Jayson Tatum and the Celtics responded to Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks by drubbing the Nets 139-114 on Wednesday, outscoring Brooklyn by 20 in the second half.
Jayson Tatum nearly had an MVP-caliber triple-double.
Tatum nearly posted an eye-popping triple-double: 36 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. He half-heartedly pursued a triple-double on his last few possessions, clearly aware of how many rebounds he had but also aware that pursuing triple-doubles is a bad look, and he came up respectably short with his substitute waiting on the sideline. When Joe Mazzulla asked if Tatum wanted to stay in and pursue the triple-double, Tatum declined. A good game and good vibes, all around.
The balky ankle that bothered Tatum against the Hawks and made people (including us here) wonder whether he would even play on Wednesday didn’t seem to be an issue. Tatum punished smaller defenders, and he caught a heater from 3-point range that was never doused — 12-for-19 from the floor, and 5-for-6 from behind the arc. He was +24 in the box score, second only to Brown at +27, who was on the floor longer during the Celtics’ third-quarter run that broke the game open.
Tatum is now leading the league in points, as well as points+rebounds+assists. In other words, he has been one of the NBA’s best players in raw production so far, and his team is nearly five points per 100 possessions better when he’s on the floor, which is pretty impressive given that they are outscoring teams by 12 points per 100 possessions overall.
There are other MVP-caliber players in the league, and Nikola Jokic in particular is *averaging* a triple-double, so Tatum might not be the favorite at this stage, but he was and has been not just excellent, but the type of star that his enormous potential always used to promise that he could become.
“It’s only 13 games, so we still got a long way to go to compare it to other seasons,” Tatum told reporters afterward. “But I think I’m getting older in the sense of being in better physical shape. Being 26, this is the best physically I’ve felt compared to other years, and I think that’s just me coming into my own, and just picking up from where we left off last year, and knowing what we’re trying to achieve, and knowing that it starts from day one.”
Jaylen Brown took responsibility, then responded.
Brown called himself and Tatum out after the loss to the Hawks, saying they both needed to be better.
On Wednesday, Brown was significantly better as well – 24 points, 12 rebounds and four assists without a turnover after turning it over six times against the Hawks. Brown scored 13 of his points in the second quarter, during which the Celtics didn’t pull away, but they did flip a four-point deficit into a five-point lead before halftime.
“Yesterday we had 11 combined turnovers,” Brown said, referencing himself and Tatum. “Tonight we only had one. So, much better. We’ve just got to make that a habit and be that consistently throughout the year.”
Brown is trying to start something with his sneakers.
Brown unveiled his signature shoe from his own company, 741 Performance, prior to the start of the season.
On Wednesday, a reporter asked Brown how things have been going and how involved he has been in the process.
“Extremely. It’s been a fun journey,” Brown said. “Learning about the sneaker industry, but also being able to make decisions on behalf of what I feel like is ethical, but also what I feel like can also have an effect on how athletes view, and I looked at business-wise.
“I think there’s a lot of industries that have built organizations off of talent and influence, but we don’t ever see a lot of the talent and influence build a lot of those organizations themselves and be able to benefit off of that. That goes for the music industry, that goes for media companies, that goes for the sneaker industry. So me taking part in that and encouraging that, hopefully in the next 10-20 years we’ll see more athletes, more entertainers, more artists in general, actors, actresses, be able to create and manufacture and produce their own companies and organizations.”
Payton Pritchard is having a breakout season.
Pritchard hasn’t been a different player this season as much as he has been a fully realized version of himself — feisty, deeply competitive, tough as nails and quite simply really good at every facet of playing basketball.
On Wednesday, Pritchard was spectacular off the bench once again — 23 points, five rebounds, eights assists, 8-for-13 shooting (5-for-9 from three), two steals and generally disruptive on-ball defense. He made 3-pointers. He made some tough twos. He played both ends of the floor really effectively and was part of the late Celtics run that helped put the game away.
Earlier this week, Brian Scalabrine said he thought Pritchard might average 27 per game if he started for another team, which is probably hyperbole (Pritchard is averaging 20 points per 36 minutes this season), but it’s not insane given the production he has put up this season.
“Payton’s been great, and that’s what we need,” Brown said. “He’s been a superstar in his role. It’s kind of expected because he’s done it so much, and he’s done it so well.
“But obviously it’s a long season. We’ve got to keep encouraging him, finding him, and at times even playing through him, letting Payton run the show. I don’t mind. Especially when the guys have a role and just have the mindset that we’re a team and whatever it takes to get it done.”
Pritchard the high flier
In the second quarter, Pritchard somehow managed to sneak this put-back over the rim for two of his 23 points.
A reporter joked to Pritchard that he was playing “above the rim.””I wouldn’t call that above the rim,” Pritchard told reporters. “It was a sneak tip-in though. It kind of surprised myself. I don’t know how I did that.”
Derrick White met Ziaire Williams at the rim (and won).
Midway through the third quarter, Derrick White — who was having a tough evening with three fouls very quickly in the first half — opted to challenge springy Nets forward Ziaire Williams at the rim as Williams went up for a two-handed slam.
White, to his sizable credit, is never afraid of getting posterized, but he put himself in harm’s way and appeared to win — swatting away the dunk attempt. Officials, however, whistled him for his fourth foul, sending Williams to the line.
Joe Mazzulla and Celtics challenge czar Matt Reynolds, to their sizable credit, challenged the call.
The Celtics deservedly won the challenge (Marc Davis informed the Brooklyn crowd that White got “all ball,” which had the dual effect of wiping away two free-throw attempts and White’s fourth foul, and the Celtics came down the floor and hit a 3-pointer.
But also, it feels important to hand out some kudos to Mazzulla for the challenge. Challenging fouls can be risky business — certainly riskier than out-of-bounds calls, since you can’t always spot whether a guy committed a foul elsewhere on the play on first glance — but even if the Celtics hadn’t won it, White deserved the challenge for jumping.
The Celtics were much better in the margins.
After turning the ball over 20 times and giving up 20 offensive rebounds against the Hawks, the Celtics finished with seven turnovers and allowed just three offensive rebounds against the Nets. They outscored the Nets 52-40 in the paint and 18-13 on points off turnovers.
“Nothing is ever fixed,” Mazzulla said. “It’s a process, and I think that’s what we’re trying to get at is nothing is ever fixed. The habits, you’ve got to build those. Just because you do it one day doesn’t mean you’re going to do it tomorrow. You’ve got to work at that every day.
“But as far as our attitude, our bounce-back, I thought that was important. There’s going to be ebbs and flows throughout the season. I care more about how we respond to things when they don’t go our way, and I like the approach we had to the game today on both ends of the floor.”
Kristaps Porzingis was in his ‘coaching bag.’
Porzingis is still about a month from potentially being ready to return, but he was with the team in Brooklyn chatting with and encouraging his teammates (and sneaking in shots whenever he could).
“I think that’s important, especially for a guy that’s not playing, to be as engaged as he is, it makes it easier as he starts to come back to just plug him right in because he’s been here the whole time,” Mazzulla said. “That’s a commitment. That’s hard, to just sit there day in and day out to do that. I appreciate that he does that. I think it brings a level of professionalism and togetherness to our locker room, and it’s been fun to watch.”
Mazzulla deflected when reporters asked if Porzingis was nearing a return, but Brown said Porzingis was “in his coaching bag.”
“So that’s a good sign, that’s a good signal that he’s getting close, he’s getting ready,” Brown said. “His mind, his spirit is out there with us, and we can’t wait to welcome him back.”
A chance to catch their breath.
The Celtics have been playing at a bit of a frantic pace — eight games in the first 13 days of November (during that stretch, the Celtics were 6-2). Now things finally stretch out a bit over the rest of the month — the Celtics have two days off before they take on the Raptors on Saturday, followed by two days off before the face the as-of-yet unbeaten Cavaliers on Tuesday, followed by two more days off before they take on the Wizards.
