The Boston Celtics have a real chance at having two All-NBA players this season. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are stars and somehow still showing signs of improvement in this 2020-21 season.
And yet, Vegas had the Celtics as six-point underdogs heading into Monday night’s game against the 1-4 Toronto Raptors in Tampa. Why?
Was it because of the absence of Marcus Smart and Jeff Teague? Those two combine for 20 points that were missing out of the lineup against the Raptors. No matter. The Celtics had zero issue with Toronto despite being short handed and on the second night of a back-to-back, beating the (sort of) hosts, 126-114.
Tatum made up for the missing scoring by himself with a game high 40 points, 16 over his average for this season and only one point behind his career high of 41 (vs. New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 11, 2020).
The Celtics used a 25-6 run to close out the first half and effectively the game as the Raptors never got within single digits again. Tatum did most of his damage in that scoring run with 21 of the team’s 25 points.
“Tatum was tremendous tonight. But we had a lot of really good performances,” Brad Stevens said. “I thought for the most part, the guys all did a good job all the way down the line.”
It looked so easy for Tatum to get those 40 points and to do it on 19 shots is incredible. He was raining threes over Raptors defenders. He was picking on mismatches after screen and rolls with guys like Aron Baynes. He was getting to the paint and going through contact rather than avoiding it with some sort of soft, finesse finish that often frustrates Celtics fans. And when Tatum got to the line, he made Toronto pay by going 13-for-13.
This is what an All-NBA first team player looks like -- completely unstoppable.
“Disappointing? No,” Tatum responded when asked about coming up short of his career high in points. “I’m going to get there soon enough.”
Unstoppable also describes Payton Pritchard’s night. He continues to impress and took on an expanded role with Boston being down two of its point guards.
“We’re going to ask him to do a lot right now. Fair or unfair to him, he’s gonna have to be consistent for us to have a chance to be a good team.” Brad Stevens said postgame.
Pritchard scored 23 points, a season high for NBA rookies, on just 8-of-13 shooting. Maybe more impressive was his eight assists, often finding guys like Tatum, Semi Ojeleye and Grant Williams for open shots.
Stevens and his two stars really seem to trust Pritchard, a guy who played the second most minutes of any Celtic with 32 on the night.
“He stepped up,” Tatum said of his rookie point guard after his career night. “We didn’t have Teague and Smart. It just gave guys more of an opportunity. And he played really well tonight. We’re going to need that going forward.
Maybe Danny Ainge found the Celtics an All-Rookie player in addition to potentially two All-NBA players.
The Celtics travel south from Tampa to Miami to visit the Heat Wednesday night.
LEFTOVER FROM THE NOTEBOOK
● Robert Williams had maybe the quietest (and quickest) 15-rebound game you’ll ever see. The last Celtic to have at least 15 rebounds in less than 20 minutes was Wayne Embry back on February 5th, 1967. (I’m sure Glenn Ordway remembers that game vividly.)
● Grant Williams responded to Sunday’s DNP-Coach’s Decision by having 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks in just 24 minutes. He led the Celtics in plus-minus at plus-28.
● Semi Ojeleye, who I admittedly have been down on coming into the season, has strung together back to back good shooting nights -- six for his last 11 from deep.
● Ojeleye started the second half over Daniel Theis. Hopefully this marks the end of the double big man experiment, which clearly is not working.
● “We want Tacko!” chants rained down from the 3,800 (COVID) capacity crowd at Amalie Arena. They did not get Tacko. He and Carsen Edwards were the only Celtics not to check in.
● Tremont Waters got the start for Smart. He didn’t really make much of an impact and left a negative impression if anything. Some questionable shots and just a forgettable 24 minutes considering what Pritchard did.
● Aaron Nesmith is just not good enough defensively to get rotation minutes right now. Nesmith had 4 fouls in just 10 minutes and didn’t hit any of his three shot attempts.