BSJ Game Report: Celtics 126, Kings 120 -- Big second half, Kyrie's triple-double fuels comeback taken at TD Garden (Celtics)

(Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Celtics

BSJ Game Report: Celtics 126, Kings 120 -- Big second half, Kyrie's triple-double fuels comeback

By Brian Robb

Mar 14, 2019 • 11:36 pm

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Everything you need to know about the Celtics beating the Kings 126-120 with BSJ insight and analysis

Box Score

HEADLINES

Kyrie posts second career triple-double to key comeback win: Kyrie Irving tallied his first triple-double since 2014, posting 31 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists to help the Celtics fight back from a 17-point deficit in the first half and sweep the season series over the Kings with a 126-120 victory. Jaylen Brown added 22 points off the bench while Marcus Morris (21 points, 13 rebounds) chipped in with his first double-double since November, enabling the hosts to bounce back from a miserable defensive showing in parts of the first three quarters and pull out a much-needed victory.

Buddy Hield had a game-high 34 points for the visitors, who had their way on offense for most of the night behind some terrific transition attacking and unselfish play (32 assists). The Celtics landed some counter punches in the third quarter before a game-changing 16-2 run to close out the frame, giving the hosts the momentum in the fourth quarter, which they rode the rest of the way.

Celtics keep pace in East: The Celtics have now won four of their last five games overall and remain two games behind the Pacers for the No. 3 seed after the Pacers beat the Thunder on Thursday night. The Sixers remain 1.5 games ahead of Boston for the No. 4 spot with a big game looming against Philadelphia on the road on Wednesday night.

Kings appear headed for the lottery: Another loss for Sacramento puts them five games out of a playoff spot in the West with just 15 games left in the regular season. That deficit nearly ensures the Celtics will have at least one lottery pick to work with in June, although it’s doubtful that selection will come any higher than the 12-14 range.

TURNING POINT

Brad Stevens turned to his old traditional starting front line with Al Horford and Aron Baynes at the end of the third quarter and the double big look helped Boston get back into the game. Even with Baynes getting into foul trouble (Robert Williams replaced him midway through the room), the traditional look helped propel Boston to a 15-2 run to close out third quarter thanks to some solid defense and rebounding in the interior and hot shooting from Jaylen Brown. Boston led for the rest of the game after the run.  

TWO UP

Kyrie Irving: The All-Star helped the Celtics climb out of a 17-point hole in the first half with a game-high 19 points in the opening 24 minutes on 7-of-13 shooting on his way to his second career triple-double. Nearly all of his scoring came at the rim as he seemed to be able to get past De’Aaron Fox at will while also drawing contact (team-high nine free throws).

Jaylen Brown: The reserve guard sparked the Celtics with plenty of energy off the pine, attacking the basket with plenty of force during his 15 minutes to produce nine points before the break. He finished with 22 points with a hot 3-point shooting second half and was a team-best plus-20.

TWO DOWN

First quarter defense: After all the talk about slowing the Kings’ transition attack and tightening things up on defense after allowing 140 points on Monday night, the hosts came out as flat as they could be on Thursday night. Sacramento managed to shoot 70 percent from the field during the frame, posting 38 points to spot themselves a double-digit lead. Dating back to the Clippers game, the Celtics allowed opponents to shoot 63 percent from the field over a five-quarter stretch.

First half 3-point shooting: The Celtics took far fewer 3s than usual in the first half and that was a very good thing for this team’s offense as they missed 11 of their first 12 attempts from downtown before the break. The putrid output was their worst shooting half from 3-point range on the year and prevented them from keeping pace with the Kings despite shooting 47 percent as a team in the first half.

TOP PLAY




TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER


I want to see more of the double bigs look from the Celtics:
The Kings essentially forced the Celtics to go bigger in the third quarter by playing with height at nearly every position on the floor. Ultimately, this may be a blessing in disguise since the Celtics defense has been springing leaks lately around the basket with the small ball look. Al Horford has been soft on the glass (five rebounds) and against an elite point guard like De’Aaron Fox that can get to the rim nearly at will, the C’s need to have more of an interior presence. The Horford/Baynes and Horford/Williams lineups were collectively a plus-15 in just eight minutes of action together, providing resistance on the defensive end for one of the few times all night that Boston was able to consistently get stops. Horford looks like a much more dangerous weapon when he isn’t dealing with a height disadvantage all night long so this is a look that Stevens should remain committed to for a few minutes every night he can get away with it.


This was some needed counterpunching by this group:
For the better part of the first three quarters, this looked like the same old Celtics. They made some runs but gave it back just as quickly (as evidenced by allowing a 12-0 outburst in just 150 seconds midway through the third quarter). The hosts did not wilt in this one. Instead, they found some of the cohesiveness in the midst of a game-changing run at the end of the third quarter (16-2) and rode the momentum of that outburst to a relatively easy 126-120 win. It may not seem like much in the big picture but a loss tonight against a .500 team would have undone a lot of progress and good vibes this group took away from the west coast trip. There’s plenty left to clean up, particularly on defense, but the composure was there down the stretch as nearly everyone played well in the second half. Continued consistency on that front will be the key for the final 13 games of the regular season.


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