BSJ Game Report: Boston Celtics 104, New Orleans Pelicans 92 - Jayson Tatum, Dennis Schroder help Celtics pull away with huge 4th quarter

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics win over the New Orleans Pelicans, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out flat, falling behind by as many as 18, but a late second quarter run cut it to 7 at the half. After some back-and-forth, the Celtics took their first lead late in the 3rd and then blew the doors off New Orleans with a monster 4th quarter.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Another closing kick? The Celtics closed the final few minutes against Chicago and then turned around and played a pretty good fourth quarter against New Orleans.

“We've been doing that all year, just the poor start overall,” Ime Udoka said after the game. “We're all looking for that perfect game, complete game, and the energy really was the thing that was a little bit lacking at the start. But other guys carried the load, we still guarded well, and then our offense picked up and kind of opened up the floodgates.”

Running away with it: They forced turnovers and got out in transition, and they did it successfully! The Celtics actually managed to turn opponent turnovers into points! 

“It was an early game and we didn’t come out the way we wanted to in pregame,” Dennis Schroder said. “At halftime it was just everybody holding everybody more accountable and saying we have to play with more energy. I think that’s what we did in the second half. Got stops, ran out and got easy buckets in the offensive end. Shared the ball, it was great.”

Moving the ball: They had 13 assists in the second half, four more than the first half. Udoka joked that the early start time made it tough and that the team didn’t wake up until later in the game. More on that in a bit. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run behind 7 points from Tatum to break open a close game. 

FOUR UP

Jayson Tatum: 27 points on 50% shooting but he didn’t make a single 3-pointer. He scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter, including that turning point stretch. 

Dennis Schroder: He played the whole second half and scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 23 points on 9-16 shooting, 3-5 3pt, 9 assists, 2 steals, and just 2 turnovers.

Aaron Nesmith: He was not great early on, and he even fired a jumper off the side of the backboard. When that happened, I was already formulating what I’d write in the “down” section for him, but to my surprise, Udoka went back to him later in the game. It paid off.

“We were searching for something with the guys we brought in, and in the second half he really got it going with that unit,” Udoka said. “He was guarding well, he was rebounding well, whether shots fall or not, the energy and intensity that he brought changed the game with that group, so we rode them longer. He’s a guy who hasn’t played as much so he can play a little heavier stint there, and I thought those guys finished it out great.”

Jaylen Brown: 23 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and just a consistent presence on offense while the Celtics waited for Tatum to explode in the fourth. 

ONE DOWN

Payton Pritchard: Another rough stint for Pritchard. He missed both shots he took and only managed 10 minutes. The Celtics went with other options to handle the ball later in the game, including Josh Richardson. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

I hesitate to bring this up, but … there is still time to make a move in the standings.

I can hear your groaning from here. I get it. This is what the Celtics do to us all the time. But they’ve won five of six games and seven of their last 10. They're back above .500 in a very tightly packed East. They're 3.5 games out of 6th and 1.5 games behind 7th seeded Charlotte … which happens to be Boston’s next opponent.

If form holds, the Celtics will lose to Charlotte by 30 because that's who this team has been. If they can actually come out and play good basketball Wednesday night, then maybe, possibly, in some form or fashion, make some kind of move. 

I’m not saying I expect it. I’m just saying that after all this, it’s still there for them. They came back to win a game late in the fourth quarter against Chicago, then they turned an early deficit into a blowout thanks to a huge fourth quarter against the Pelicans. There are actual signs of progress. 

“We’ve been playing pretty good as of late,” Tatum said. “Been hoping soon that we can get everybody back and just continue to build off this. There’s 37 games left. That’s enough time to make up some ground.”

It’s possible Marcus Smart can get out of Health and Safety Protocols fairly soon. Robert Williams missed today for the birth of a child, so he should be back for Wednesday. Maybe things can finally break right for them.