Everything you need to know about the Celtics' 103-102 win over the Kings with BSJ Insight and analysis
Box Score
HEADLINES
C’s sweat out another thrilling win in a battle of shorthanded squads: The Celtics overcame the absence of three starters on Monday night as well as a career-high 41 points from Buddy Hield to hold on for a 103-102 win at the TD Garden. Enes Kanter (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Semi Ojeleye filled in for an injured Daniel Theis (illness) and Kemba Walker (neck) in the starting five but it was the scoring of Jaylen Brown (24 points) and Jayson Tatum (20 points) that helped carry the shorthanded C’s to the finish line for much of the second half. Marcus Smart (17 points, 7 assists) finished the job, delivering two crucial baskets in the closing two minutes and a huge steal on Bogdan Bogdanovic to help preserve the win in the final minute of the victory
Marcus Smart gets the go-ahead bucket in tonight's @JetBlue Play of the Game ☘️ pic.twitter.com/twkojctn3X
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 26, 2019
The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the hosts in their first game back from a five-game west coast swing. The C’s return to the Garden on Wednesday night with a matchup against the Kyrie-less Nets.
C’s don’t have an answer for Buddy Hield: One week after allowing the sharpshooting guard to erupt for 34 points in Sacramento, the C’s let him torch them for a new career-high with 41 points, including 11 3-point field goal makes. Hield got hot all night but the hosts also made a number of major defensive gaffes against the shooting guard that allowed him to get plenty of open looks from deep (21 of his 26 shot attempts were 3s). Luckily for Boston, the final shot of the night went to Bogdan Bogdanovic (5-of-20 FG) as Rob Williams defended the 3-point attempt well off a switch, which allowed Boston to hold on for the win.
Tremont Waters gets his chance: The rookie guard hadn’t played a minute of Celtics basketball all season, but Brad Stevens turned to him to jumpstart a flat C’s lineup in the second quarter. Waters delivered by posting 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds 2 blocks and a steal in his 20 minutes, leading everyone on the roster with a plus-20 while providing energy on both ends of the floor. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means (2-of-7 FG, two turnovers) but his ball-handling and ability to run the offense was exactly what the C’s needed on a night that Kemba Walker was out and Brad Wanamaker struggled mightily (0-of-8 FG).
TURNING POINT
Stevens inserted two-way guard Tremont Waters into the game midway through the fourth quarter looking for a spark and the C’s responded to the rookie. The hosts fought back from an 11-point deficit to close the half with a 25-7 run as Stevens rode Waters with the starters for the final six minutes of the frame.
TWO UP
Jaylen Brown: The swingman got to the paint with ease against a soft Kings defense, scoring nine points in a 2:30 span at one point of the third quarter, giving him 20 points over the final first three frames alone. He finished with a team-high 24 points in 34 minutes.
Enes Kanter: The big man made the most of his second start since opening night, producing some easy buckets for the C’s down low and eating up second-chance opportunities in the paint. He came within one rebound of his first double-double of the year with 13 points and 9 rebounds.
TWO DOWN
Brad Wanamaker: The hot shooting for the C’s sixth man came to a halt upon returning to Boston as he missed all eight of his shots of the night while turning the ball over twice.
3-point shooting: The Celtics missed 23 of 30 attempts from the field, knocking down just 23.3 percent from 3-point range, a season-low shooting percentage at home this year.
TOP PLAY
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/7vkt6h2Fp0
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 26, 2019
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
The Celtics could use a rookie or two to make a 3: The Celtics’ rookie class has shown plenty of promise already but a lack of perimeter shooting within that group has to be a concern through the first month of the season. No one within that group is shooting over 30 percent from the field from deep and collectively they have misfired on nearly 80 percent of their attempts from downtown so far this year. It’s early but with more than half the bench made up of guys who don’t shoot 3s at all or can’t be counted on to hit them, this is an area that will need to be addressed in the coming months if we don’t see some regression to the mean.
Tremont Waters might be worth keeping around more once he reels in his mistakes: The point guard ended up playing 20 of the final 34 minutes of the game after being called upon in the second quarter to make his NBA debut. The intangibles that attracted the C’s to the undersized guard in the second round were apparent as Waters helped to jumpstart a flat C’s effort with his defensive intensity and control of the offense. He made more than his fair share of mistakes in his debut with ill-advised passes and ambitious 3-point attempts but the defensive instincts that made him a defensive player in the SEC last season were on display. He is a wildcard option that the C’s were lacking as a speedy defensive end of the bench guard for much of last season. The C’s only get 45 days of him with the big club on a two-way deal but look for the team to use those strategically all year long to maximize his presence. They won’t convert him to the big club barring injury but if he continues to play this well when he gets chances, he will set himself up for a long-term deal next year on the main roster.