Like The B's Last Week, The C's Welcomed Their Fans Back To The Garden With A Loss (Vs. Pels)

 

    After more than a year apart, the Celtics (23-24 overall, 13-8 home) finally allowed a small percentage of fans (12% capacity) to attend tonight's game vs. the Pelicans (21-25 overall, 7-14 away) at the TD Garden. Naturally with this season's mediocre squad, the Celts gave their fans a few wet farts in the form of no Jaylen Brown (who was unexpectedly out with a left hip contusion), swingman Evan Fournier's (0-for-10 shooting in 33 minutes with 2 steals and 2 blocks) Celtics debut went about as poorly as possible (minus Gordon Hayward's horrific ankle injury a few years back in Chicago) and they trailed by as many as 17 points en route to a 115-109 loss that gave New Orleans the two-game season sweep. 

    Boston entered with a little momentum after winning back-to-back road games at Milwaukee (29-17) and Oklahoma City (19-27) over the weekend but that was quickly snuffed out by a hungrier team that is in a playoff race of its own in the deeper and tougher Western Conference. New Orleans was led by its two young All-Stars: power forward Zion Williamson (team-high 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals) and small forward Brandon Ingram (25 points, 9 assists) were more than your usual selfish guys from Duke. Speaking of which, their fellow Dukie swingman Jayson Tatum (game-high 34 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) was superb but naturally with Brown out, the Celts didn't have enough depth to make up for his absence. Guards Nickeil Walker-Alexander (17 points, 7 rebounds) and Eric Bledsoe (13 points, 5 assists) also scored in double figures for the road team with shooting guard Josh Hart (15 points, 15 rebounds) notching a beefy double-double in 33 minutes off the bench. 

         Celtics point guard Kemba Walker scored 23 points while guard Marcus Smart added 15 points and two blocks then center Robert Williams (7 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks) did some nice things in his third start in a row and he played a career-high 32 minutes in the loss. Additionally, guard Payton Pritchard (11 points, 5 rebounds) and Boston's new backup center Luke Kornet (11 points) both put together fine performances off the bench. New Orleans led basically the entire game as they were up 32-27 after one quarter and 64-55 at halftime. Boston took the third quarter by a basket (26-24) and they trimmed the Pelcians' lead down to three in the fourth quarter before they ran out of both time and energy. 

    New Orleans snuck into the bubble playoffs last season and let's hope that one of the more exciting young teams in the NBA likewise can return to the postseason this spring. The Pelicans shot 7% better from the field than Boston (50-43%), they hit two more 3-pointers (16-14), dished out nine more assists (30-21), had three more steals (8-5) and scored seven more fast break points (15-8) so yeah, I would say that they deserved to win. This was the beginning of a pivotal and season-high seven-game homestand for the C's, up next they host another young superstar-Luka Doncic-and the Mavericks (24-21 overall, 13-11 road) on Wednesday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) at the Garden. With any luck, Brown will be back for that one and no matter what, Fournier figures to improve on his nightmare start as a Celtic.

It Turns Out A 24-Pt Lead Midway Through The 3rd Quarter Isn't Enough Against A 12-17 Team

    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!