The Boston Celtics’ win streak ended yesterday afternoon in friggin’ Sacramento. So I imagine many folks had low expectations for a road back-to-back in Phoenix against Aron Baynes and the Suns (oh and also some promising, fledgling prospect you might’ve heard about named Devin Booker).
Lockdown defense and solid play up and down the depth chart managed to avoid the start of a losing streak. Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with 26-11-3-1. Kemba Walker had a “quiet” offensive game (19-2-5) in which he showed off his playmaking and defense instead of the bucket-getting we all know. Unfortunately Marcus Smart sprained his ankle midway through Q4, but not before another strong outing (17-3-4-2-1), the sort of well-rounded game that distinguished this grindy 99-85 win.
The game did not begin auspiciously for the Celtics’ offense, to say the least:
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum just shot long airball 3's from the right corner… someone shut the door
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) November 19, 2019
Defense was not exactly great either as the Suns’ motley crew of roleplayers—Kelly Oubre, Dario Saric, the aforementioned Baynes—seemed untroubled by the wax on the rims weird scoring issues of their opponents. The Celtics fanbase, meanwhile, voiced considerable displeasure with Enes Kanter, and the media had more measured questions:
LMAOO KANTER
— Tribune of the Plebs (@Handsome_Jake_) November 19, 2019
enes go away
— david (@whaamncheese) November 19, 2019
Please stop with this Kanter shit
— Riffs Man (@Riffs_Man) November 19, 2019
Can Kanter travel if he never had control of the ball?
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) November 19, 2019
A combination of forced turnovers (3 steals!) and continued offensive aggression on Boston’s part got them back in it, chipping away at and eventually overtaking Phoenix’s lead at the quarter’s end, 26-22. Cool things like this got them there:
📬
To: Jaylen
From: Marcus https://t.co/oNMO62tV3d— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 19, 2019
They kept the lead going—but only just, and coach was displeased by the execution:
Stevens calls timeout. He's clearly not happy with the Celtics offensive decision-making.
This lineup is also a mess. Lots of pressure on Tatum to create everything and guys aren't connected on defense.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) November 19, 2019
We interrupt this program to comment on OUBRE MICROAGGRESSIONS:
did oubre just do a bunch of pushups after taking a charge lmao
— shai huludgeous-alexander 🐗 (@diaboliam) November 19, 2019
Red’s Army can confirm at this time that Oubre did this, and it was both funny and made Oubre look heeeeeeeelllllllllllaaaaaa tryhard.
Despite the Suns’ best efforts, their worst tendencies—a pronounced proclivity for turnovers, a weak frontcourt aside from Baynes and the suspended DeAndre Ayton—began surfacing. The Celtics parlayed this into a 21-4 run and took control. LET’S GO TO THE TAPE:
Marcus Smart for 3 🤓 pic.twitter.com/f7eL4ihR7y
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 19, 2019
Steals it ☑️
Slams it ☑️#SunLifeDunk4Diabetes pic.twitter.com/YuJOsuyTyH— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 19, 2019
Beware the Time Lord ❌ pic.twitter.com/VIZue7ANWg
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 19, 2019
57-42 Cs at the half. Should we thank GRANT? I mean, us at WCT are going to pretty much regardless, but there is factual basis for it:
GRANT Williams played 6:25 in the first half.
He's a +17. 15-2 run to close the half came after checked in.
— Cousin DPOY (not notable) (@AndrewDoxy) November 19, 2019
The eye test will tell you that Grant Williams was awesome
But the analytics will also tell you that too
— Jam Packard (@JamPackard) November 19, 2019
Grant Williams is +17 in six minutes, and he’s taken two shots. Feels like it sums up the Grant Williams experience pretty well.
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) November 19, 2019
DENIED 🙅🏽 pic.twitter.com/QpnglsVR6F
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 19, 2019
For half of the third quarter, it seemed like the Celtics got their chutzpah in place and were just toying with the Suns:
🚨 KEMBA 🚨 pic.twitter.com/oGxqozwnKX
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 19, 2019
JT’s cookin’ 👨🍳#SunLifeDunk4Diabetes pic.twitter.com/f8b72wOkx7
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 19, 2019
Some of this was gamesmanship:
Tatum is so good at foul hunting in transition
— Tribune of the Plebs (@Handsome_Jake_) November 19, 2019
Timelord was not having that Dario drive lol
— Riffs Man (@Riffs_Man) November 19, 2019
Despite some resistance in the form of intermittent nice plays by Booker, Baynes, Oubre and Tyler Johnson, the third ended with Boston firmly in control, 80-65.
The fourth started mostly the same, but then, because virtually Nothing Can Be Easy, this happened:
Marcus Smart just limped off the court after this play pic.twitter.com/1o65jV0Ol4
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 19, 2019
Right ankle sprain. Didn’t return to the game, but sprains aren’t usually that serious. Ideally he misses no more than two games; unfortunately, the next two are contests the Celtics badly need him for.
It quite honestly might have been a series of Brad Wanamaker plays—a stepback triple followed by a nice pass to Kemba for a layup—that truly daggered this game (although in blowouts, the “dagger” can come at like, the 6:13 mark.) Beyond some playing-out-the-string play, it was decided, and the Celtics pulled off a defensive-driven win against a team that, unlike the past few years, was no pushover.
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