The Boston Celtics had their fans up well past their bed time last night, allowing their game against the Clippers to go to overtime in what was already a late start for the East Coast folks. Los Angeles was without almost their entire starting lineup, along with a few bench players. Boston was short-handed too, resting Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Jrue Holiday, though they were still considered heavy favorites. Ultimately, they did pull out the victory after getting some much-needed production off their bench from Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, and the star of the night, Jaden Springer.
Tonight, the Celtics don’t have to travel far, this time taking on their long-time rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston will be back at full strength with a clean injury report. Los Angeles will be without Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Jalen Hood-Schifino, all guys who have missed a significant amount of time already.
How much responsibility do the Celtics shift away from Jaylen, Jayson, and Derrick?
The star trio took on a big workload yesterday. Brown played 38 minutes, while Tatum and White played 42 minutes each, all well above their season MPG. Their game tonight tips off less than 21 hours after their finish last night. These guys are crazy athletes, but such a quick turnaround after playing longer than usual is still a tough ask.
Another night of big minutes could lead to a rough finish, or even increase the risk of injury. Jaylen revealed that he was already playing through an ankle sprain which he picked up early in yesterday’s game. He stated that he intends to play through it, but also noted that it slowed him down a bit towards the end of the game. While I appreciate Brown’s toughness, Boston certainly doesn’t want the issue to become any worse, especially just for a regular season game in January, even if it’s against the Lakers.
With Kristaps, Al, and Jrue back tonight, Derrick and the Jays should have more support and a lighter workload. The thing to watch is if the offense still runs through them as often, or if they manage to pass on more of the responsibility for the night.
Does Mazzulla stick with Springer?
Bouncing off of the previous question, we know that Porzingis, Horford, and Holiday are going to be taking back a lot of the minutes that opened up in their absence last night. The question is, how much? Jaden Springer played a season-high 20 minutes last night, something no one was expecting going into the game, but he more than earned. He capitalized on them in a big way, really being the catalyst for the defensive turnaround that propelled the team to victory, not to mention the two very timely threes he hit.
Games like that can be pivotal in a young player’s career, but that relies heavily on them getting continued chances to build on that success. It’s going to be harder for him to earn minutes tonight with the whole team being active – there’s not question about that. What we’ll have to wait to see is if he earned enough of Joe’s trust to carve out some extra minutes again. He entered yesterday’s game because Boston needed to step up their physicality. If that’s the case again tonight, we may see Jaden as the first name called off the bench.
Will Boston clean up their late-game execution?
There’s been several games over the Celtics’ rough stretch where they’ve made baffling mistakes towards the end of games. From untimely fouls to head-scratching turnovers, they’ve found a lot of ways to shoot themselves in the foot. Last night was no different, allowing the game to go to overtime after holding a 5-point lead with under 15 seconds to go, and then nearly doing it a second time with just 30 seconds left in overtime.
For a team that has emphasized execution and managed to be a top 3 offense and defense just a year ago, they have looked uncharacteristically bad in clutch-time this year. If it comes down to the wire again, the Celtics will need to show me that they’re learning from their mistakes.
