BSJ Game Report: Celtics 107, Pelicans 97 - Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown carry C's

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 on fire, and the game started much like the Kings game did. But late in the quarter, the Pelicans switched to a zone and Boston’s offense (mostly with the bench) immediately stalled, leading to a nearly five-minute stretch without a made field goal. The starters came in to push the lead to 20 just before the half. The Pelicans cut deep into the lead in the third, outscoring Boston 36-26 to cut the lead to 8. But Boston bounced back, doing just enough to keep the lead around 15 or so in the fourth.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Uninspired win: Drop this into the same box as the last win against the Pelicans. They did it a bit differently this time, coming out hot and then letting up a bit, but it still felt pretty comfortable for most of the game. 

Bench issues: There's no excuse for getting outscored by the Pelicans bench. They're already shorthanded, which means their bench should be even worse. Being outscored 38-17 is rough 

The Jays to the rescue: They combined for 69 of the 107 points, carrying the scoring load the night after they couldn't contribute much against the Hawks. 

TURNING POINT

With about 9:30 to go in the game, Jayson Tatum got the ball against a much smaller Jose Alvarado, but instead of just pulling up to shoot over him, Tatum backed him down and drew the defense. He swung it over to Josh Richardson, who swung it once more to Jaylen Brown for a corner 3-pointer to make it a 13 point game. 

FOUR UP

Jayson Tatum: 38 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers. A night after he coughed it up 5 times, it was good to see that kept in check. That back down of Alvarado is a big sign of his growth. Tatum even cut well for a couple of hoops. He was perfect on 2-pointers in this game.

Jaylen Brown: He dropped 31 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and just 1 turnover after he had 7 against Atlanta. Scroll down to see the vicious move that dropped a Pels defender and set up a sweet Robert Williams dunk. 

Robert Williams: Just 8 points (but he was ohhhh so close to 11 if that late shot clock 3 he took fell), but he was huge defensively, especially down the stretch. He finished with 16 rebounds and 4 blocked shots, 2 of which came in the fourth quarter. 

“But he impacts the game every night in certain ways,” Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, blocking the shots, but also altering. On-ball, off-ball defense, he's been great. Really helped us move up the rankings defensively. And then, just the threat of what he can do offensively opens up the court for other guys in the driving lanes. They don't want to leave him in the dunker. His improvement has been steady throughout the year. We're loving what he's doing, the progression we're seeing."

Marcus Smart: 5 points, just 6 shots, and 12 assists. The Celtics offense looked significantly better with him running it, as it has a lot recently.

Let’s welcome back old friend B-Robb for the numbers: 

Marcus Smart has played his best basketball of the season in his return to action this week. After tonight’s win, he’s a +93 during Boston's last four games.

— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 30, 2022

The Celtics used Smart as a bit of a zone buster, and it worked later in the game (more on that in a moment)

TWO DOWN 

Dennis Schroder: For a good portion of the game, Schroder was the only negative in the +/- column. That changed in that rough third quarter, which saw most of the bench join him, but that involved a lot of garbage time minutes. Schroder has struggled off the bench, and today was no help. He and Smart didn’t overlap at all in this game. 

Grant Williams: He had a tough defensive game. He only shot twice, both 3-pointers, making one of them. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

The Celtics have to figure out their zone issues. 

They hit a brick wall late in the first and through the first few minutes of the second quarter because the Pelicans went to a zone. It was a very simple 2-3 zone that teams on all levels break, often by getting the ball into the middle of it and cutting behind it. But the Celtics are letting everyone, even the lowly Pelicans, get the best of them for way too long with it.

“It stands out because we’re probably the most zoned team in the league,” Udoka said. “Feels like it takes us a second to reset, get used to it, find the middle, find the spots, and then we have high-level shooters in Jayson and Jaylen that we can play off of or find those guys in the middle, so it’s a little bit of a mix. But how much we were flowing offensively, it looked like we got a little stagnant when they went to zone initially.”

The Celtics were able to get past the issues with Marcus Smart flashing to the free throw line and slinging it from there, which is how it’s supposed to be done with this team. Some teams can just crush zones by shooting over the top of it, but the Celtics aren’t a reliable team from deep -- which is why teams go to zone against them. Their only choice from there is to collapse the defense, run cutters along the baseline, and make a few passes to create some open lanes to the rim. 

“Starting in the third and fourth quarter we put him in the middle and put JT and JB on the wing,” Udoka said. “Marcus can find Rob in the dunker or the shooters on the perimeter. We do like several guys in there - JT or JB who can score in there, but Marcus distributes well when he plays inside.”

This is imperative for the Celtics because teams will just keep daring them to shoot and the Celtics will gladly take the bait way too often. They have to be better about recognizing the zone, attacking it the right way early, and making teams pay for relying on gimmicks to stop the Celtics. 

“Gotta understand what a zone is," Smart said. "And once you do that, especially once you get in the middle force, really the zone to have to make decisions ... Once you get in the middle. Got Rob down here in the dunker, so that helps a lot because most teams don't help off him, which means if they're not helping off Rob and there's somebody in front of you, that one of the corners are open, and you just got to find it and find the right place to get the ball.”

Let’s be real here, the Pelicans didn’t take advantage of this like other teams could. Any other team would have flipped the lead on Boston in that second quarter the way they were handling the zone defense. This is becoming one of the biggest strategic issues for the Celtics right now.