Boston Celtics rout Nets, top Pistons to run road win streak to seven
NBC Sports
Jayson Tatum scored 30 points as Boston beat Brooklyn 129-106 on Thursday. Tatum then dropped 26 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists in a 113-104 win in Detroit. Here are some takeaways from the two games.
Boston Celtics rout Nets, top Pistons to run road win streak to seven
1. Anti-Tatum and Brown narrative is over
Boston is clearly playing their best basketball of the season right now and a lot of it has to do with how the Jays are playing with, for, and off each other. Their playmaking abilities are also growing night in and night out, and the entire team is following their lead. Most of the national talking heads that were saying that they can’t play together are “church-mouse” quiet right now!
2. Ball movement and pace
The last month of Celtics offensive basketball has been nothing short of outstanding! The ball is touching everyone’s hands and keeping everyone engaged while also pushing the pace of play. And the assists numbers in a few of those games are as followed:
vs. Pistons - 31 assists on 42 made field goals
vs. Nets - 28 assists on 46 made field goals
vs. 76ers - 28 assists on 46 made field goals
vs. Hawks - 21 assists on 36 made field goals
vs. Nuggets - 24 assists on 38 made field goals
vs. Nets - 32 assists on 50 made field goals
This surge in ball movement has also made the C’s a much harder team to defend when opponents cannot key on Tatum and Brown. During this recent stretch, Aaron Nesmith had a 17-point game, Payton Pritchard had a 19-point game, Grant Williams is third in the NBA in three-point percentage, Al Horford had a 19-point game, and Robert Williams has been a double-double machine. It’s great that teams cannot lock on Tatum and Brown exclusively, and as you can see the results are very encouraging!
3. Payton Pritchard time?
Nobody expected Pritchard’s sophomore season to be as bumpy as it has been. He went from being a key contributor last year and followed that up with an outstanding Summer League campaign. When Dennis Schroder and Josh Richardson were signed in the offseason, many wondered if Pritchard could be on his way out of Boston. It didn’t help that he struggled in early appearances to start this season and ended up with a number of DNP-CDs.
What he didn’t do is let it get to him. What he DID do was continue to work and be ready for his next opportunity. That opportunity came after NBA trade deadline day when Schroder and Richardson were shipped out in trades. Even though guard Derrick White was brought in, the moves gave Pritchard confidence on two fronts.
One, he was still a Celtic, and two, more playing time was coming for him. Saturday afternoon against the Pistons was one of those moments, as he scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half, helping the Celtics beat Detroit. Jaylen Brown stated players like Pritchard are “guys he wants to be around and play with,” and games like yesterday only back up that statement. Let’s hope to see more performances like this from Pritchard.
The Celtics are back in action Sunday night in the second game of a back-to-back against the Indiana Pacers in Indiana. Tip-off is at 5:00 p.m. EST.
