never believe this, but that didn't work out. Only 47% of their FGA were 3PA in this loss, and on the season in all 9 of the Celtics' losses, their 3PA rate is around 45%. That means, in all of these losses, they've put more of an emphasis on 2pt FGA, just like so many cry for.

But as we saw, when a team is making 20+ 3PM on high volume (48) and a good percentage (43.8%), if you don't keep pace in terms of 3PM, it doesn't really matter if you are so much better from 2 or even make more FGM than your opponent. It's no different from what we saw in the 2024 Finals. The Mavs averaged more FGM and shot a better FG% in that series, but they lost the 3pt math and in turn, lost the series.

People clown Joe Mazzulla for being so adamant about the importance of 3PA rate, well this game was yet another perfect example of why that shit is important. 

- Is there any other team in the NBA that operates with only one playable big man? You take away Queta from this frontcourt and holy hell is it a disaster. Luka Garza was virtually unplayable, finishing with a -13 in just 5 minutes. Tillman is a DNP-CD player. Amari didn't play (probably will today). It forces the Celts to play small with either Minott or Walsh as the 5, and once that happens good fucking luck securing defensive rebounds on a consistent basis.

This is what a lot of us pointed to this offseason when we said that Brad Stevens knew what he was doing. You don't put together this type of frontcourt with the idea that you're going to compete. It basically handcuffs the roster and there's no solution. You just have to live with the fact that in the non-Queta minutes, the frontcourt is going to be a complete disaster. It's not just the worst in the NBA, it might be the worst frontcourt I've ever seen in my near 4 decades on this planet, and I lived through the 90s Celtics frontcourt. 

- If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times. Guard play is so important when it comes to this team being successful. When the guards play well? They can beat anyone. When the guards lay a colletive egg? You get close frustrating losses like this.

Now you tell me, how would you classify this?

Payton Pritchard: 4-14 (1-8)

Derrick White: 6-16 (2-8)

This is what I mean when I beg someone to help Jaylen. You can't have a combined 25 points on 3-16 from deep from your #2 and #3 options, especially when playing a good team. And while DWhite is still giving you insane defense, at the end of the day shotmaking is an important part of his role. Considering a lot of these looks were open/wide open, I don't really buy into the excuse of "well their looks are different".

Eh. They're just bricking open shots. It's OK to just call it what it is. I'm not talking about the lack of self creation or contested 2s. I'm talking about open and wide open C&S 3s that we've seen them make both with and without Tatum on the floor. 

- I hate to be the one to say it, but the defense is dropping like a rock. Now 17th in the league after being around top 10 to start the year, it's been even worse over their last 5 games (23rd). I'm pretty sure the Wolves had a run early in this game where they made 8 straight shots. In the second half of this game, the Wolves finished with 60 points on 51/50% splits with 12 3PM. 

Given how inconsistent the offense is going to be, the Celts have to be able to lock in defensively. Over that 5 game stretch, opponents are averaging 114.8 points a night, which is 17th in the NBA. Giving up 119 last night, 113 to the Nets and 123 to the Magic is losing basketball, and considering there are only good teams on the horizon, if that doesn't get solved things will not look any better.

The Ugly

- How bad was that 2nd half? You tell me

The game turned when the Wolves went 8-12 from deep in the 3rd to erase the 10 point deficit, and as you can see, the Celtics could not by a bucket. This is where shotmaking becomes so important and you're just not going to beat any good team with a pulse with the production we saw over those final 24 minutes. I mean, the Celts had like 4 points in 8 minutes of the 4th quarter or some shit. Very gross.

- I'm still struggling to understand how it might be possible that Anfernee Simons couldn't even beat Naz Reid off the dribble. When he came in to start the 4th in the non-White/Jaylen minutes, that's his time to shine. Those are the shifts where his shotmaking needs to carry. Instead, we shot shit like this

Possesion after possession of just dribbling around doing nothing, and then forcing a tough low percentage look. It's infuriating. People beg for more Simons minutes, and I just don't see it. Unless he's taking C&S 3s, I'm not sure I want him doing anything else. It's not even like he's making up for this shit with good defense, so what is Joe to do? Simons is not a rookie, he gets his opportunity to lead in these bench lineups, and none of it looks all that great. In a game like this when Pritchard/White are struggling, that's exactly when Simons needs to step up and carry, especially when Jaylen is off the floor. He's a scorer right? Well, where's the scoring.

- It's no secret that the margin for error for this team is beyond slim, which is why they HAVE TO be nails around the margins. A small play here and there end up being big plays, and a perfect example of this is what happened down the stretch of this game with the game still in the balance.

As we know, late game defensive rebounding is an impossible task for this group. It doesn't matter who is on the floor, time and time again we've seen them drop winnable games this season all because they can't grab a rebound and allow 2nd and 3rd opportunities. The two that stood out to me in this loss?

I for one, am shocked that in a close game in the final minutes, the Celts couldn't grab the basketball and instead gave up dagger makes. This is where you have to remind yourself that in a normal world, these are Tatum rebounds. To claw all tha way back and tie things at 110 only to then immediately give up an extra possession/dagger 3 all because a ball was juuuuuuust outside of your grasp was so on brand for this season it hurts. This is now at least 4 losses this season that have come as a result of an inability to late game rebound, which is both funny and annoying as fuck all at the same time. 

Dropping games like this is tough because you turn right around today with a game against the Cavs. They're coming off back to back losses so my guess is they'll be rather motivated, and I think if you're able to walk away from this 2 game set with a split, most would consider that a win. But play how you did last night? There's a strong chance you get blown out, especially with how the Cavs play.