BSJ Game Report: Celtics 117, Piston 108 - Tatum shines, with help from Grant Williams and Marcus Smart

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Pistons, with BSJ insight and analysis:

IN A NUTSHELL

This was a mostly blah game in the first half with the Celtics playing like a team on the third game in four nights. They struggled with their shooting, they allowed a bunch of offensive rebounds again, and they saw Detroit go on a 3-point shooting binge. But then Jayson Tatum remembered he was the best player on the floor, and he went berserk in the second half for 28 points to finish with 43 in a 117-108 win. They join the Milwaukee Bucks and the -- UTAH JAZZ??-- as the only teams to reach 10 wins so far. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Holy Tatum…: There are a great many words that will be hammered out in the upcoming hours on this performance, and not a single combination of them will adequately capture what Tatum was able to accomplish with his 43 point, 10-rebound, 3 assist game. He had 15/5/2 at the half and then went ballistic in the second half. 

… Batman: 45 minutes of play for Grant Williams and he rewarded Joe Mazzulla with a 19-point, 10 rebounds, 4 assist game where he shot 58.3% overall and 50% from deep. 

Finding a way to win: Throw the usual criticism out the window in this one. It’s tough to get into a city at 3 a.m., on a back-to-back, without Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, and Al Horford, and perform perfectly. This is part of the grind, and the Celtics were able to grind out a win. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics were down 74-70 with 6:00 to go in the third, but they went on a 19-7 run to close the quarter, 8 of which came from Tatum. It was part of a desperately-needed 3-point barrage after a 29% first half. The Celtics hit 6-14 (43%) in the quarter to help reclaim that lead. 

THREE UP

Jayson Tatum: Pure takeover mode for Tatum. His point totals for this season so far, in reverse order: 43, 34, 31, 39, 26, 36, 26, 23, 32, 27, 40, 29, 35. He’s shooting 50% on the season, 60% on 2-pointers. He’s never shot better than 52.4% on 2-pointers in a season. 

Grant Williams: A quietly great night for Grant who played all but 3 minutes in this game. He also defended well. This was the kind of night Boston needed him to provide while shorthanded. 

Marcus Smart: 10 more assists, giving him 4 double-digit assist games in his last 5 games. He has 48 overall in that stretch, and with the single turnover he had in this game, he has just 6 giveaways. He has one game, the win over Miami, where turned it over 5 times. He has no more than 2 in any other game. 

TWO DOWN

Derrick White: He got beat up in this one. He had a rough shooting night (3-12 overall, 1-5 3pt), though he did manage 12 points by going 5-6 from the line, to go along with 4 assists. 

Sam Hauser: 1-6 from 3 in this game so now he’s 2-11 over his last two. 

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Marcus Smart is playing his best basketball

Smart has an assist percentage of 28.6, and an assist/turnover ratio of 4.55. The only players with an assist percentage of 28% or higher and lower assist/turnover ratio are Fred VanVleet, Mike Conley, Cory Joseph, and Chris Paul. 

It’s hard to sling that many dimes without turning the ball over here and there. For Smart to have 2 or fewer turnovers in all but one game so far is pretty amazing. Meanwhile, his poor shot selection has dissipated. He took 17 shots in this game, but someone had to take shots with all these guys out, and he still shot 4-10 from 3. 

Smart seems comfortable. The roles on this team are clearly defined, he has a bunch of passing options, and he can feel good running the best offense in the NBA (and in league history if these numbers hold up) while still playing his usual defense (5 steals vs. Detroit). 

Okay, so he also had this play…

… but he says Tatum was calling for it off the backboard so he obliged. 

“The ball just slipped out of his hand,” Smart said. “It happens but after that play, you just got to keep everything simple.”

Fair enough. 

Smart continues to evolve as a player, and on this team, with this many passing options, he’s able to flex his passing skills without all the other extraneous stuff that people have hated for so long. 

- Blake Griffin was okay 

This is the perfect place to use Griffin. With Boston shorthanded against a bad team on a back-to-back, dusting him off and giving him 22 minutes worked well enough. He finished with 7 points and 6 rebounds, he hit a 3 and made a nice cut for a layup, and he didn’t hurt the Celtics. 

It wasn’t an “up,” it wasn’t a “down,” but it was worth mentioning.