Final: Celtics 119, Grizzlies 95 - Tatum's injury overshadows blowout win

The Celtics have played a lot of impressive basketball this season but no two quarters have been as dominant as the middle two frames against Memphis. The hosts outscored Memphis 74-36 to erase an early deficit and turn the majority of the second half with garbage time. Tatum led the way with a game-high 23 points and 7 rebounds before exiting with a groin strain (more on that later). Five players finished in double figures in total as a balanced scoring effort and hot shooting from 3-point range (43 percent) gave the C’s their second straight win at home. While the offense was impressive, the defense against Ja Morant (2 points) and Jaren Jackson (13 points on 5-of-15 FG) shooting, which helped the C’s sustain the type of effort they showed on Monday night against the Lakers.

One of the best performances of Tatum’s season came to a premature halt in the third quarter when Tatum pulled up lame on a drive. He headed straight to the locker room while walking gingerly before being diagnosed with a right groin strain. The good news? Tatum returned to the bench with a wrapped right thigh after the injury, something that probably wouldn’t have happened with a serious strain. Still, it’s safe to assume Tatum will be missing some length of time with the injury given how much of a limp he was walking with. Jaylen Brown also missed this game with a sprained ankle but he is expected to be back sometime this weekend. Tatum’s absence could go far longer than that.

• Boston's stretch of a healthy core will be on hold for one game as Jaylen Brown rests a sprained ankle suffered during Monday's win over the Lakers. Brad Stevens on others getting an opportunity after playing an eight-man rotation: "It’s all part of it – a lot of people are going through it. You deal with it as well as you can," Stevens said. "It’s a great opportunity. The last game we basically played eight guys in the rotation, but I trust everybody else that didn’t get in. Great opportunity for those guys. But we have to play well as a team, regardless of who’s available and who’s not. There’s certain things we have to do to be good. Obviously it helps when you make half your threes and shoot 56 percent from the floor. But there’s other things we can control every day that we can do a little bit better."


• Stevens on the Grizzlies who have won six of seven overall to move into the No. 8 seed in the West: “Super talented. Ja Morant is special, Jarren Jackson is special, lot of good players. Everywhere Jae Crowder goes, they win, which is great credit to him. No matter what the situation, no matter what people thought they would do in the preseason, his teams always win, and they just have a lot of good players, young and old. Dillon Brooks, seven straight 20-point games. Impressive.”


• Rob Williams is expected to remain out until the All-Star break but he took part in some running for the first time today in 2020 as he attempts to ramp up his rehab: "I guess there I something new in that he ran yesterday," Stevens said. "Will take today and go lighter and then will run. I don’t know if it’s the AlterG stuff or he takes it off or not, I haven’t even asked. He is going to have another meeting and scan on February 4^th and at that point in time, we’ll know exactly, or have a better idea of return to play. But it won't be before All-Star break."


• Marcus Smart on the chalenging of guarding Ja Morant who is the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year: "We’ve all seen what he can do and what he’s been doing. He’s a really good player. He’s really coming into this league and owning what he wants. He makes it hard on opposing guards and it’s going to take a full-team effort like it does every night for us."