BSJ Game Report: Celtics 108, Heat 89 - Kornet's career night leads C's shutdown of Miami

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

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics shot poorly but held a three-point lead thanks to some very solid play from Luke Kornet. Payton Pritchard got hot to start the second quarter and he was joined by Jaylen Brown to push the lead to 15 at the half. They got sloppy in the third but Kornet and Neemias Queta dominated the paint to shut Miami down and extend the lead to 22. Boston got it up to 27 and cruised from there. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Not how Boston normally wins: This game was sloppy with too many turnovers and too many fouls but the Celtics overcame that to continue pulling away against a Miami team also on a back-to-back and clearly feeling it. We’re not hanging this one in the Louvre, but it was still an easy win and they’ll take it.

- Lukembe Kortumbo: You get what I’m trying to do here. He tied a career-high with six blocked shots, but beyond that, I think he played great defense even without the blocks. It started early and continued throughout the game. In fact, he and Neemias Queta dominated the paint for Boston, who were missing Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. 

"You just try to look to see the matchup. Can you win the matchup?" Joe Mazzulla explained about why he went with this combination. "What does the matchup look like the next night? Where can you plug in your pieces, and stuff like that. So we try to do that a couple of times throughout the year, when the matchups present themselves as an opportunity for us for an advantage situation."

- Payton Pritchard & Jaylen Brown carry the load: 52 combined points for them. They took turns shouldering the offensive load until guys like Derrick White and Jayson Tatum could get going and hit a few shots.

TURNING POINT 

The Celtics were playing incredibly sloppy basketball with four turnovers in two minutes to start the third quarter. Their lead was cut to 12 and Mazzulla called a timeout. Boston responded with an 8-0 run and outscored Miami 23-13 the rest of the quarter.

THINGS I LIKED

Luke Kornet: I think he was locked in defensively from the jump and it showed. I want to highlight this one play right away that told me he was on his way to a good game:

Here he is stopping the drive and the dish between Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo:

Nothing fancy, just good, quick footwork to get square against the driver …

And then against the receiver … 

Brown actually did the right thing, peeling off his guy to get the receiver but Kornet was already there. It’s a weird play where doing the right thing almost got Boston into trouble, but they came out of it with the miss anyway. I think if Brown wasn’t trying to make up for getting burned on the initial drive, he might have been under more control and he would have challenged the shot better. Regardless, great positional defense by Kornet there.

Payton Pritchard: He’s the one guy who had it going offensively all night long. He’s on a hell of a streak right now, with 25 points tonight following games of 24, 29, and 20. If he has a couple more of these, he could be in the running for Player of the Week. 

Derrick White: Recovered from a slow start and some really bad fouls to hit some big shots in the the pull-away stretch of the third quarter. He finished shooting 50% overall and almost 42% from 3 while leading the team with eight assists. 

Jaylen Brown: He was aggressive and it got him to the line 10 times. He didn’t play yesterday but he’s been dealing with a stomach issue so while his legs might have been better his energy might not have. He still managed 29 points to lead the team, seven rebounds, and four assists. 

Neemias Queta, learning his lesson: I’ve been harping on Queta to keep the ball high on catches and go right up with it, so when I saw this play I felt like a proud papa: 

Perfectly done. There's no need to bring it down because that only exposes the ball to the short guys. This makes it unblockable. 

Queta has done a really nice job addressing some of his flaws over the past few games. It’s great to see immediate progress. I’m sure there will be some reverting from time to time because habits tend to resurface at this point of the process, but plays like this tell me he’s working on it. 

- Bench contributions: I’ll talk more about this separately, but everyone who played had moments where they shined. It was good to see lineups we’ve never seen this season work at least to some level.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: 

- Jayson Tatum: He looked like a guy who needed a night off. I’ve never seen such erratic passing from him. Tatum escaped the first half with just one turnover but it was easy to see them coming at some point with how many of them got deflected. He had three in a row to start the third and at that point I was ready for him to just get pulled for the night. In fact, Mazzulla switched it up and let Brown play the whole third instead of Tatum because of how poorly Tatum was playing.

All that said, it wasn’t a lazy game, necessarily. He did rebound well all night and he had a decent stretch in the fourth to salvage some decent box score numbers (18 points, 11 rebounds). He just looked off. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Payton Pritchard and Joe Mazzulla are perfect for one another. 

Before the game, Mazzulla was asked about a rivalry with Miami. 

“I’d like to consider every game a rivalry,” he said “Every single game is an opportunity to win, to take advantage of your opponent, to control the margin, so I’d like to think that they all are.”

Pritchard was asked the same question. 

“Honestly, I take it as a rivalry against any team. So, I get up to play any team there is. It doesn’t matter if they’re last place.” 

I asked Pritchard about his decision-making and whether it changed if he was feeling it and he knew his teammate wasn’t. 

“If I break the defense down and there’s two on the ball, it don’t matter if he’s missed five in a row, I’m gonna make that pass,” he said. “I kind of like the quote Joe said. He said, ‘I live by principle, not by feeling.’ So that’s kind of how you should play the game, too. Just make the right play every time and don’t judge it off how other people are playing or how yourself is playing. Just right decisions.”

If there is ever a zombie apocalypse and I get to pick which Celtics are with me so we can survive, I’m picking Mazzulla and Pritchard. They are both maniacs who are obsessed with winning. And even if things go wrong, I feel like they’ll fight the zombies even as they're getting eaten, which would give me time to get away. 

Anyway … 

I’ve never seen a more perfectly match duo in my life. They are maniacal machines, which is why they are excelling against the odds. Neither of them should be in this position considering their circumstances, but here’s Mazzulla as a champion already and Pritchard is not only looking like the Sixth Man of the Year already, he’s damn near playing at an All-Star level. 

I’d go on but how many different times can I write “hey wow look at Pritchard driving and finishing at the rim! That makes no sense but he does it!” 

He might be the most beloved player who has ever asked for a trade from his team in NBA history. 

Next up: The Celtics return host the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.