Observations and analysis after the Celtics’ first scrimmage of the NBA restart, a 98-84 loss to the Thunder in a 40-minute game.
TWO UP
Enes Kanter: The big man was a shell of himself when we last saw him in March after dealing with a hip injury for weeks. It was a different story in Orlando during the C’s scrimmage opener. After a rough offensive start, he found some rhythm in the second half, working over an undersized Thunder bench on the boards. Kanter piled up 11 points and 10 rebounds in just 12 minutes, providing the kind of productivity in limited minutes the C’s got in the first half of the season. He didn’t match up against Steven Adams (the Thunder’s best center) much, but beating up bench units is where Kanter’s going to get his points.
Daniel Theis: With most of the starting lineup ice-cold around him, Theis was efficient in his limited minutes, scoring nine points and dishing out a team-high three assists in 15 minutes. He couldn’t handle Adams' strength down low on the glass at times, but he did showcase a nice take to the rim from the perimeter. If he can start making 3s regularly again, that will be a useful weapon for him to have in his arsenal as bigs close out on him.
TWO DOWN
Containing the pick-and-roll on defense: The Thunder are a bad matchup for any team out of the gate since they have one of the league’s best floor generals in Chris Paul. The Celtics weren’t able to keep Paul and Adams from getting to their spots on the floor (no easy task) and that led to lots of easy buckets early on around the rim. The Celtics will need to step up their ball pressure and resistance at the point of attack in order to prevent this moving forward, since they don’t have much size among the starters to cover up mistakes. This shouldn’t come as a surprise after four months of rest.
Jayson Tatum on offense: There was a lot of rust among the starters out of the gate (Hayward and Smart were also guilty) but Tatum had the slowest start of anyone. He went just 1-of-6 from the field with a couple turnovers mixed in as he struggled against a versatile mix of Thunder defenders at times including Lu Dort and Paul. It’s a scrimmage, so it really means nothing — but it was not a great mix of shot selection for the All-Star, as he scored just three points in 18 minutes.
INJURY REPORT
Kemba Walker did not play due to planned rest for his knee. Romeo Langford was a late scratch due to a stomach issue. The starters did not play the second half due to planned rest.
OTHER TAKEAWAYS
- Jaylen Brown had a nice start to the game with a pretty stepback against Paul. He looked smooth with 9 points on the offensive end in his 16 minutes but he was not sharp on the defensive end (four fouls). Going to need more resistance from him down low when C’s go small.
- The Celtics won’t see Steven Adams again at all this year, and that’s a lucky break for them based on this matchup. He piled up 17 points and 7 rebounds in just 15 minutes, beating the C’s countless times down low as smaller defenders rotated over to him. This type of performance is a reminder why the C’s will be looking to avoid elite rebounding bigs like Joel Embiid in the early rounds of the East playoffs.
- C’s were very rusty from 3-point range, generating lots of good looks but going just 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) in the 40-minute game.
- Classic Marcus Smart game from two years ago — with a strong defensive impact (three steals) combined with questionable high volume 3-point shooting (0-of-5).
- Rob Williams hit a couple of jump shots in the same game for the first time in his career. Wouldn’t expect that to be a regular development.
- Wanamaker, Kanter and Ojeleye were the only reserves playing in the first half. Brad Stevens didn’t necessarily indicate what the team’s rotation would be, but Ojeleye played solid defensively in his limited minutes.
- Tremont Waters continues to look like a better NBA guard than Carsen Edwards at the moment. Waters still gets a little too cute at time with his passes and shot selection, but he managed to fill up the box score (7 points, 5 assists, 3 steals). Meanwhile, Edwards struggled from the field (2-of-8) and on the defensive end.
- A lackluster performance by the Celtics bench as a whole in the second half, as they were soundly beaten by the Thunder reserves.
- Gordon Hayward hit a couple of shots at the end of the half to make his numbers look solid, but really had little impact in the first half on the offensive end. Was very passive on the whole.