BSJ Game Report: Celtics 111, Wizards 110 - Tatum's heroics give C's necessary difficult win

Everything you need to know about the Celtics’ 111-110-112 win over the Washington Wizards with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

Fourth-quarter execution: The Boston Celtics haven’t exactly been known for great fourth quarters, and this one wasn’t exactly a masterpiece either, but the Celtics executed late in the game to snatch an unlikely win. 

“I think maybe we got a little bit back from the unlucky stuff in Dallas this week,” Brad Stevens said after the game. 

Jayson Tatum attacking and finishing two strong layups were the key to the win. The Celtics ran a play where Tatum had the option to pull from 3 or attack, and he smartly attacked when the Wizards overloaded at the arc. 

Kemba Walker looks more like himself: A lot of people wrote him off, but Walker carried the Celtics for long stretches and the fourth quarter started to turn back in Boston’s favor when he checked back in. 

Westbrook kept in check: Russell Westbrook scored 24 points but it took him 22 shots to do it and the Celtics did a good job keeping him off the rim. He has been attacking a lot lately, but the Celtics (and maybe the back-to-back) forced him to settle for 3’s instead of drive and kick. Mr. Triple Double only had four assists 

TURNING POINT

In a stretch that's about as "make/miss league" as it gets, Semi Ojeleye hit a 3-pointer with 2:00 to go after going 0-3 to that point, followed by Davis Bertans missing an open look 15 seconds later after shooting 5-8 to that point. Instead of it being a 1 point game with 1:34 left, it could have been a 7 point game had those two results been reversed.

TOP PLAY

[embed]https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1366193744165306368[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1366200097701322752[/embed]

THREE UP 

Kemba Walker: 21 points on 7-17 shooting, 3-7 from 3, to go along with a game-high 8 assists and 5 rebounds. His passing was huge, and he assisted on four straight Daniel Theis buckets in the fourth. The Celtics just looked better when he was on the floor, something that hasn’t always been true this season.  

Jayson Tatum: The two finishes at the end of the game were elite. He went 5-6 in the fourth, scoring 11 points all with less than six minutes to go. Toss in a couple of steals and this is what a superstar is made of. Not only were those finishes strong, the decision to attack was strong as well. Tatum has a fondness for fadeaways and side-step jumpers, but instead of relying on that habit, he put it on the floor and was rewarded for it.

“I thought the other night Kemba really willed us,” Stevens said after the game “I thought tonight that Jayson’s will shone through.”

Added bonus for Tatum: his wild layup with 15 seconds left ended with him sliding across the floor. When Bradley Beal got the ball on the inbounds after that and slipped to turn the ball over, it was that wet spot that caused the turnover. So in a way, Tatum should get a third steal that quarter.

Daniel Theis: It might get lost in the wildness of Tatum’s heroics, but Theis’ six straight points after the Celtics got down 87-81 were a huge reason why Tatum even got the chance to make his plays. At that point, the Celtics were looking about as bad as ever, but instead of folding, the Celtics tied the game back up. Theis finished with 20 points on 8-11 shooting. 

TWO DOWN

Tristan Thompson: He did grab 13 rebounds in 19 minutes, which is impressive, but he also shot 1-9 so some of those were off his own misses. Just a rough night. Sometimes he gets a little too caught up in going for his own offense.

Fouls: The first half was a foul-fest. The Celtic did a good job after the first half, when they gave up 20 free throws, but for 24 minutes, they were as foul-happy as ever. 

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Before the game, Stevens said “we need to accomplish some difficult things, we need to do some difficult things, and maybe that'll be the first sign, or a good sign, and we can move forward and be a little bit better record wise than we’ve been."

On cue, the Celtics delivered.

“This was going to be a really hard game, especially the way they're playing. And them being pretty full,” Stevens said after the win. “I'm really happy with our guys because there was plenty of opportunities to fold there and they just stayed with it.”

A few days ago I said the Celtics were in a rip current. Now it appears they’ve figured their way out of it. They are back to .500 and they’re a half-game out of the fourth seed. They’re still a long way from shore, but now they can start swimming back. 

Wins like this can do as much good as losses like the one in New Orleans can be harmful. Tatum and Walker both let out big skyward yells with clenched fists in a sort of cleansing appreciation that the basketball gods finally threw them a bone. It’s easier to sleep on a night like this, which means tomorrow’s film session will be a little bit happier. 

They weren’t great, but they won anyway, and that’s an important thing good teams do. Now they can believe that they’re a good team and act like one more often.