The Celtics (15-15 overall, 7-10 away) have officially entered the trainwreck portion of their 2020-21 regular season schedule. What I mean by that is while you know that something bad will probably take place, you still can't find a way to peel yourself away from viewing all the carnage. This afternoon on national TV (thanks ABC!) from the Smoothie King Center, Boston built a 24-point lead (79-55 w/6:29 left) midway through the third quarter only to watch it all crumble in an epic 120-115 overtime loss to the Pelicans (13-17 overall, 8-7 home). It marked the biggest comeback win in New Orleans' franchise history, what a way for the C's to begin a pivotal three-game road trip. Sigh. I'm not suggesting that head coach Brad Stevens should be fired (plus as we know, the Celts have basically anointed him for life) but this is the type of loss that can cost someone their job or that gets a player(s) traded. There is no good time to blow a 24-point lead but against a team that began the day in 12th place in the Western Conference fits the description of a club that you can never let do something like that to you.
Ironically, the contest only needed an extra session since Celtics star Jayson Tatum (team-high 32 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals) made a tough floater with 0.2 seconds left in regulation. The Pelicans obviously got strong performances from their Duke duo of small forward Brandon Ingram (game-high 33 points, 6 rebounds) and power forward Zion Williamson (28 points, 10 rebounds). Point guard Lonzo Ball added 16 points, six rebounds and two steals, center Willy Hernangomez grabbed 13 rebounds and the always underrated Josh Hart put together a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks) off the bench which is a pretty hard thing to do. Showing their youthful energy, New Orleans scored 14 more fast break points (22-8) than Boston.
A bunch of other Celtics had decent numbers headlined by shooting guard Jaylen Brown (25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds) and power forward Tristan Thompson (14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks) while point guard Kemba Walker shot 5-of-21 from the floor (14 points, 2 blocks), rookie small forward Aaron Nesmith added 10 points off the bench and center Robert Williams (8 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks) squeezed the most from his 21 minutes. So why did Boston lose this game you ask? Well as a team they shot under 40% from the field (39.8% to be exact) including a putrid 10-of-37 (27%) on 3-pointers. For a team that normally by design takes an absurd amount of 3s, it is endlessly frustrating that they never seem to change their approach when they have games like this (remember Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Cleveland?) where they are ice cold from downtown and yet they just keep shooting from there.
Boston led 30-28 after the first quarter which gave no hint for how they would dominate the second quarter (33-19) to take a 63-47 lead at halftime. New Orleans outscored them 27-24 in the third quarter but they still trailed by double-digits (87-74). The Pelicans really heated up in the fourth quarter (34-21) while the Celtics couldn't buy a basket to save their lives. An earlier clutch 3-pointer by Tatum and the floater only delayed the inevitable soul-crushing defeat. The C's will find themselves right back on national TV on Tuesday (7:30, TNT & NBC Sports Boston at Dallas (13-15 overall, 6-8 home) vs. another middling team in the Western Conference. What could possibly go wrong? Better yet, what is Luka Doncic's career-high in points? At this rate, he'll probably set that new record against the C's as part of a silly triple-double. I cannot wait to watch that happen!
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