Celtics Blow Away Pacers (11/1/23)

The first two games of the 2023-24 season were playoff previews for the Boston Celtics. Close wins over second round (and beyond) playoff teams the New York Knicks and Miami Heat showed the Celtics can keep their composure when games are close. The last two games were the complete opposite, the opponents had absolutely no chance. After a blowout win over the Washington Wizards, the Celtics followed that up with a near record setting win over the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics scored the second most points in a single game in franchise history with 155 against the Pacers. EIGHT different Celtics had double figures in points led by Jayson Tatum's even 30. The difference in this game and the previous was the fourth quarter. Against the Wizards, the bench got crushed by Washington's bench but this time Sam Hauser and the others poured it on. Dalano Banton scored 11 points in garbage time as the Celtics ran away with this one 155-104 at TD Garden.

                                                            Tatum leads the way

The Celtics set the tone right away when Jayson Tatum passed to Jrue Holiday in the paint and he bulled his way in to score the first points of the game. Andrew Nembhard answered at the other end with a baseline jumper and the Pacers kept it close 8-6 two minutes into the game. Then Jayson Tatum got free for a three pointer followed by a Holiday three of his own. With the score 14-6, Jaylen Brown drew a double team then passed to a wide open Krystaps Porzingis for a slam dunk. Then they reversed it as Porzingis drew a double team, passing to Brown for the slam. With the score 18-8, Brown hit a baseline jumper. The Pacers answered on the other end and Holiday hit another 3. The Celtics were up 23-12 when Bruce Brown hit a three for Indiana. Old friend Aaron Nesmith got open for a basket but Porzingis found Al Horford open for three with 5:30 remaining. The Pacers got within 28-21 with 3:21 remaining in the quarter when Tatum went off the glass on a foul for an old fashioned three pointer. With the score 33-23, Derrick White hit a three pointer from what felt like half court. After a Pacers make, Tatum dished it to Sam Hauser for a three. The Celtics led 41-27 when White hit a three at the buzzer to end the quarter with the Celtics up 44-27.

                                                          Celtics in control

In the second quarter the Pacers were down 46-30 when Tatum hit a fadeaway jumper. With 9 minutes left in the quarter, Pritchard hit a nice baseline layup. A minute later Tatum hit a layup to put the Celtics up 20. The Pacers answered but Holiday hit a baseline jumper to bring it back to 20. After a Pacers miss, Brown hit a jump shot at the free throw line. With 4:22 left in the half, Brown gathered his own miss and dunked it to go up 64-42. Nesmith hit a layup to make it 69-50 but Porzingis answered with a three on the other end with 1:28 left. Tatum hit a three with 35 seconds left and the first half ended with the Celtics up 75-54.

                                                         Happy fans

One minute into the third quarter, Tatum hit a stepback three to put the Celtics up by 25. After a Pacers miss, Holiday found Porzingis for a big dunk. After a Pacers timeout and subsequent miss, Brown hit a fallaway jumper. The Celtics were up 89-59 when Holiday found White for a layup. Then with the score 96-65, Tatum dribbled through the entire team and hit a layup. The Celtics were up 100-69 with 3:24 left when Tatum went baseline again off a dish from White. With the game pretty much over, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla emptied the bench with 2 minutes left. 30 seconds later Pritchard dished to Svi Mykhailuk for a three pointer. The Celtics ended the third quarter up 109-71, what a massacre.

                                                           Svi for Three

Now against the Washington Wizards, the Celtics bench pretty much got wiped out to make the final score a lot closer than it should have been. Not this time! Sam Hauser hit a three to open the fourth quarter before the lead got to 45. With 8:25 left, Pritchard went coast to coast for a bucket and a foul. With the score 126-82, Pritchard passed it to Hauser for another three pointer. With 5:24 left, Dalano Banton hit a nice jumper for the Celtics. With four minutes left in the quarter, Pritchard dished it to Lamar Stevens for a slam dunk. With three minutes left, Pritchard dished it to Banton for a good layup. The Celtics ended up scoring the second most points in a single game in franchise history to win 155-104.

                                                         Celtics swarm on D to win

Hero of the Night is Jayson Tatum. He buried the Pacers under an avalanche of 30 points including 9 of 10 from the line. He also had 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

                                                           Hero Tatum

Bawful Report:  Nothing

End Rant:

Once again the Celtics beat up an inferior team but this time the bench played a lot better. Pritchard was a one man wrecking crew in garbage time, ending with 15 points and 9 assists. Banton had 11 points and 3 rebounds and Hauser had 17 points throughout the game. Quite frankly when Porzingis is healthy, the Celtics are almost unguardable. If you double team Brown, Tatum or KP then the other two are open. Holiday & White are more than capable of hitting shots if they're open as well and that makes them very tough to defend. A team like the Pacers clearly aren't able to handle the Celtics firepower. It would be nice if the Celtics could get a bench ace or two at the deadline but right now they're still a tough team to beat. Starting the season 4-0 is always a good thing. The Celtics now travel to Brooklyn for a Saturday night showdown with the Nets. The game begins at 8:00 PM at the Barclay Center.

Celtics Annihilate Wizards in Washington (10/30/23)

After the Boston Celtics had two hard fought victories over two teams in the Eastern Conference that made the second round, people wondered how they'd do against a "bad" team. The answer is completely blow their doors off for three quarters. The Celtics feasted on the Washington Wizards in a game that was a blowout from start to finish. Jaylen Brown had a monster game, going 8 of 13 from downtown with 36 points while Jayson Tatum pumped in 33 of his own. The Celtics had a 51-40 rebounding advantage and it was one of the worst beatdowns Washington has ever seen....until the fourth quarter. The Wizards outscored the Celtics 32-18 in extended garbage time as the Celtics bench didn't play much defense. Still, the Celtics won their first road game of the year 126-107 at Capital One Arena.

                                                              Celtics crush the Wizards

The Celtics broke out to a 10-5 lead when Jaylen Brown buried a 3 with 8:54 remaining in the first quarter. Jrue Holiday stole the inbounds pass and dished it to Jayson Tatum for a dunk. It was 17-7 Celtics when Brown hit another 3 with 6:30 left. With 6 minutes left Derrick White found Krystaps Porzingis for a slam and with 4:43 left, Payton Pritchard found Porzingis for a jump hook two pointer. KP then blocked Jordan Poole and the lead swelled to 32-11 when Tatum threw an alley-oop to Horford for another bucket. With 2:24 left Brown buried another three then another with 1:38 off a dish from Pritchard. Horford got a steal and a bucket with 34 seconds left. The Celtics led 42-19 after the first quarter.

                                                          Brown couldn't miss

Kyle Kuzma tried to start a rally for the Wizards with back to back buckets. With 2 minutes gone, Pritchard passed to Tatum for another three pointer. Kuzma answered with a three on the other end then Poole hit a layup. White then hit a three from downtown to quell the momentum. With 5:22 left in the second quarter Brown hit another three pointer to give the Celtics a 30 point lead up 60-30. Poole hit a layup but Brown did a no-look pass to Porzingis for a three pointer. Tyus Jones hit a three but Holiday passed to a wide open Jaylen for......you guessed it....a three. With 3:09 left Brown passed to Tatum who found Holiday in transition for a bucket. Brown then was up to 25 points with another three with 2:46 left in the half. The Wizards went on a 10-0 run but Tatum hit a baseline layup to stop that. The first half ended with the Celtics up 26 by a score of 77-51.

                                                      Tatum adds to the lead

The Celtics then got back to back buckets to open the third quarter but the lead was still 84-53 with 8:36 left in the third. Tatum slammed home a dunk but Kuzma answered with a jump shot. Brown then dribbled across the lane and finished with a hook for another 2. With the score 88-59 with 6:16 left, Brown hit a fadeaway jumper to put the lead back to 31. With the score 90-61 with 5:39 left in the quarter, Porzingis went over a double-team and scored off the glass. Tatum hit a layup after a Wizards make then hit a 3 to make it 97-63 with 4:29 left. The Wizards scored 5 in a row but Tatum hit another three to to make it 100-68. With the score 103-71, Pritchard dished it to Holiday for another three pointer. Tatum hit a fadeaway to make it 108-71 with 1:23 left in the quarter. The quarter ended with the Celtics ahead 108-75.

                                                          Holiday drives to the cup

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla put in the bench to play the fourth quarter and it almost came back to bite them. The Wizards led by Eugene Omoruyi and Ryan Rollins went on a 10-2 run. Sam Hauser did hit a put-back jump shot though with 6:55 to make it 112-85. Lamar Stevens hit a shot as well and Hauser hit a 3 to make it 117-94 with four minutes to go. Dalano Banton also hit a basket and the final score read Boston 126 and Washington 107. The Wizards outscored the Celtics 32-18 in that quarter even if it was garbage time.

                                                         Celtics win

Hero of the Night is Jaylen Brown. He was 8 of 13 from three point land and had 36 total points to lead the onslaught.

                                                              Hero Brown

Bawful Report:

Scalabrine Award for DNP-CD - Jordan Walsh

End Rant:

This game was definitely a good news/bad news situation with the good news is the Celtics starting 5 may be the best in the league for the first time since the new big 3 in 2008. The bad news is this game highlights their one weakness is their bench strength is weak. After Al Horford and Payton Pritchard it gets pretty bad pretty quick. I don't know why Mazzulla isn't giving Jordan Walsh a chance but he's going to have to eventually. Guys are going to get hurt, guys are going to need a break, you never know what's going to happen. This could be an 86-87 Celtics situation where the starters may be playing 40 minutes a night, which isn't good. Still, on a night like this where Tatum or Brown can't miss, it won't matter. The other frightening factor for the rest of the league is if you double team Tatum, now you got a wide open Brown or Porzingis. Then if you double team KP in the paint, he can easily outlet pass to a driving Tatum or Brown. That's almost impossible to defend. It was a good win against a team they needed to beat. The Celtics look to make it 4 wins in a row to start the season this Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers. The game begins at 7:30 PM at TD Garden.