1. We (he) did iiiiii…it!
That was big time.
Jayson Tatum’s struggles with that exact type of shot have been well-documented, and for me personally, it’s gotten to the point where I don’t really think that 20-odd foot fadeaway is going in. But Tatum delivered, nailing this 21-footer with two guys closing out. And it was glorious.
Game-winners are a strange art. On one hand, I’d love if the Celtics ran the greatest set play of all time to get a wide open shot for any of their five starters. But on the other, I’d much rather have Jayson Tatum miss a game winner than anyone else, because that’s his responsibility and also his burden.
On some level, and probably a lot of levels, you have to live and die with your best player in the biggest moments. Even if it’s not the best shot… there are good reasons he keeps taking them. He’s the best guy Boston has, and it’s a shot I — and clearly the Celtics as well — have learned to live with. Because sometimes, it’s pretty sick.
2. Jaylen Brown’s simple execution
It got lost in the actual game winner, but Jaylen Brown hit a lowkey game winner roughly 30 seconds earlier.
This doesn’t look like that complicated a shot, but it’s an example of the type of late-game execution the Celtics have been lacking lately. Brown sees the space afforded to him by three non-committal defenders, and attacks it immediately, getting to his spot without any hesitation.
The last month and change of Celtics basketball has been full of indecision and inconsistency. Yet no matter how much of a lead Boston wishes they had in the final seconds, wins and losses will always come down to those types of shots; find what works, and go to it over and over again. That’s what’s going to get this team out of their funk
3. Dejounte Murray’s injury and a really tough Pelicans season
Dejounte Murray, the Pelicans’ big free agent acquisition and most fans’ preseason reason-to-care-about-an-other-wise-unchanged-roster, suffered his second and final major injury of the 2024-25 campaign, tearing his Achilles and endnoting a really, really rough Pelicans season.
Every team struggles because of injuries, but sometimes the NBA produces a team so cursed that it leads to an overall downward spiral and to a record that, honestly, just doesn’t make sense. The Pelicans are now 12-37, don’t have a snowball’s chance in a Louisiana summer of making even in the Play-In and may have to tear things down at the trade deadline. And they just lost one of their best players, at least on paper, to a season ending injury. Jeez.
This is why, in sports, “Championship Windows” are kind of a myth. Everyone’s window opens when the season starts and closes when they get eliminated. You don’t necessarily ever get another crack at it, and the Pelicans hoping that things would improve naturally has been met with tragedy and entropy. It’s a cruel league.
4. Kristaps Porzingis: stat sheet stuffer
Did anyone even notice that Kristaps Porzingis was one block and two steals away from a “5×5 game” — meaning five or more in five stats; blocks, steals, assists, rebounds, and points. The last person to pull that off was Victor Wembanyama, and Porzingis filled up the stat sheet with an overall awesome game. Good stuff.
Everyone once in a while, it’s good to remind ourselves that Porzingis is capable of things that other players just aren’t. He’s so tall yet so dextrous, and sneakily crafty as a perimeter defender with good instincts albeit really lackluster footspeed. Had Zion Williamson played and brought his physical traits against Porzingis in switches, it may have been a different story. But nobody on this roster made him work, and he was free to wreak havoc to his heart’s content.
5. Can we please get a rebound?
Here’s the number one way to lose a basketball game you’re supposed to win: get crushed on the boards.
It wasn’t overwhelming, but the Pelicans were +13 on Boston in the rebounding column, a concerning note given they are dead last in most rebounding categories on the season. But it’s not even like Boston is getting abused by rebounding titans like Domantas Sabonis or Anthony Davis (though they are also getting that-ed by those people) — they’re also just giving up free lunch like this.
If you give Boston a 50 percent chance of scoring on the next possession, these types of offensive rebounds are, each, roughly a 3.5 point swing. In a game decided by two points in the final 0.2 seconds, those kinds of things can’t happen. But it’s certainly been happening lately…
The Celtics are pretty lethargic going into the All-Star break. It’s understandable, and I’m not at my best 24/7/365 either. But those rebounds are about snapping out of your trance and keeping your eye on the ball. They just need to lock in. Thankfully, that’s a relatively easy fix.
6. Derrick White, accumulator
White is slowly but surely ascending into the Certified Point Accumulator tier of the NBA player social scene, often racking up random buckets and free throws that I simply don’t remember him taking throughout a game. That’s because he’s become such a big part of the offense that I don’t blink when he makes a shot. That’s what’s supposed to happen.
White had 16 points on only 9 shots last night, which is great efficiency and exactly the kind of thing Boston needs from him going forward. Seeing both he and Brown have solid shooting nights from three is also great, and they lacked the trademark “Ultra-Bricks” that they’ve been putting up lately; shots that don’t even have a chance of going in.
I’m monitoring who White will be for this team going into the stretch run. I still think Jrue Holiday is a more important player on balance, but White is a slightly more dynamic scorer. If he can score in bunches, that’s going to take a world of responsibility off of Payton Pritchard’s shoulders. Which is good for everyone involved.
7. Two Pelicans Games, two absolute nail-biters
When later generations look up “Celtics v. Pelicans year-by-year record” on the supercomputer AI search engine of the future, they will see 2024-25 recorded as a crisp 2-0 for the defending champs. Nothing at all to see here…
Those two wins were recorded by an equally-crisp three total points, which looks bad against a banged up team that can’t seem to win any basketball games. But while the first game was a win that felt like a loss, this was a win that actually felt like a solid victory. It was close, but that was mostly a function of Takeaway #8’s otherworldly antics from beyond the arc. There was a lot to like there, and I give Boston a 7/10 for their last week of hoops, way up from the 3/10 that was the three weeks before that.
8. What in the Trey Murphy III was that
I love Trey Murphy III. The guy was so underrated as a shot creator last year, although apparently not by his own team that gave him a pretty awesome 4 year, $112 million contract, which might look like a steal by the end of this season. My guy can hoop, and he almost cost the Celtics a game they had firmly in hand by hitting that kind of shot every time they were about to close things out.
Murphy III dropped 40 points on only 20 shots and 8-12 from three and only three total free throws. That’s like… fictional efficiency in a world where most 40 bombs come from the intellectual disciples of prime James Harden, where 40-odd shots and 20 free throws is standard.
If we’re going through New Orleans’ roster, is Trey Murphy III the best asset on the team now? Is Zion Williamson actually more valuable these days, with his contract and the simple fact that he doesn’t really play all that much basketball? Murphy III is at worst a super-duper close second, and I’d venture to say the Pelicans would rather keep him than Williamson. It’s a great story for a guy most thought would just be a premium 3-and-D dunker. He’s way better than that.
9. Six more games until respite. Lock in
It’s not shocking that the Celtics are tired after, like… their sixth super long season in a row, with this final one ending on the very last game of the season. But there’s only six games until the All-Star break, and one very-important Cleveland Cavaliers game that I would love Boston to use to take the Eastern Conference mantle back. So it’s time to lock in.
If Boston can ride the fact that Tatum finally made a game winner and sweep these last six games — which they are absolutely capable of doing — they’ll be the talk of the town going into the league’s mandatory rest period, and make teams that felt bold cower in fear of the reigning champions.
I wager this last week and change won’t go average; it’ll probably go really great or absolutely horribly, and we’ll all have totally fun or totally unfun conversations while Brown and Tatum are in the ASG. I’ll cross my fingers it’s the former.
10. Where does this team stand?
Boston was in a rut, but now they’re just in mile 12 of the half-marathon that is the first half of the season. Sure, they have to run another half-marathon right after the break, but they can get some water and electrolytes before continuing. It’s no longer DEFCON 1, but I still have a few questions.
Are the Celtics the favorites to win the East right now? Probably, though the Cavaliers have made it more interesting than I thought they would. But who is actually taking Cleveland in a series against Boston? You? Do you want to?
Are they the favorites to win it all right now? Probably not. I’m not saying they won’t be by the time we hit April, but the Oklahoma City Thunder seem prohibitively good at the moment, showing the kind of dominance that we used to show last season. Is that going to motivate Boston to get back to that level? Or will they just file OKC in the “Western Conference things we don’t need to think about” cabinet?
This team is obviously good, but I’m still not sold on them being good enough. I know they can be, and I don’t think they’re missing anything critical. It all feels very mental, and I’m cautiously optimistic they’re starting to turn the corner back to what we were all used to: elite Celtics basketball.
