Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics Fight Like Hell To Force Double Overtime Against Washington

Published

2 months ago

March 14, 2018

Tanner Rebelo

The Boston Celtics put up a valiant effort on Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards forcing the Wizards to double overtime before falling 125-124

Despite being down Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Daniel Theis, the Boston Celtics were able to put up quite the fight against the Washington Wizards.

Boston was delegated to a starting unit of Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, Guershon Yabusele, and Aron Baynes. The depth behind the starters also had to step up with players like Abdel Nader seeing a massive uptick in playing time. With all this uncertainty the Celtics forced the Wizards to double overtime.

Morris had himself a monster game scoring 31 points with 50% shooting in 44:10 minutes of playing time. After Morris, you had guys like Rozier scoring 21 points and Tatum scoring 19. It was a team effort though with Greg Monroe, Shane Larkin, and Nader all scoring 10+ points off of the bench for Brad Stevens.

One of the go-to players late in the game was Tatum who at 19-years-old was asked to make a lot of big shots. The rookie wing had a chance to win it all for Boston at the end of the first overtime but missed a game-winning free throw that forced the game to go into double overtime.

Tatum also took the last shot of the game missing a three on a decent look. You can’t get too upset with Tatum because despite his shortcomings he made a lot of big plays for a rookie and was a huge playmaker for a team that was down multiple all-stars.

The C’s made their fair share of mistakes including one at the end of regulation when Morris have just let Otto Porter lay it in. This shortcoming was one that Steven’s acknowledged post-game but admitted the Celtics wouldn’t have even come close without Marcus Morris and his play.

“We wouldn’t have been there without him.”

Boston looks to get Horford back for Friday’s game and Irving back for Sunday’s game. So hopefully going forward the team won’t have to rely on bench players to step up. But for one night to keep it as close as they did with the Wizards was sort of impressive.

Boston Celtics

Connelly’s Top Ten – Sixers Live in Paint (for more than three seconds)

Published

2 weeks ago

May 8, 2018

Michael Connelly

1. Celtics Stuff

* Horford averaging 11 shots a game

* Horford 6 shots / Baynes 7 shots

* Rozier at home in the playoffs – 22.8 a game

* Rozier on the road in the playoffs – 12.8 a game

2. Sixers Stuff

* TJ McConnell has been profiled – even McHale was throwing little white guy comments out like – “he’s gritty”

* Love Simmons going behind the back pass in the playoffs for a turnover

* Ebid still chirping

* Simmons in series 20-44 (45%) / 26 assists to 20 turnovers (1.30)

* McConnell – 15-18 (83%) / 12 assists to 2 turnovers (6.00)

3. Refs

* Somewhere Tim Donaghy is saying – I told you so

* The refs controlled the game with getting Celtics in early foul trouble – at halftime – 16 fouls on Celtics – 8 on Sixers

* Why didn’t they look for a flagrant for the elbow by Ebid – back of Smarts head?

* Calling travel on Celtics when Simmons travels every time he gets in the pain is ridiculous

* At one point I backed up the DVR to count Saric in the lane for 8 seconds

* Saric and Belinelli are European soccer whiners

* Stevens should get on the refs on Ebid moving picks – he knocked out Larkin and almost concussion on Smart

4. First round picks last year – must kill Philly fans watching Tatum knowing he couldn’t have been theirs

5. Celtics are 11 for their last 43 from three point land – 25%

6. Bird 9 playoff games his rookie year vs. Tatum:

* Bird – 21.33 a game – 9 games

* Tatum – 18.33 last nine games

7. Amazing Stat – Celtics at the point:

· Marcus Smart in seven games has an insane 21 turnovers in 216 minutes (one every ten minutes)

· Terry Rozier over the last seven games has 8 turnovers in 262 minutes (one every 32 minutes)

8. Old School – How absurd is three point shooting in the NBA right now:

* Aron Baynes took six three pointers Monday night

* Larry Bird didn’t take six three pointers in his last 65 playoff games

9. Just a Little Bit Outside – Charles Barkley comment of the night when being told what Summa Cum Laude means – he said “oh that’s when my tutor who did my homework got.”

10. Randomocity

* McHale going over the top to not seem favorable to Celtics?

* Larry Bird was 24 his first playoffs – Tatum is 20

* Marcus Morris was putting the 3-0 series lead in Ebid’s face – he better not let them come back

* Toronto should be relegated to the WNBA

Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics Win In A Thriller To Take Game 2 From 76ers

Published

2 weeks ago

May 4, 2018

Tanner Rebelo

Boston Celtics Win In An Absolute Thriller To Take Game 2 From The Philadelphia 76ers With Big Games From Jayson Tatum And Terry Rozier

The Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 108-103 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

The leading scorer for the Boston Celtics was Jayson Tatum who had 21 points followed by Terry Rozier who had 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. Al Horford had a double-double with 13 pts and 12 rebounds. The surprise of the night was the fact that Jaylen Brown was able to play.

Brown had been dealing with a Hamstring injury that had him doubtful for Game 2 only to be upgraded to probable just an hour before tip-off. It was clear that the hamstring was bothering him on Thursday night but he was still able to score 13 points and hit some critical shots for the Celtics down the stretch.

Philly held a lead of 22 points in the 2nd quarter but a 20-5 run by Boston to close the 1st half made it a 56-51 game at the half. The C’s had an 8 point lead early in the 3rd but the Sixers battled back and kept the game close till the end.

BEST OF the @celtics run that fueled their 22-point comeback win in Game 2 at home! #CUsRise #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/IbXTK2QjLT

— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2018

With the win, the Celtics will prepare for Game 3 which will take place on Saturday at 5:00 pm in Philadelphia.