No Jayson Tatum (Illness) & No Kemba Walker (Rest) = Yet Another Road Loss For The Celtics

 

    The Celtics (21-22 overall, 8-15 away) are such a mentally fragile team this season that even the slightest thing can throw them off and cause them to lose. Tonight at the FedExForum in the second half of a back-to-back, they tried hard (something that certainly couldn't be said in every loss by them recently) but lost 132-126 in overtime to the Grizzlies (20-20 overall, 11-13 home). They were already missing point guard Kemba Walker-who never plays in back-to-back games-along with power forward Tristan Thompson (still in the league's health and safety protocol) and then an hour before the game started, swingman Jayson Tatum was declared out with "an illness." He's already dealt with Covid-19 earlier this year so I doubt he tested positive again but during the pandemic, unfortunately you have to be skeptical whenever you hear something like that. Would you believe that the C's have now dropped to 1-9 in their last 10 road games? Of course you would, because it's sad but true. 

    Boston fell to eighth-place in the Eastern Conference and this was an important contest for the hosts as well since they are fighting for a playoff spot in the typically tougher Western Conference; with tonight's victory, they remain in 10th place there. Grizzlies superstar point guard Ja Morant was in control with a game-high 29 points and nine assists, small forward Dillon Brooks added 24 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals, center Jonas Valanciunas (16 points, 19 rebounds) has been a Celtics killer since he was in Toronto and small forward Kyle Anderson notched 14 points, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and three blocks. The final kick to the gut for the C's was the 13 points scored off the bench by Memphis rookie shooting guard Desmond Bane. He was actually picked 30th overall by Boston in the draft but traded two days later as part of the three-team trade involving center Enes Kanter going to Portland. Thank God the C's hung on to rookie swingman Aaron Nesmith (5 points, 5 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench this evening).

    With no Tatum and Walker, the burden of carrying Boston's offense fell to shooting guard Jaylen Brown (team-high 27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) who played a team-high 40 minutes but went 11-for-24 from the field including 3-of-11 on 3-pointers (a night after draining 10 of them). Point guard Jeff Teague got the start in place of Kemba and he made the most of it with his best performance in a Celtics uniform which unfortunately all went for naught: 26 points and six assists in 39 minutes. Guard Marcus Smart had a very Marcus Smart offensive game with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists which sounds fine except when you see that he was 5-for-14 from the field and 3-of-9 on 3-pointers. Center Daniel Theis had 13 points and six rebounds while center Robert Williams (17 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks) and power forward Grant Williams (10 points) were both factors off the bench. 

    The Celts led 30-24 after the first quarter and 65-60 at halftime. That lead was erased by the Grizzlies in the third quarter though as they outscored the C's 34-21. Boston owned the fourth quarter (31-23) but predictably ran out of gas in OT (15-9 Memphis). With basically no defense allowed, there were some wild numbers in this game: the Grizzlies grabbed 11 more rebounds (54-43) including 12 more offensive boards (17-5), they had seven more assists (38-31), five more steals (8-3) and they scored 26 more points in the paint (80-54!). The finesse Celtics hit five more 3-pointers (17-12) and made five more free throws (15-10) but it takes more than that to win at the Grindhouse. 

    Things only get sketchier from here for the Celtics as they get an extended stay in Milwaukee for matchups with the Bucks (28-14 overall, 17-5 home) on Wednesday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) and Friday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston). Giannis was out with a left knee sprain tonight but his team still managed to destroy the Pacers (19-23) 140-113. If I know the Celtics this season, he'll return for both of those games and he will drop triple-doubles in their eyeballs as Milwaukee extends its win streak to nine games as they jostle with the Nets (29-14) and 76ers (30-13) for the top seeds in the East.

The Celtics Coasted By The Grizzlies 126-107 Behind Jaylen Brown's Career Game (42 Points)

 

    A little over a week into the 2020-21 NBA regular season and there have already been way too many uncompetitive blowouts to count. Every night it seems like teams are losing by 30 or 40 points and it's not just limited to the bottom-feeders of the league. Thankfully, our Celtics (3-2 overall, 2-1 home) were on the right side of that equation as they easily dispatched the Ja Morant-less Grizzlies (1-3 overall, 1-1 road) 126-107 tonight at TD Garden. Don't let that nail-biting 19-point margin of victory fool you, this was a joke of a contest where the Celts were up 26 points (!) at halftime (66-40) as apparently Memphis had big pandemic New Year's Eve plans that they had to get back home for. This win was all about Celtics shooting guard Jaylen Brown who erupted for a career-high 42 points including a career-best seven three-pointers. Most impressive, he efficiently got that all done in three quarters of action (only 29 minutes of playing time). 

    Boston's power forward Jayson Tatum (16 points) gets most of the headlines locally and nationally since his talent jumps off the screen every time that you see him on the offensive end. However, the fortunes of the Celtics these next few years will probably be decided by Brown as much as anybody. Tatum is getting better on the defensive end but Brown is already one of the top two-way wings in the NBA. Furthermore, let's not get ahead of ourselves but he hopefully will be an All-Star for the first time later this season. As we all know, the league is built around stars and teams that have one or none aren't going anywhere. The C's appear to be lucky enough to have two very promising young standouts on their current roster. Now they just have to figure out how to maximize what their supporting cast around them can be. 

    All 13 Celtics that suited up tonight scored at least two points, something that you are unlikely to see again during this campaign. Competing in the second night of their first back-to-back of the year, nobody played more minutes for the home team than Brown. Point guard Marcus Smart added 14 points and three steals while center Daniel Theis notched 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks in his best performance since the bubble playoffs. Point guard Jeff Teague (4 steals) got his first start as a Celtic as head coach Brad Stevens went with a small lineup as power forward Tristian Thompson sat out to rest his right hamstring. 

    With extended garbage time minutes to fill, Boston's bench had some standouts of its own: guard Carsen Edwards led them with nine points, rookie point guard Payton Pritchard scored eight points with two steals and center Robert Williams put up six points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. This was the last game of 2020 for the Celtics and because they are heading out on a four-game road trip to start the New Year, they couldn't have dreamed of an easier result which also gave them their first winning-streak of the new season. 

    The Grizzlies didn't look like they wanted to be there and they played like it too. With Morant out for an estimated three-to-five weeks with a high ankle sprain, it's tough to see them winning many games without their unquestioned leader and best player. Former Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas (20 points, 11 rebounds) posted a double-double but shooting guard Dillon Brooks (16 points, 5 rebounds) was the only other Memphis starter to reach double figures in scoring. Veteran center Gorgui Dieng had 17 points and six rebounds off the bench while rookie shooting guard Desmond Bane scored 16 minutes and power forward Brandon Clarke had 10 points and seven rebounds as I'm sure they all played way more than they had expected to. 

    Boston just got back from a road trip to a blah Midwestern city (Indianapolis) and now they get to go to an even worse one-Detroit-for two games starting on New Year's Day (7, NBC Sports Boston). At 0-4, the Pistons are tied with the Wizards for the worst record in the NBA so I am counting on the Celts to win twice in the Motor City including the rematch on Sunday afternoon (3, NBC Sports Boston) which sounds about as exciting as Patriots (6-9) vs. Jets (2-13). Luckily, things get a little more interesting after that with Boston going to Tampa Bay (yes, you read that right) to meet winless Toronto (0-3) in their temporary home on Monday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston). Canada won't let them play in their home country during the pandemic so the Raptors went to Florida where I'm told there are no rules about anything ever. The final stop on the road trip is Wednesday (7:30, ESPN) at Miami (2-2), you know the team that beat them in the Eastern Conference Finals held in the bubble. The Celtics bench better get some rest because I have a feeling they will be getting plenty of action right from the jump in 2021.