Even though it hasn’t seemed hard for the Celtics over the past few seasons, winning in the NBA is difficult, no matter the opponent. Winning without your two best players is even more difficult and the Celtics found a way to do that on Tuesday night. Without Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics found a way to beat the Brooklyn Nets, 104-96.
Brooklyn might not be one of the better teams in the league but they play hard and have good players on the roster. However, 25 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks for Kristaps Porzingis and a career high 20 points and 6 three pointers for Baylor Scheierman played a big part in Boston winning before hitting the road for a six-game trip.
It was on the defensive end that Boston really shined. The Celtics held the Nets to an offensive rating of 104.8; admittedly, Brooklyn’s offense hasn’t been good this season at 109.2 (27th in the NBA), but Boston’s defense was still really good, holding them below their season average.
Generating baskets has been hard for Boston without Tatum or Brown on the floor this season and it was hard for the Celtics to do so on Tuesday night. 104 points is down from their 116.8 season average and their 110.6 offensive rating is down from 119.1 offensive rating they had entering the night.
However, they did find ways to score enough points in this one.
One way Boston was able to generate some open looks were through Porzingis post-ups. In fact, the first two Boston baskets came off of KP post-ups.
KP gets good position on Cam Johnson in the post, one dribble gets him to his spot on the low block where he is fouled and gets the and-1 opportunity.
To be able to seal off D’Angelo Russell on his hip and then catch the ball while finishing with one arm, all in one motion, is incredible stuff from Porzingis. “Oh, come on,” is a perfect response by Jackie MacMullan.
Jrue Holiday and Al Horford passes were another way Boston was able to generate good open looks. Holiday finished with 8 assists while Horford finished with 6.
On this one, Al catches the ball off of the short roll and once he notices the defense collapse, he kicks it out to a wide open Scheierman, who drains the three.
With nobody in the paint, Jrue attacks the defense on a drive and gets it to collapse around him, leading to the kick out to a wide-open Sam Hauser three.
Jrue again attacks the defense with a dribble-drive, blowing past Day’Ron Sharpe. Scheierman makes a great cut off and Jrue makes a very impressive jump pass leading to the layup.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the hubs for the Boston Celtics on both ends of the court. However, it is the offensive end which they are featured most prominently. The Celtics have struggled to score with them on the bench this season and while it was not always pretty on Tuesday night, they found a way to score enough points and win the game.
