Your Morning Dump… Where the Cs remembered their identity just in time

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Leave it to the ever-eloquent Evan Turner to best abridge the plight of the Boston Celtics after a lethargic first half against the injury-battered Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.

“If we didn’t snap into Slim Jim, it could have been a long game,” offered Turner. Fortunately, Boston’s batch of macho men were motivated after coach Brad Stevens expressed disappointment in their lack of intensity over the first 24 minutes and responded with an energy-filled second half that helped the Celtics race away with their 14th straight home victory with a 116-96 triumph at TD Garden.

ESPN Boston – Celtics respond after Brad Stevens suggests first-half play versus Grizzlies was pathetic

With four minutes left in the third quarter, Jared Sullinger missed a midrange shot, but Marcus Smart — an elite rebounder for a guard — lurked in the paint, pulled down the board and fired a quick pass to Thomas. The lefty’s 3-pointer fell, pushing the lead to nine points and providing the type of play that changes games.

MassLive – Isaiah Thomas’ 22 points, big second half send Boston Celtics past Memphis Grizzlies, 116-96

We’ve seen it from time to time this season: the Celtics inexplicably don’t take their opponent seriously. They are outhustled, struggle to find their offense, and frustrate the fans who now have high expectations for their third-in-the-East squad. And that seemed to be the case in the first half last night.

It was surprising, because the Grizzlies are a strong team. They hold fifth place in the West with a 38-26 record that’s nearly identical to the 39-26 Celtics. However, the Cs may have taken them a bit lightly because the visitors were missing several starters due to injury.

Sure enough, in the first 24 minutes Boston was consistently beaten to 50/50 balls, was outscored 17-2 in second-chance points, and trailed Memphis by three going to halftime. There was a lot of swearing in my man cave while Memphis third-stringers were setting career highs. In the locker room, the coach got straight to the point.

Jay Larranaga tells me Brad Stevens halftime talk to players shortest in three years: “If you don’t play hard, you don’t deserve to win.”

— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) March 10, 2016

Turner on Stevens’ msg at half: “He just told us it was pathetic & we needed to pick it up & have some pride & dignity & defend homecourt.”

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) March 10, 2016

Evan added that Brad even “used big boy words.” Whoa. With that terse reminder about their identity, the Cs came out with noticeable intensity. A few minutes into the third quarter, Memphis lost their point guard, Mario Chalmers, to injury. Moments later, as described above, Smart’s offensive rebound turned into an Isaiah trey, which was the turning point. By hounding Memphis on defense and attacking the basket on offense, Boston closed the period with a 21-6 run. The rout was on.

Brad Stevens follows up by adding, “To our guys’ credit, they really went up to a different level during the second half.”

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 10, 2016

On Page 2: Shoutout to Sully

But there was nothing they could do to compensate for the lost practice days which Sullinger acknowledged did impact his conditioning on Wednesday.

That still didn’t prevent him from going coast-to-coast for a lay-up in the first half.

“I didn’t think I was going to get that,” Sullinger said. “That’s when I realized how fatigued I was.”

CSNNE – Sullinger battles through fatigue, skin infection

Who among us hasn’t said, “Wasn’t Sully supposed to be in better shape this year after working out all summer? He doesn’t look any different. If he’d only improve his conditioning…”

So let’s praise the effort put forth last night by Jared Sullinger. He spent Monday night in the hospital and missed two days of practice with an undefined skin infection and illness. He was advised by doctors to sit out Wednesday’s game, but he took the floor anyway, played 21 minutes, and had 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and that highlight film moment.

If Sully could play like that even in a weakened state, that’s evidence that he really is in better shape (when healthy) this season. It’s yet another positive factor for this gritty Celtics squad that continues to impress in so many ways.

On Page 3: The Sorcerer

Stevens, leaning on a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of potential sets and actions, has quickly distinguished himself as a maestro of the dry-erase board at the NBA level. At least once per game, he seems to draws up something that generates a key basket for his team, often in a crunch-time situation.

In Boston’s past 26 games, a span in which the team owns a 19-7 record while moving 12 games above .500 overall and surging toward the top of the Eastern Conference, the Celtics are averaging 0.962 points per play on after-timeout plays, according to Synergy Sports data. That’s a number that, if maintained, would rank the Celtics second in the league behind only Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs (0.979 ppp).

ESPN Boston – The scheme dreamer: How Brad Stevens draws up winning plays

When Red Auerbach coached in Boston, the Celtics famously had just seven plays that they would run over and over (at least when they weren’t fast-breaking, which was always). Brad has probably outdone Red in the category of after-timeout sets.

Over the past three seasons, the Celts have had so many memorable plays to win games or score in last-second and late-game situations. Not all of them were due to Brad’s sorcery, but many were and they’re easy to recall. Click the ESPN Boston link above to view videos of several recent notables, embedded in the article. Here are a few more:

And this one, which didn’t win a game but was probably my favorite, especially with Tommy’s commentary.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4J1VT2rJ7I]

And, finally: Jordan Mickey has a gift

Last night the rookie from LSU played just 1:51 in garbage time, but led the Celts with three blocks – all of which occurred during this remarkable sequence: