Final: TWolves 114, Celtics 109 (OT) - Edwards closes, Celtics mostly fall apart down the stretch

BOSTON CELTICS at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

8:00 p.m., NBCS Boston

Line: Boston -2.5

INJURIES

Boston: Derrick White (OUT, personal reasons), Kristaps Porzingis (QUESTIONABLE, eye) UPDATE: PORZINGIS IS AVAILABLE, Oshae Brissett (QUESTIONABLE, thumb) UPDATE: BRISSETT IS AVAILABLE, Neemias Queta (OUT, sore foot)

Minnesota: Jaylen Clark (OUT, Achilles)

NOTES

- Jayson Tatum was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week today. It’s his 11th such honor, third in Celtics history behind Paul Pierce (17) and Larry Bird (15).

Tatum led the NBA in scoring last week with 31.7 points per game and was one of only two NBA players to average at least 30.0 points and 9.0 rebounds as he led the Celtics to a perfect 3-0 record. 

- The Celtics are off to a 5-0 start for the 11th time in franchise history…Of the previous 10 teams; 10 made the Eastern Conference Finals, 8 made the NBA Finals, and 5 won NBA Championships.

- The Celtics lead the NBA with 126.4 points per game after registering three consecutive 70-point first halves. The C’s are shooting 50.1 percent from the floor, which ranks third in the NBA and their 16.4 made three-pointers.

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Offense vs. Defense: The Timberwolves open the season as the league’s best defensive team. Boston is the league’s best offensive team. This is going to be Boston’s first big test, so let’s see if they still run things the same way, or if their passing will increase. 

Things will change significantly if Porzingis is in the lineup. And not having White gives Boston an advantage they might have chosen to take if White was healthy anyway because using boston Porzingis and Al Horford to spread the floor against Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert works for the Celtics. 

Even without Porzingis, I’d expect Boston to try to spread the floor. I expect them to do something funky and start Sam Hauser and dare Minnesota to guard the perimeter with two bigs. It obviously puts Boston in a defensive quandary on the other side, but if the result is Gobert trying to punish Boston with post ups, I’ll take it over Anthony Edwards and Towns doing what they can do offensively. 

This is going to be a fun little chess match.

Tatum keeping his roll going: He’s been hitting some tough shots. I do wonder how long this roll of his will continue, especially from 3. 

Today’s a good day to wonder about that because part of his 3-point barrage is coming from defenders worrying about his drives. With Gobert behind them, Minnesota’s defenders can press up a bit and get more into Tatum’s air space. 

It’s a good test of Tatum’s offensive powers. Will he challenge Gobert at the rim? Will he just live in the mid-range? Will he settle for 12 3-pointers?

I’d like to see Tatum get into the middle of the defense and see if he can draw Gobert higher up, opening up some baseline cutting lanes. I can see Jrue Holiday taking advantage of that for a reverse layup or two. 

Jaylen Brown’s shooting: This could be an opportunity for Brown to cash in on some good ball movement. He’s coming off a tough shooting night. This could be a nice bounce back. 

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.