For The 18 Straight Time In Boston, The Celtics Once Again Showed The Wolves There Are Levels To Title Contention

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

Throughout an 82 game season you're going to have a series of "measuring stick" games. Given the fact that there's really only one other team in the East currently playing with a pulse at the moment, the majority are going to come when the Champs face off against the Western Conference. You can't go a day without someone sucking the dick of the West talking about how big and bad it is, that the real contenders play there etc. It's no different from what we heard all playoffs long, and we all know how that worked out.

One of those teams is the Wolves. A supposed contender for a title in the West, the supposed Face Of The NBA, they're one of those teams on an upward trajectory but have been crowned a little bit before they've actually done anything. You get drunk on hype and highlights and forget that at the end of the day, it's about what you can produce on the floor that truly matters.

I like this matchup because the Wolves are one of the teams that were constructed with pieces that historically have presented some challenges. To hang around with the Champs, you need to be able to guard the perimeter and guard the wing. To do that, you need length and size, two things that the Wolves do have. Then once you get into the paint, Rudy Gobert is there to deter anything at the rim. From a roster standpoint, you're going to learn a whole lot more about the Celts going up against a defense and length like MIN than say…..the Raptors (no offense) so I was interested to see how things looked. Both of their games last year were classics, and while KAT isn't there anymore there was no reason to think this wouldn't be another solid test.

The result? As you may have expected, the Celts passed with flying colors.

Now 14-3 on the season, this version of the Celts is off to a better start to the year through 17 games than last year's and while it's not quite the same 30 and 40 point wins every time out, just because things are different doesn't mean they're bad. They are just different. We still haven't seen the Celts play to their ceiling yet, so to be 14-3 in the meantime is pretty damn impressive. I'll remind you, the Celts are currently tied with the longest active winning streak in the NBA at the moment (5), and if they win tonight against LAC they'll be the sole owners of the longest streak. Times are good.

Can they be better? Absolutely. No team is perfect and the Celts certainly weren't perfect yesterday. But the goal is to win, and few teams (if any) do it better.

The Good

- As I said after the Wizards win, I'll never understand the Jaylen Brown vs Jayson Tatum bullshit that goes on within the Celtics fanbase. Even today, STILL, my mentions are flooded each game with the stans of both players going at the other. A bad play happens? It's all Jaylen's fault. Tatum misses a jumper? He's selfish and jealous that Jaylen is off to a great start and it's ruining everything.

It's honestly some of the most embarrassing shit the Celts fanbase does. I'll never get it, and this win was a great example of why. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, the best part of having Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on your team is that you have BOTH Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on your team.

It's only right we begin with the player who set the tone right from the opening tip. There's no denying that up until this point of the season, Jaylen's outside shooting has been a complete disaster. While nobody is calling him Steph Curry, he was flirting around with the high 20s from deep which at his volume, is gross. He was due for a breakout outside shooting game simply because he's too good, and in this win the floodgates finally opened.

Opening the game by going 5-5 from deep and scoring the team's first 15 points, this wasn't the first time we've seen a barrage like that from Jaylen, but it was definitely a welcomed sight. In his previous 9 games, Jaylen was shooting just 21.9% from deep on nearly 7 3PA. He literally could not have been worse. But this is why you trust your work and you trust your talent. Water will eventually find its level and that's why it's so important to never let your confidence waver. 

In these types of matchups, your best players have to show why they are your best players. They set the tone on both ends of the floor, and nobody takes more pride in that than Jaylen

You're getting an efficient 29 on one end (10-17, 7-10), and then defense like that against "The Face Of The NBA" on the other. See why it's so weird to freak out or rage because Jaylen may miss a shot or have a turnover on a single possession? Let's not pretend like this type of high level two way impact is normal. 

It was poetic that Jaylen was the one who got off to such an insane start and then he was the one who closed the game with massive buckets (and DWhite). A big 9 points on 4-7 (1-2) while playing all 12 minutes of the 4th quarter, while his dagger three from about 32 ft was the loudest make, let's not overlook his late 4th quarter turnaround in the post. Credit Joe for finding ways to get one of his best players great looks down the stretch, and credit Jaylen for coming through.

- The same is true for the other Jay in Tatum. After completely mailing in his effort against the Wizards (not good, but understandable I guess), he was back to his engaged self in this matchup and the results spoke for themselves

The Tatum vs Ant debate always makes me laugh, because it's not a debate. Ant is an awesome young player with a great future once he finally starts to put things together. But there are levels to this shit. Because he's loud and talks a bunch of shit and is a quote machine, there's this false equivalency that the two players are currently on the same level.

That is false. It has always been false and will continue to be false despite how badly the media and opposing fanbases don't want that to be the case.

The best way to sum it up was Tatum after the game. This was his version of talking shit, and all he needs to do is speak the truth to do it

In terms of Tatum's performance in this win, for the most part it was everything you want to see from him in a game like this. He was engaged right from the start, his defensive effort was about a billion times higher than what we saw against WSH, he took care of the ball (1 TO) which is always going to be important against the MIN defense, and when it came time to make some big time shots, Tatum like he so often does, also delivered.

When the Jays are going to combine for over 50+ and then also only have a combined 2 TOs with 12 3PM, I don't care who is on the other side, that team is in trouble. 

- Just like with Jaylen, I cannot stress enough how important it is what we're seeing both Jay do late in close games. For the second straight game with around 4 minutes left, look at where Joe is having his best players operate. This often times comes after a timeout, and it's at the point where this is not an accident. This is intentional and it's beautiful to see

Whenever you hear someone cry 

"All the Celtics do is shoot 3s wahhhh!! It's so boring wahhhhhhhh!" 

All that is really is that person explaining to you that they do not watch, or at the very least they do not understand what they are watching. Yes, the Celtics take a lot of 3s, most of which are generated through beautiful ball movement. They attack that weakness of the defense. At the same time, if there is a weakness to be attacked in other ways, they do that shit too. They are killer whales after all. 

In those clips, it was pretty obvious that both Jays had an extreme size and strength advantage over NAW, so what did they do? They went right at him on the block into shots that are extremely high quality looks in a high leverage situation. They didn't settle, they didn't play soft, they exploited the weakness. 

You could make the case that those back to back buckets at that moment in the 4th were the two biggest makes of the night. You don't convert there and MIN gets out on the break, who knows what happens? 

This is what makes the Celts so impossible to defend. Because not only are they capable of plays like what you see above, but you're ALSO going to get the dagger 3 in your eyeball the second you try to double them. If you don't pick them up and play for the drive, either Jay can pullup and drill a 3 in your eyeball. It's a lose/lose unfortunately. 

- Whether you'd like to go by the data or you prefer to use your eye test, they both tell you the same thing. Derrick White might be the best big shot taker and maker on the planet. It's all he does. I'm sure he wakes up, hangs out with his family, and then hits massive shots to win NBA basketball games. What a life

Once a game moves into the 4th quarter, something comes over Derrick. We saw it in flashes in his first year, but ever since he went bald we've taken things to a new level. The game moves to the final frame and White becomes the most dominant two way player in the league. I know that sounds dramatic, but watch those clips and then read that chart and tell me how I'm wrong? 

Just your casual 19/9/5/1/2 on 7-12 (4-9) in 37 minutes, no big deal. Did I expect White to lead the team in rebounds? Nope. Sure didn't. But then again, there's nothing he can't do so maybe we should have? 

As a point guard, White led the team in rebounds, assists, blocks, and +/-. Think about that for a second.

- It's weird, holding the Wolves to 105 points on 42/36% is certainly nothing to sneeze at defensively, but this was another game where I'd say only 24 of the 48 minutes consisted of elite defense. I suppose I'll take it because anything that's progress is welcomed, and it's good to see the Celts are able to tighten the screws when they have to on that end of the floor.

After a handful of games giving up 115+, it's a relief to see them back back to holding teams to low 100s/under 100. The reason they were able to build their 19 point lead in the first place isn't because of some sort of ridiculous shot making, but the fact that they finally dug in and got stops. As fun as the 3PM are, the success of this team will ALWAYS come back to how they defend.

When they show up on that end, everything else falls into place.

- It wasn't for long stretches, but I thought Tillman was mostly solid in his 14 minutes. The offense is always going to be gross, but to me, that's not why he's on the floor. He's there to defend, rebound, and provide toughness. With Kornet out I was interested to see how Joe went with the reserve big minutes, and it seems like he's had enough of Queta (DNP-CD) for the time being which means Tillman is going to have to prove to be playable in his minutes.

There are still times when he looks a step slow, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that there's no way he's in game shape considering he's never really played. As he gets more reps, I imagine that aspect of his defense will improve.

- This, is insane

The Bad

- Only the Celts would get this prayer start from Jaylen Brown only for the entire roster to miss every shot they took during that stretch. I believe the non-Jaylen Celts started something like 0-8 or 0-9 from the floor, which was pretty infuriating. Great looks, just couldn't make a shot to save their lives.

Naturally that led to the Celts wasting that early 9 point lead, and it was a bit of a preview of what was to come.

There was around a 4-5 minute stretch in the first half where the Celts didn't score a single point, and we got the same shit in the 4th as well. I know there's no KP, but there is too much talent on this roster to have multiple scoring droughts that last nearly half a quarter. The crazy part is it wasn't all just missing 3s, I'd say the Celts missed 6-7 layouts as well, and while some of that is the Gobert factor, it was also plays like this

Maybe it's just me, but whenever the Celts find themselves in these brutal droughts, they're all due to mostly smoking wide open bunnies. Then they start to press offensively and things can often spiral out of control. For all the clamoring for the Celts to take more 2pt FGA, are we sure they are even good at them? 

- It didn't cost them in this game, but it's not a great sign when a rookie bench player for MIN has the best night of his career and severely outplays the Celts two bench offensive players. 

Pritchard/Hauser combined to finish just 5-14 (2-10) for 13 points, and the brutal part was nearly all their looks were wide open. WIth Pritchard at least he's shown this is mostly just a fluke, but with Hauser, the struggles continue. It is a bit of a prayer that the Celts are surviving like they are with one of their rotation players and important floor spacers shooting in the low 30s from deep as a lifetime 40% three point shooter. 

Meanwhile on the other side Rob Dillingham had 14 points by himself on 6-10 (2-4) in his 15 minutes, and it was his play that changed the game in the 4th quarter. 

Playing at home and losing the bench scoring battle 23-16 is playing with fire, considering this is where your role players are supposed to thrive.

- Just like we've seen against MIL, CLE, and now MIN, I don't love this trend of being up 19-20 points and then finding yourself in a dogfight late in the 4th quarter. This isn't to say opposing teams will never go on runs, this is the NBA after all, but this is a trend that needs to be figured out.

I dunno if it's the team takes their foot off the gas or what, but building 20 point leads means nothing if you can't even hang onto them. Think of the point differential for me one time would you? Sooner or later the Celts are going to find themselves on the other end of one of these games, and they'll have no one to blame but themselves.

- Rough night for Jrue (3-10, 1-6) but he's been so solid lately I don't really give a shit. Everyone has an off night. I did like how he never forced things as a way to try and get himself going, and while things did look a little dicey in the 4th after his back to back missed wide open 3PA, he gives you enough defensively to make up for a poor shooting night.

- Another game another case of allowing the opponent to feast on the offensive glass. The Wolves finished with 11 OREB for 16 2nd chance points, and Rudy Gobert had 8 OREBs himself.

It's not fair to 38 year old Al Horford to demand he is the only one to handle the glass. He's done enough for this team. But especially in the 4th quarter, this offensive rebounding issue is becoming a problem. Whether it's effort, positioning, bad luck, or a combination of all 3, the Celts remain one of the worst late game DREB teams I can remember. 

The Ugly

- You know the rules! For the first time this year, we are activating the 5 wins in a row rule. This team wins 5 in a row, they get this section off. Congratulations.

After passing this test, there's another great one tonight with the Clippers coming to town after they demolished the Sixers last night. They're a team that can really defend, and it'd be nice if the Celts head into their nice break this week with another win. They'll have to play better than they did against MIN, but something tells me that won't be a problem.