With Nobody Watching, The Celtics Likely Won For The Last Time This Season (124-108 At Minnesota)

 

    For a variety of reasons-1) it was a gorgeous summer-like day in New England; 2) the game started at 2 p.m. on a Saturday; 3) it meant literally nothing-I'm guessing that today's 124-108 victory for the Celtics (36-35 overall, 15-20 away) against the Timberwolves (22-49 overall, 12-23 home) was probably their lowest rated game in years on NBC Sports Boston. The penultimate regular season contest of this terrible season had the feel of a preseason game in Springfield, MA. Boston is already locked into the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference but they still don't know who they will host in the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday since the eight through ten seeds (Charlotte, Washington and Indiana) all have the same exact awful record (33-38). Haha can you feel the excitement? 

    Anytime that Celtics power forward Semi Ojeleye (6 points, 7 rebounds) starts for Boston, you know that something has gone horribly wrong. I guess doubly so when center Luke Kornet (12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks) aka the Murder Kornet joins him in the starting lineup. Celts star Jayson Tatum had a game-high 26 points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes while shooting guard Evan Fournier added 18 points and six assists with rookie guard Payton Pritchard rounding out the starters with 11 points and four steals. 11 guys got to play for Boston (sorry Carsen Edwards) as point guard Tremont Waters (14 points, 7 assists) had what must have been his best performance in the NBA and power forward Grant Williams notched 11 points and six rebounds off the bench as well. 

    The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the C's while the Timberwolves jockey for position in the Draft Lottery. Center Karl-Anthony Towns (24 points, 14 rebounds) posted a double-double and rookie swingman Anthony Edwards-who is making a late push for Rookie of the Year-added 23 points, six assists and three steals. Point guard D'Angelo Russell put up 11 points and six assists with center Naz Reid (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) padding his stats off the bench. Boston's regular season finale is tomorrow afternoon (1, NBC Sports Boston) at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks (40-31 overall, 24-11 home). Expect an ugly blowout loss for the Celts not just because New York is way better than them but also since the Knicks are tied with the Hawks for fourth-place in the Eastern Conference so they will no doubt want to get that home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Tatum (Career-High 53 Pts) & Celts Need OT To Beat The Worst Team In The NBA-The T-Wolves

 

    You think that you've seen it all (mostly negative) from the Celtics (27-26 overall, 17-10 home) this season, then they have a game like they did tonight at the TD Garden vs. the Timberwolves (13-40 overall, 5-23 away)-the team with the worst record in the NBA. Boston trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter before a huge rally by the home team but then they allowed Minnesota to have a 11-2 spurt at the end of regulation to tie it at 124 and send it to overtime. The C's played their best in the extra stanza as they held on for an absurd 145-136 overtime win. Swingman Jayson Tatum (10 rebounds) has been in a bit of a funk for weeks but he scored a career-high 53 points-tied for the third-most in Celtics history-to carry his club to its fourth victory in their last five games. 

    Along with being the current worst team in the league, I'd venture a guess that Minnesota's defense will also go down as one of the worst in NBA history. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown put up 26 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks, guard Marcus Smart added 24 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals while point guard Kemba Walker shook off a terrible start to notch 17 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals for Boston. With the way that they can score and all the talented guys on their roster, the Timberwolves should be way better than this. Center Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 30 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists although he also had six turnovers. Rookie No. 1 pick and swingman Anthony Edwards added 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Small forward Josh Okogie added 16 points and four steals while power forward Jaden McDaniels scored 11 points. Point guard D'Angelo Russell came off the bench but still put up huge numbers (26 points, 8 assists) in 29 minutes and power forward Juancho Hernangomez checked in with 10 points off the bench as well.

    The C's have had countless poor starts this season but this evening's turd must be considered rock bottom. Not only did they allow 39 points in the first quarter but they only scored 25. It was so bad that it took them the rest of the game to erase it. They trailed 66-57 at halftime and 97-92 going into the fourth quarter. You know that you have serious issues closing out games when you can't put away Minnesota even after you finally took control of this matchup in crunch time. Boston shot five percent better (54%-49%) from the field than Minnesota, they hit four more 3-pointers (19-15), they made five more free throws (32-27), they grabbed eight more defensive rebounds (45-37) and blocked five more shots than the T-Wolves. 

    Let's be real, if the Celts were playing almost any other club in the NBA tonight, they probably would not have come out on top. The Green will need to be infinitely better this week as they head out on a difficult three-game West Coast trip: at Denver (34-18 overall, 18-9 home) on Sunday afternoon (3, NBC Sports Boston), at Portland (30-21 overall, 15-10 home) on Tuesday (10, NBC Sports Boston) and at the Lakers (32-20 overall, 16-11 home) on Thursday (10, NBC Sports Boston). Denver is the hottest team in the league with eight straight wins and they lost at Boston earlier this season so I highly doubt that will happen again. The Blazers aren't a great team but Damian Lillard is liable to drop 50+ points on the Celtics. Finally, the Lakers have been a bit of a mess lately with both LeBron James and Anthony Davis out injured but who knows, maybe at least one of them will be back for that primetime matchup?