BSJ Game Report: Celtics 121, Timberwolves 109 - Jaylen Brown's huge 4th quarter snaps C's skid

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

IN A NUTSHELL

Anyone hoping the decimated Timberwolves would go down easy were disappointed Friday night. It was another back-and-forth affair where Boston played great, then horribly, then great, then horribly, and so on. Finally, though, in the fourth quarter, Jaylen Brown woke up from a horrible nightmare of a game to play a dream fourth quarter, dropping 23 to carry the Celtics to a double-digit win. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Slump busted: “In all honesty, we needed a win,” Jayson Tatum said after the game. It was echoed by Al Horford, who said “at this point, it was just important just to get a win. Whichever way it came, I was going to take it.” 

It wasn’t all pretty. They had great stretches and terrible stretches through three quarters, but they stuck with it and got a win they really needed. 

Resiliency: Let’s give these guys some credit. They have had a real rough stretch and with a couple minutes to go in the third, it looked like Minnesota was going to make this another nail-biter. Instead, Horford hit two massive 3-pointers, Brown caught fired, and they built on their lead.

“If we’re physically and mentally tougher and we work at it, the talent and everything else will take care of itself because we have that,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game “The best thing I thought we did was we made tough plays. Driving to the basket and finishing with contact is a tough play. Passing the ball when you don’t have a layup is a tough play. Getting 20 offensive rebounds is the tough play, and I thought we did that.”

Yeah, it was the TWolves and they have a bunch of guys hurt. At this point, the problem was more mental than anything, so everyone in this building is leaving happy. 

“It’s almost like people are shocked when we have lapses. And I think that’s okay. Every team does,” Mazzulla said. “And so it’s just managing those. One, it’s expecting it. Yeah, we’re going to suck for like three minutes during this quarter. That’s okay. We just gotta work through it. As long as we stick together and trust each other and do it as a team, we’ll be fine. 

Attacking works: More on this in my featured piece, but you don’t have to be an expert to see that this game turned when the Celtics attacked the rim and let the offense flow off that. As a matter of fact …

TURNING POINT

With 6:24 to play and Boston up only 6, the Celtics attacked the rim three straight possessions in less than a minute. Tatum cut backdoor for a dunk, Brown caught a transition dunk (after a make, no less), and then Brown again cut backdoor for a layup … all of them assisted by Marcus Smart. It was part of a 12-3 run that finally got the Celtics a double-digit lead they’d hold onto the rest of the way.

FIVE UP

Jaylen Brown: He was having a horrible game, but then he exploded for 23 in the fourth.

“The first three quarters is probably one of my ugliest stretches of basketball probably in my career,” Brown said afterwards.

He was 5-15 in the first three quarters, 1-6 in the third alone. But he woke up for 8-14 in the fourth, including 3-6 from 3. He was also a perfect 4-4 from the line. 

Derrick White: Weirdly, he's 0-3 on 3-pointers in every game of this home stand, but he put that behind him to attack early and often. He was really their best player for a good portion of the game, making 8-10 from 2, all of them in the paint, and 6 of them in the restricted area. 

Jayson Tatum: Sandwiched in between White’s aggressive start and Brown’s 23 point fourth quarter was Tatum’s 15 point third, an ultra-aggressive run where didn’t even attempt a 3-pointer. All 5 of his makes were in the paint, 4 of them in the restricted area. 

Marcus Smart: He led the team with 10 assists and he only took 5 shots. He orchestrated the offense well and even had a signature Marcus Smart play. 

Al Horford: He hit 5-10 from deep, and each one of those 3-pointers felt huge. He also chalked up 36 minutes, which made the late third quarter 3-pointers even more impressive. His buzzer beater to give Boston a lead heading into the fourth was huge because the Wolves were answering another Celtics run (like they had been doing all game long). Finally hitting a big shot to deflate them a bit set the table for that fourth quarter Boston run.

TWO DOWN

Sam Hauser: I can't imagine a tougher stint for him. Not only did he miss everything he took, including wide open 3-pointers, he was targeted on defense, leading to 3 quick fouls. He was pulled after 6:15 in the first quarter and didn’t see the floor again. 

Rudy Gobert: A complete and utter non-factor. I just don't get him sometimes. I think this move is going to be an utter disaster for Minnesota. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Derrick White deserves a LOT of credit for this win

The Jays did what they do in the third and fourth to carry this team to a win, and they finished with a nearly equally split 66 combined points. But mid-way through the third quarter, it was White who was Boston’s leading scorer. At that point, he was also a +14, one of only three Celtics with a positive +/- (Horford and Smart were the others). 

“I told him before the jump ball, I just looked at him and said be aggressive,” Tatum said. “He hasn’t been shooting the ball well, but we need him to be aggressive. D-White is the ultimate teammate, somebody that everybody would love to play with. Just letting him know that we need him and I love playing with him and I need him to be aggressive. I just love the way he came out to start the game, being aggressive from the jump.”

He was, and not only on offense. I thought he was very good defensively in this game as well. 

White was a tone-setter in this game, and it’s important that the tone-setters get the credit too. For two-and-a-half quarters, White was the main reason why Boston was in a position to win. He did exactly what he was supposed to do … keep his team competitive until the stars did star stuff.