This game was as much of a roller coaster as this entire season has been. Thankfully, the Celtics came out on top after an impressive rally over the last 15 minutes of the game. The Kings are just going to have to wait another year before trying to end their dry spell at TD Garden.
This game was one that didn’t look good early on. The Kings dominated the first quarter, and seemed to make just about everything that they threw up. That sharpshooting allowed them to take a 38-26 lead after one. The second quarter was ironically decent for the Celtics. They managed to climb back into it before halftime in a quarter where they usually crumble. A 28-17 swing brought them within 6 by the end of the half. The third quarter had it’s ups and downs. First, the C’s continued to claw their way back and eventually took a lead. They then allowed a 15-2 run to give the Kings their massive lead back. However, it wasn’t long before Boston rallied once more and took a lead going into the fourth quarter. The two teams continued to battle it out early on, Sacramento managed to get themselves within one. From that point on, the Celtics outscored them 20-13 and sealed off a 126-120 win.
Unfortunately, the Thunder dropped the ball against the Pacers and blew a lead late in the game. The Celtics are still two games back of Indiana and Philly.
A comeback win is always exciting to watch, but is usually bittersweet because there was a reason why they were down so much. Tonight, it was because of their poor defense. The Celtics allowed Sacramento to shoot 68% for the first 15 minutes of the game. This was the time where the Kings built themselves that 17 point lead. Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, and Marvin Bagley III lit them up for a combined 31 points. At the time, that would’ve been outscoring the Celtics as a whole.
It didn’t help that the C’s couldn’t buy a basket. They were shooting just 36% at that time and were 0-7 from deep. Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, and Al Horford all struggled out of the gate. They shot a combined 1-11 to total just 2 points. That’s not the kind of production that’s going to win games. Luckily, the trio turned things around by the end of the night, combining for 43 points. It’d be pretty cool if that carried over to the next game. Marcus Morris has been someone who’s struggled quite a bit lately, so it was really nice to see him finish with 21 and 13 to notch a double double.
Kyrie was superb in tonight’s victory. He scored 31 points, dished out 12 assists, and grabbed 10 rebounds for a triple double. Irving struggled a bit from the floor, making just 11 of his 28 attempts. 8 of those misses came form deep where Kyrie shot just 1-9. The other things that he was able to do made up for the dodgy shooting. When the Celtics were out of it, he was hustling for loose balls and doing everything he could to will the C’s back into it. In the second quarter, he was really the one who sparked the run that they went on. Irving was able to get himself to the basket numerous times for layups. Some were easy, some were not so easy. He also came alive in the fourth, just in time to help the Celtics ice this one.
The real story of the night is the massive swing that happened in the last 15 minutes of the game. It was right after the C’s allowed that 15-2 run that put them back down by 13. At this point, I really thought that they were in some trouble. They had just done all that work to get a lead, just to give it right back to Sacramento. I was wrong though. The Celtics showed some character and rallied back into it by the end of the quarter.
Jaylen Brown played a huge role in that. Brown caught fire after making a tough three in the corner to bring the Celtics within 7. He then went on to make 2 more consecutive threes and brought the Garden to life. JB wasn’t just great on the offensive end, but did quite a job on Buddy Hield, who had been lighting the Celtics up all quarter in a similar way that Brown lit up the Kings. Once things started swinging in Boston’s favor, Brown didn’t allow Hield to even attempt a shot for the remainder of the quarter.
A somewhat unsung hero in the mix was Gordon Hayward. He had a rough start to the game, missing his first three shots. He managed to turn that around, which was something we hadn’t seen from him much this year. You could usually tell what kind of game it was going to be for him after a few shots. Hayward’s turn around was a big part of the run. He was being aggressive and bullying his was to the basket. He even beat the buzzer to end the third on a tough layup. He is slowly but surely coming along.
The Celtics are back at it Saturday at 12:30 against the Hawks. That game should be an easy win, but you never know with the Celtics.
Thanks for reading!
Parquet Press 