BSJ Game Report: Celtics 122, Pelicans 90 - C's pour it on late for first win

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

IN A NUTSHELL

The early part of the game followed a familiar script of Jaylen Brown fueling a big lead and the opponent finding a way to walk it down and, in the second quarter, make them look bad. This time, though, they rebuilt their 14-point lead, and it settled at 11 by halftime. Neemias Queta had a big part in Boston keeping the lead at nine through three, and after a scare, Anfernee Simons put it away for Boston’s first win.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- First win: I don’t care about the Pelicans being shorthanded (Zion Williamson sat). The Celtics were hungry, and they needed to eat, so I’m not going to nitpick where the meal came from. They won margins they didn’t win in the first three games, didn’t get killed on the boards, and they made shots when it mattered. 

- Simons the closer: Simons went nuclear in the fourth, fueling a 25-4 run to put it away after the Pelicans cut it to five. He scored 12 points in the quarter, which was huge because Jaylen Brown sat two minutes into the period when he drew his fifth foul. Simons took the reins as the primary guy and let Brown rest. 

- Strong support: Josh Minott started and played great. Queta played his best game in a long time. Luka Garza had a hot shooting night. They got nice contributions from most of their role players. 

TURNING POINT 

Derrick White swallowed up a DeAndre Jordan layup attempt with 8:04 to go in the game. He got the ball ahead to Simons for an open 3, which opened up the floodgates. Instead of it being a six-point game, the play extended the lead to 11, and it only grew from there. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Anfernee Simons: It was good to see him get into a groove like that. He’s in a tough situation considering what his role used to be, and he’s certainly trying to fit into what the Celtics need. But every once in a while, you need to take the suit off, stretch out in some sweats, and just get comfortable. He looked like himself in the fourth quarter, giving the Celtics a massive scoring punch when Brown sat with foul trouble. He finished with 25 points (9-17 fg, 6-13 3pt)

- Neemias Queta: He was a beast in this game. He had seven offensive rebounds (11 overall) and four blocked shots. His energy was good, he generally in the right places, and he was able to take advantage of a smaller Pelicans lineup.

- Josh Minott: He was an absurd +42 in this game, but that tracked with the eye test. He was everywhere defensively. I don’t know how he finished with only one steal and one block because it felt like he was constantly bothering the Pelicans. He finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in his first ever NBA start. 

- Payton Pritchard: He was pesky on offense, finding his way into the middle of the paint and scoring at the rim. Look at his heat map. 

It’s wild how much he lives in this area at his size. 18 points, eight assists, three rebounds (two offensive) is a nice night, even if the shot still isn’t falling like he wants it to.

- Derrick White: He’s still not shooting it well, but that defensive play at the turning point was incredible. 

- Luka Garza: He still finds himself way out of position defensively sometimes, but he found his shot, hitting 3-4 from deep on his way to 16 points and six rebounds. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Fouling: The Pelicans went to the line 28 times, and Boston lost the free-throw battle by 13. The Celtics' style of defense will mean we all have to live with some fouling, but the hope is that the fouls will drop as the cohesion and execution improve. 

- Where was Hugo?: Hugo Gonzalez getting a DNP-CD the night after all the talk was about him starting is already a perfect storyline for this season. Minott was the darling of this game, and he sat against the Knicks. This is just how things will go for at least the early part of this season. 

- Letting DeAndre Jordan go off: He had a couple of dunks in rapid succession, which led to a Mazzulla timeout to chastise his players for letting a guy who was sitting on his couch a couple of days ago coming in and dunk all over them. 

I did love the line he used, according to Abby Chin, telling his guys they don’t get to pick and choose when they get to be their best selves. They have to do that all the time. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL REGRET LATER

- This game wasn’t all that much different from the first three. 

The flow of this game was very similar to the first three. They came out hot, let the lead slip, and had some inexcusable play in the second quarter. They came out hot again in the third quarter, but somehow the lead dwindled and the other team was in position to make a late run. 

The difference in this game was that the Celtics didn't give up crushing offensive rebounds off the misses they forced, but the Pelicans weren’t very big because of their injuries. They weren’t exactly aggressive. 

This very much felt like a regular-season game where the Pels said “we’re going to do our stuff” instead of “we’re going to adjust our game plan to the opponent.” If this were a playoff series, I would bet the Pelicans would have crashed the glass a lot harder. 

The Celtics also cashed in on the turnovers they caused, which they haven't been doing. And they also had someone get hot down the stretch. Making shots is much better than not making them. 

Honestly, I feel like this game confirms what the first three were telling us. The Celtics aren’t good enough to beat the good teams, but they're too good to lose to the bad ones. How they do against the middle-tier teams will determine if they finish this season above or below .500. 

I don’t think anything was fixed, per se, in this game. I think a few guys played better, someone made shots, and their opponent wasn’t good enough to exploit their weaknesses. 

Next Up: The Celtics return home to face the Cavs on Wednesday night.