Don’t mind it at all.
But that is not what last night was to me.
I cared about last night’s Celtics game because I needed them to stop the bleeding.
Dropping their last two games, I needed last night to be a get right bang out of performance.
The thing we all collectively give a shit about.
I’m already on board.
So is it cool the Celts won their first tournament game?
I dunno, I care more about how it stopped the bleeding and got their overall record to 6-2.
I don’t really care about being 1-0 in the IST.
Defensively, they’re too small for this matchup, even with the Celtics being without Al Horford.
This was the perfect slump buster to help them regain their confidence.
So to me, last night really wasn’t about who they beat.
They just needed to beat someone.
Do that and I’m happy.
Good news is, that’s exactly what happened.
Normally, that would mean we’re about to enjoy some Jayson Tatum goodness.
Today that means we begin with Jrue Holiday.
Yes, that’s right.
Jrue Holiday was on his Larry Bird shit last night
Let’s be very clear about something.
This was a fantastic Jrue performance.
Not one part of me cares that he was 6-14 (1-5).
Never have never will.
If you’re also complete clamps on the defensive end
I’m definitely not going to give a shit.
There really wasn’t a part of Holiday’s game last night that I didn’t like.
It wasn’t a night where they needed his scoring, so he filled the gaps everywhere else.
Point guard is a completely different ballgame.
So to get a performance like that this early is pretty encouraging.
- Few players on the roster needed a bounce back game more than Jaylen Brown.
This is what that looks like
It’s crazy what First Quarter Jaylen transforms into.
On the season, Jaylen’s averaging 7.1 points shooting 50% from the floor in first quarters.
At home, it’s 7.7 on 50/50% shooting.
12 points on 4-8 (2-3), you could feel Jaylen exhaling when that transition 3PA dropped early.
It’s like his spirit was instantly lifted, and with that the floodgates opened.
It was how he was passing and moving the ball in addition to the scoring.
4 assists and 0 turnovers in a quarter?
I’ll take that.
When the game called for him to be aggressive and finish through contact, he did.
When there were moments where Jaylen had to show patience and let plays develop before attacking, he did.
A nice slump buster for Jaylen.
The only thing that’s really been a disaster was his shooting.
He’s playing good defense, getting into the airspace of his man, and having good ball pressure.
He can’t be shooting 29/18% from the floor and be effective in his role.
So to see his jumper start falling at home was great.
He just looked like a real NBA player is all.
- Someone who has already done is part to change that bench production is of course Sam Hauser.
We are currently witnessing why you always trust a lifetime 40% three point shooter.
What I continue to be impressed with is how legit Hauser continues to be on the defensive end.
That’s the thing that makes him playable, not just the shooting.
He’s not going to make an All NBA team, but he more than holds his own defensively.
He was making an impact everywhere, even without scoring.
Honestly, considering he just had his own offensive explosion against PHI, I doubt Porzingis gives a shit.
He’s playing in basketball heaven.
Some nights he’ll get a ton of shots, some night’s he’ll get 4.
That’s mostly how the game was flowing.
It didn’t feel like they were icing him out or anything, and he only played 24 minutes.
Every time he’s on the floor it feels like cheating.
That’s really the only way I can explain how I feel.
- We have to give a shoutout to Luke Kornet.
With Al out due to being a billion years old, Kornet needed to have a passable performance.
What we got was much better than that.
He’s such a bizarre player when you really think about it.
- 29-5 2nd chance points was a little insane, but that’s what size does.
The Celts are also 26th in opponent 3PA, and to me that’s playing with fire.
- I still can’t believe Joe robbed Pritchard of that transition 3PA by calling a timeout.
You never call timeouts Joe!
You didn’t even need to considering Pritchard was probably going to make the shot!
What a weird moment that was.
Year 2 Joe keeping us on our feet I guess.
Still a brutal timeout though.
- It’s a little astonishing what a lack of buckets Oshae Brissett has.
I mean this man cannot throw a pea in the ocean to start the season.
Really we saw this in the preseason, but it’s been even worse in the real thing.
What makes that annoying is I love absolutely everything else about him.
The Ugly
- Let’s talk about the court for a second.
I actually think the court didn’t even look that bad last night.
Not awesome, not terrible, fine.
So why are they here?
Be more disrespectful, you’ve got the option to’t.
Hey dickhead, not all NBA courts are created equal.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Then we learn the team tried and Silver said no?
Now that the Celts have stopped the bleeding, the next step is to start to build momentum.
Now is not the time to take a step back.
Take care of the games you’re supposed to, stack wins and let’s keep this thing moving.
