C's Pulled Off The Third Biggest Comeback In NBA History Thanks To Tatum's Career Night (60 Pts!!!)

 

    The entire 2020-21 Celtics (34-30 overall, 21-12 home) experience was tightly wrapped up in a single game tonight as they went down by as much as 32 points at the TD Garden to the Spurs (31-31 overall, 18-12 away) before staging an epic rally than ended with a 143-140 overtime win for the home team. Only this group could feel the total dejection of what would have been their worst loss of the season combined with the overwhelming sense of joy from pulling off their best victory of the year. Forgive me for not mentioning Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum yet who scored a career-high 60 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists with no turnovers (!) in 45 exhausting minutes. With that, he tied Larry Bird's (ever heard of him?) franchise record for points in a game while also becoming the first player in the history of this proud team to score 50+ points twice in the same season. 

    Unfortunately, Boston has had more than their fair share of awful losses this season and with the way that they started this game, it felt inevitable that this would be the worst one of all. Thankfully, it didn't have to come to that as besides Tatum, other Celtics like shooting guard Jaylen Brown (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks), rookie swingman Aaron Nesmith (16 points, 6 rebounds off the bench), guard Marcus Smart (10 points, 12 assists, 2 steals) and center Robert Williams (10 points, 9 rebounds) all did just enough to come out on top. The Spurs were led by swingman DeMar DeRozan (team-high 30 points, 14 assists, five rebounds and two steals) who was great and point guard Dejounte Murray (24 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) who is becoming quite a player. Center Jakob Poeltl (15 points, 10 rebounds) and small forward Keldon Johnson (14 points, 8 rebounds) also stood out for San Antonio who wasted a great game from their bench that outscored Boston's 55-38. Shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV (24 points) was brilliant for the Spurs while UConn's Rudy Gay (16 points) and point guard Patty Mills (11 points) were other impactful reserves who made plays as usual against the Celtics. 

    San Antonio was up 39-16 after one quarter and 77-48 at halftime as the 2300 fans that were at the Garden rightfully sent Boston to their locker room with a chorus of boos. The Celts chipped away with a wonderful third quarter (42-26) before they tied it in the fourth quarter (38-25). Boston actually had a chance to win this in regulation but Tatum missed that shot which sent the instant classic to overtime. For the game, the Celtics hit seven more 3-pointers (18-11), grabbed nine more offensive rebounds (17-8), blocked six more shots (7-1) and had 12 more second chance points (27-15) than the Spurs. 

    As I've said many times in this season full of crazy highs and lows, this win will quickly lose much of its potential meaning if Boston learns nothing from it and comes out flat once again in their next game on Sunday night (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) vs. Portland (35-28 overall, 19-12 away). A mark of a good team is consistency and that is something which this group has struggled with all year. This improbable comeback kept the hunt for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs alive. Boston is tied with Atlanta (34-30) for fifth-place while New York (35-28) is a game and a half in front of them (with a game in hand) and Miami (33-30) trails both clubs by half a game as they currently are stuck in seventh-place purgatory for the play-in tournament. Take a breath and get some rest tomorrow since the meeting with the Blazers-who Boston beat 116-115 in Portland on April 13-should be another doozy with their superstar Damian Lillard liable to drop 50+ points at any time as well. The Celts are 2-1 on this homestand so finishing 3-1 on it with a three-game win streak to boot would be swell. 

Huzzah, The Celtics Are Fun To Watch Again

Say this for the Celtics without Rajon Rondo (and Jared Sullinger), they might not be nearly as talented but they sure are enjoyable to watch. Rather than having one guy dribble for most of the 24-second clock then figure out a play, they share the basketball, play defense and everyone seems to pull their weight more equally. Tonight, Boston (25-23, 8-14 away) won 99-95 at Toronto's (17-32, 12-13 home) Air Canada Centre, their fifth straight victory since Rondo went down.

Kevin Garnett had a season-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, Courtney Lee added 15 points, Paul Pierce struggled from the field (2 for 11) but still had 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Avery Bradley scored 11 points and even Brandon Bass found his way into double figures with 10 points. That's right, all five Celtics starters plus Leandro Barbosa (14 points off the bench) all scored 10+ points. Not something you saw much earlier in the season.

Even though they had lost three of their last four in Toronto, beating the Raptors isn't normally worth a damn but this was at least notable because Toronto was up 10 (79-69) heading into the fourth quarter. After getting smoked in the third quarter (34-19), the C's rallied for an excellent fourth quarter (30-16).

Former UConn star Rudy Gay, acquired from Memphis last week, filled the stat sheet with 25 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Kyle Lowry had 18 points, seven assists and four steals, Amir Johnson had a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) and DeMar Derozan put up 13 points. Andrea Bargnani notched 13 points off the bench for the Raptors.

This game was just an appetizer for the main course tomorrow night back in Boston: Celtics vs. Lakers (23-26). It's the first of two meetings between the bitter rivals and it gets the full primetime experience (8 p.m., TNT) despite the fact that LA has been the NBA's biggest disappointment so far this season. Pau Gasol hurt his foot last night so he'll be out but Kobe Bryant is still on the Lakers so it should be a great atmosphere as Boston goes for their sixth win in a row.

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Avery Bradley's Return Can't Help The Celtics Avoid Their Fourth Straight Loss

Remember when we were all excited about the Celtics when this season started in October? It seems like a long time ago when it actually was only a few months back. Boston (14-17, 9-6 home) lost their fourth straight game, 93-83 to Memphis (20-9, 7-6 away) tonight at TD Garden.

All four losses by the Celts have been by double-digits. Avery Bradley (4 points, 1 steal in 20 minutes) played his first game of 2012-13 but it'll take time for the defensive stopper to get acclimated to this currently lifeless squad. The loss dropped Boston a season-low three games under .500.

You don't hear much about them because they are in the Western Conference and a small market but the Grizzlies are a very solid team. They are deep, tough, they play defense and each guy seems to know his role (a rarity in today's NBA). Mike Conley led Memphis with a season-high 23 points and nine assists, UConn's Rudy Gay had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists while former Celtic Tony Allen had 15 points and five rebounds in his return.

Things were going so good for Memphis that Darrell Arthur (10 points) hit the first two 3-pointers of his NBA career (5 years) and Marreese Speights added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench as well.

Paul Pierce had a quiet 17 points and seven rebounds, Kevin Garnett put up 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Rajon Rondo notched 11 points and 10 assists. Boston's bench actually outscored Memphis' 37-25 so for once you couldn't blame them. Jeff Green had 10 points to led the Celtics' reserves.

The Celts face the Pacers (19-13, 1st place in Central Division) on Friday (8 p.m., CSN) at the Garden. After a slow start, Indiana has figured things out and they will be a tough matchup for the suddenly reeling Celtics.

UPDATE 1/4: Kris Joseph was sent back to Maine.

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It took A While But The Celts Are Rounding Into Form, Win Their Fourth Straight

Sadly Tony Allen wasn't able to suit up this afternoon in his return to Boston and his new squad similarly didn't show up as the Boston Celtics (13-10) waxed the Memphis Grizzlies (12-12) 98-80 this afternoon at TD Garden.

Zach Randolph has been out for a while with a knee injury and he's their best player so that explains why Memphis-which made a run to the Western Conference semifinals last season-has been so inconsistent out of the gates this season.

Brandon Bass missed the game for the Celts with a sore knee but they rolled on anyway to their fourth straight win.

Kevin Garnett led all scorers with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds. For the third game in a row, KG hit a 3-pointer (by design). I never thought I'd write those words but he seems to have a decent touch from long range. Apparently, he used to shoot 3s once in a while with the Timberwolves but thanks to college and alcohol, I really can't remember that.

Paul Pierce had 21 points, six rebounds and six assists while Ray Allen (4 of 14 shooting) added 12 points and Rajon Rondo handed out 14 assists. Chris Wilcox put up 12 points and five rebounds off the bench while rookie JaJuan Johnson had his second good performance in a week with 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks (not all in garbage time either).

An interesting note: Pierce is now nine points behind Larry Bird (ever hear of him?!) for second in all-time scoring for the Celtics. Expect him to break that in the first half, maybe even the first quarter of the next contest.

With Super Bowl 46 hanging over everyone, the Grizzlies thankfully didn't put up much of a fight. Rudy Gay had 21 points and seven rebounds but Sam Young was the only other starter in double-figures with 10 points. O.J. Mayo scored 15 off the bench and Dante Cunningham had 10 points in the loss.

The C's led 24-16 after one quarter and 43-35 at halftime. They were still up eight (69-61) after three and they saved their best for last with a strong fourth (29-19).

Boston owned almost every category: shooting percentage (49.3%-36.8%), 3s (7-3), free throws made (19-13), rebounds (45-38), assists (28-13), steals (9-5), fast break points (26-10) and points in the paint (44-34).

The worst team in the NBA, the Charlotte Bobcats, come to the Garden on Tuesday night. It will be a worthless game except for the fact that Pierce will pass Bird which is pretty remarkable. Get ready for the big one on Thursday: the Lakers make their only appearance of the season on Causeway Street for a primetime matchup.

Go Patriots!

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Ho hum, Celts win 11th straight and have best record in the NBA

It's funny how fast things can change in the NBA. A few weeks ago, the Celtics looked old and very vulnerable. Well they're still old but after winning their 11th straight last night, 110-105 over the Grizzlies, Boston (20-4) has the best record in the NBA.

Sure, the Celts have thrived against mostly weak teams but still they are 12-1 on the road. Since last night was the final game of a brief three-game road trip and because it was against a team that plays the style that gives Boston the most trouble (young, athletic), a seasoned fan had to know it wouldn't be easy.

It was basically a carbon copy of countless games from the last three seasons; the Celtics made just enough winning plays at the end to come away with the win. The biggest shot was Ray Allen's (18 points) three-pointer off a busted play with 17.5 seconds left.

Paul Pierce led the C's with 19 points and six assists. Rajon Rondo had 18 points and nine assists, Kevin Garnett had 13 points and eight boards while Kendrick Perkins added 13 points and six rebounds before fouling out.

The bench gave Boston a big left as Rasheed Wallace scored 15 and Eddie House had nine points.

Memphis (10-14) has one of the best starting fives in the league, really. Rudy Gay was coming off a career-high 41 point game and he followed that up with a team-high 23 points and seven rebounds. O.J. Mayo had 21 points and Zach Randolph added 20. Marc Gasol, who's much tougher than his older brother Pau, notched 15 points and eight boards while Mike Conley Jr. tossed in 11. Rookie Sam Young had 11 points off the bench.

Memphis led 31-28 after the first quarter and 55-54 at the half. Boston turned it on in the third quarter (31-26) and held on in the fourth (25-24).

The C's come home for three games, starting with Allen Iverson and the Sixers on Friday night.