Well I’d say everybody’s morale needed that, no? Sure the win against the Rockets on Wednesday felt good, and it was obviously needed after a three game skid, but tonight’s manhandling of the Magic was different. The news of Al Horford’s groin injury came late and was a shock for many fan’s who expected an easy win at home against a sputtering Orlando squad. Thankfully, that still happened.
THE GAME FLOW
The game felt weird at first, almost as if we had hopped in a time machine and did decide to tank. Unfortunately, the Celtics start on defense resulted in a tighter score that definitely didn’t help this feeling. You know what did help? About halfway through the quarter when the Magic turned it over on two straight possessions (courtesy of some quick hands by Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder) and the Celtics apparently remembered how to play. They set the tone early for an eventful night and the team finished with their highest first quarter output of the year with 39 points.
The bench ended the first quarter, then quickly became the stars of the second. Come around the 8 minute mark, when you’d expect to see some of the starters back in, Jonas Jerebko was the sole substitution for a winded Tyler Zeller. Still, the home team managed to maintain this 45-29 lead and only build from there. The defense had once again become a priority during the quarter. The hot hand became contagious. It seemed as though every player on the Celtics were determined to battle their inner-demons tonight, and they were winning. Marcus Smart had 7 assists through one half and finished with a career high 11. Kelly Olynyk shot the lights out and had amassed 12 points on 5/5 shooting; but even more impressively, the 7 footer finally looked like he wasn’t afraid to grab rebounds, as he had 5 in the game through two quarters. Tyler Zeller hadn’t played in 11 games, but that didn’t stop him from dropping 10 in the bucket on a perfect 5/5 from the field. When it was all said and done for the half, Jaylen Brown was the games leading scorer with 13 points, and the Celtics players rode into the locker room atop a 68-48 cushion (another season high for the Celtics).
To be honest, not much changed between the second and third quarters. While the Celtics entered the game 2nd in the League for total team scoring during the second half with 56.2 points (thanks, Isaiah!); it’s fair to say they built upon that, as the whole team continued to roll offensively during the third. From Jaylen Brown drilling corner 3’s, to Marcus Smart hitting those impossible layups, everything was falling for the C’s. It came to the point where you’d feel bad if a player missed a shot, because it kind of stood out among all of the other makes. Isaiah Thomas kept his 20 point streak alive and finished with 21 in limited minutes, and the team flirted with an incredible 40 point lead over the Magic (the quarter ended with the Celtics just a point shy of achieving this, as they brought a 104-65 lead into the 4th).
If anything, you could say the Celtics finally took their foot off of the gas during the 4th quarter. As they had topped 30 points in nearly every quarter prior (just missed with 29 points in the 2nd), the team finished the game by scoring just 24 points in the 4th and final frame. On the plus side, Celtics fans finally had their James Young / Jordan Mickey sighting at the end of the game, but it was anticlimactic in total. Mickey hit a couple shots, while Young drained one 3 pointer, and it became official: every Celtics player on the roster scored tonight. The Celtics finished the game as strong as they had started and did not allow their lead to wither away. Final Score, 128-98.
There really isn’t much that pissed us off tonight. If you wanted to nitpick you could point out that the Celtics defense allow Vucevic to finish 7/10 from the field. But if we’re being real I’m just pissed that they didn’t top it off with a 40 point lead over Orlando in the 3rd quarter.
When you eviscerate an opponent like the Celtics did tonight, I believe Red lights up a cigar for the whole team. After a few shaky minutes in the first quarter the team really did NEVER look back. They finished shooting 56% from the field and a staggering 47% from 3-point land. Stevens will love that, along with their renewed focus on defense through out the game. Tyler Zeller and Kelly Olynyk looked like they had found their offense, Jaylen Brown set a new career high with 20 points, and Marcus Smart tied his career high in assists. The Celtics set a new high water mark for the year with the amount of points scored in the first 3 quarters and achieved a new team high in total assists with 39. When everybody on the roster score’s a point, that’s how you know you had an all-around great team win.
Don’t sleep on Isaiah Thomas’ assist total – he finished with 8 tonight. IT has vastly improved his passing ability this year, and this is only one of a couple alley-oops thrown by him tonight that proves as much.
Amir Johnson throws down the IT alley-oop! https://t.co/rMtHx6apsf
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 28, 2017
The Grid
Isaiah Thomas : 21pts, 8assists, 3rebs
Kelly Olynyk : 16pts, 5rebs on 7/7 shooting
Jae Crowder : 19pts, 6rebs, 4assists on 7/11 shooting
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