The Celtics will have a golden opportunity tonight when they host the Pacers. Should they win this game, they’d take over the fourth spot in the East. A win would also mean that they clinch the tiebreaker over Indiana. Hopefully the guys suiting up tonight realize how important this one is.
The Pacers haven’t struggled like people thought they would after losing Victor Oladipo. They went on a 6 game win streak shortly after he went down, and surprised many around the league. Since the hot start, they’ve come back down to Earth a little bit. Over their last 10 games they’re just 3-7. That includes losing 5 of their last 6. However, they’ve played some very good teams over that stretch, losing to Golden State, Denver, Portland, OKC, and the Clippers. Despite their recent dip in form, the Pacers are still very dangerous and the Celtics shouldn’t take them lightly.
The Celtics have obviously been struggling quite a bit themselves. They’ve dropped 4 of their last 5, and unlike Indiana, their losses haven’t come against great teams. Denver and Philadelphia are both good, San Antonio is alright, and Charlotte is bad. If I’m being honest, three of those games should’ve been wins had it not been for poor execution. They have to get it together tonight against the Pacers.
The season series between these two teams has been split. Each game has been won by the home team, but the Celtics really should’ve been able to win both. The game that they dropped in Indiana was pretty much theirs, but they couldn’t execute down the stretch.
There really is no more standings watch because the Celtics have let any other position than fourth slip away. Obviously, this game has big implications for that spot.
The C’s are coming off a road win over the Cavs. In that game, they didn’t have Kyrie, so the scoring had to come from elsewhere. Both Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum had 21 points to lead the way. Seeing Tatum be able to score the way he did was refreshing. He’d been struggling a lot lately, so he definitely needed a nice night like that. However, all of his points came in the first half. In the second half, Tatum only took 3 shots, and missed all of them. I truly don’t understand how you can have a huge first half like he did, and not be aggressive out of the break.
Tonight I’d like to see Tatum play a complete game. I don’t want to see him miss easy layups or take stupid mid range shots. It’s almost playoff time, and tonight’s game really has playoff implications. He needs to get back to the player he was last spring where he was playing efficiently. Sure, Kyrie is going to be playing again tonight, but he can’t do everything by himself. Jayson Tatum needs to establish himself as the second option on this team. I’d like to see him aggressive tonight, but not overly aggressive to where I want to strangle him.
One thing that was quite positive from the Cleveland game was the lineup with both Horford and Baynes on the floor. This is something that was a staple during the playoff run last season. I feel like Horford can play to his strengths more when playing power forward. Having Baynes out there really helps the team to rebound as well. Since the game, Horford spoke about potentially having Baynes along side him more often, and he seemed pretty satisfied with that idea.
Horford said,
“I just think that anything with Baynes works.”
Baynes was also asked about the situation and he said that Horford is a great player.
There seems to be a lot of positivity surrounding this lineup throughout the organization. Danny Ainge went on Toucher and Rich yesterday, and spoke about the pairing.
He said,
“I’m excited about it. I think they stabilize our defense. They’re not going to play a ton of minutes together, but they’re going to play some, and I think that that helps set an identity and set a tone for our team.”
If this is the thing to fix the defense, I’m all for it. It’s been a real issue as of late. During the four game losing streak, the defensive rating was through the roof. The lowest it was over that period was 112, which is still awful. In fairness, both Horford and Baynes were missing during different times, making things tougher for the Celtics.
The two bigs match up well with the Pacers. Indiana starts Thadeous Young and Myles Turner. Horford can cover Young, while Baynes keys on Turner. Sabonis is also a key factor off the bench, so whichever of the Celtics’ bigs are in the game will have to deal with him.
I mentioned earlier that this game has a playoff feel to it coming in. Something to watch for will be to see who will step up in the big moment. Guys like Hayward, Rozier, and Morris have all been inconsistent all season. However, they’ve all shined in games where the stakes seemed a bit higher. Hayward had the games against Philadelphia and Golden State, Rozier had a big night against Philly himself, and Morris has had numerous games this season where he was great.
The focus shouldn’t just be on those guys though. It also has to be on the players that are supposed to be the leaders/stars of this team. Kyrie, Tatum, and Horford all need to play to their highest level. We all know that they’re all capable of it, and they’ve been pretty solid lately. Horford has really improved since his knee has healed, Kyrie had a nice stretch of 30 point games recently, and Jayson Tatum is coming off of a good game in Cleveland.
It’ll be fun to watch this one tonight, thanks for reading!
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