Five telling stats from the aftermath of Celtics-Lakers

A closer look at some advanced stats in the aftermath of the Celtics' hard-fought loss on Sunday to the Lakers. 

Jaylen Brown defended AD and LeBron James better than we thought: LeBron hit a tough fadeaway over the swingman in the final minute of the game but Brown admirably handled defensive duties on both superstars in the midst of his 36 minutes. Anthony Davis was just 3-of-7 against Brown (with just one of those makes coming from inside the arc) while LeBron James was 2-of-6 against Brown head-to-head. The Celtics certainly sent Brown some help in the post for a few of these matchups (particularly against AD) but the fact that the 23-year-old was able to hold up so well against these size mismatches bodes well for Brown with a healthy dose of big men coming this way during the East postseason.

Jayson Tatum was making everything, even with a hand in his face: Frank Vogel decided he wasn’t going to let Tatum beat him on Sunday by electing to throw double teams at him for nearly the entire second half and the tracking data shows how good of a decision that was. Tatum was 7-of-10 from the field on contested shots for the night, which was, incredibly, better than he was on uncontested field goal attempts (5-of-10) in the midst of his 41-point career night. That type of tough shotmaking is what separates him from potential other creators on the Celtics roster right now. Shot quality is tough to come by in the postseason but Tatum has the height and skill to get makeable looks for himself even against size and tough defenses.

Gordon Hayward didn’t make the Lakers pay for leaving him alone: Someone was going to get lots of open looks on the Celtics with so much attention paid to Tatum in this one and the lion’s share of those looks went to Hayward (12 uncontested attempts) and Brown (12 uncontested attempts). Brown knocked down a below-average (41.7 percent) number of those attempts but he hit a respectable five of those open looks including a huge corner 3 to give the C’s a lead with just under two minutes remaining. Hayward, however, shot a dismal 25 percent (3-of-12) on open looks, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range. That ugly output but the C’s field goal percentage on uncontested shots (41.8 percent) far lower than ones on contested attempts (53.6 percent) for the day. Given how many open looks they got (55), it’s easy to see why the Celtics felt they let this game slip away. Some reliable secondary shooting probably gives them the win to support Tatum’s outing.

Enes Kanter looks like a changed man since returning from hip injury: He’s played eight games since the two-week absence after diving for a loose ball and a scoreless outing on Sunday has capped a pretty brutal stretch for him in February. Even with the added benefit of the All-Star Break to get more rest, Kanter is posting just 5.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game. While the decrease in production can be somewhat explained by the lessened playing time, 42.1 percent shooting from the field is dismal for a center that only attempts shots around the basket. If Kanter can’t score in that area, he’s not very useful to this team due to his defensive limitations, which is largely the reason why he has had the plug pulled on him by Brad Stevens so quickly in recent matchups. If he doesn’t get right soon, he might find himself buried on the bench in March with Daniel Theis thriving, Grant Williams playing solid D and Robert Williams set to return.

Celtics rookies continue to bring the defense: Grant Williams and Romeo Langford didn’t do much in the box score yesterday but the C’s played their best defense of the day when both guys were on the floor. The Lakers managed to score just 89.7 points per 100 possessions in Williams’ 13 minutes while Langford had the second-lowest mark on the team in his 15 minutes (100 points per 100 possessions). This isn’t a credit to these two individually but is a telling sign that from a team defense perspective, they are giving the C’s what they need. The question going forward is whether both will show more signs of being able to punish opposing defenses with their scoring when attention is drawn away from them. That didn’t happen as much as it needed to against the Lakers but should be a focus for the coaching staff over the final two months since it will come up plenty as teams gameplan for the postseason.