Boston Celtics
Neemias Queta made a case for Most Improved because the Celtics pulled away from the Raptors on Sunday.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led a totally wholesome Celtics crew to a choppy-but-scrappy win over the Raptors on Easter Sunday, claiming a 113-95 victory.
Listed here are the takeaways.
Including Jayson Tatum was a wild change of fortunes
Previous to Sunday’s sport, Raptors coach Darko Rajaković was requested if he was wanting ahead to dealing with the Celtics now that Tatum is wholesome.
“Probably not,” Rajaković quipped.
The Celtics have acclimated to Tatum’s return with startlingly little friction. Truthful questions might be (and have been) requested about how Tatum would look subsequent to an ascendant Jaylen Brown — now that Brown was totally realized as a 1A famous person, how would their dynamic shift?
The reply, a minimum of for now, is that Tatum has morphed right into a triple-double risk on any given night time — a stat-stuffer who makes the crew higher in myriad methods, however maybe particularly as a passer.
Think about this absurd help he whipped over his head to Payton Pritchard for an open 3, which was the beginning of the Celtics’ onslaught that put the sport out of attain.
Or this nifty pick-and-roll look he threaded to Neemias Queta within the first half, throwing the cross earlier than the massive (who we are going to get to shortly) really rumbled into area.
Tatum’s passing has been otherworldly — an enchancment on even final 12 months’s enhancements, which supplied hints of LeBron James. Tatum has at all times been capable of see over the protection, however more and more, one in every of his greatest abilities seems to be his near-photographic reminiscence of the place everybody must be, and he’s proving that he could make any cross with excessive consolation.
In the meantime, Tatum’s rebounding numbers are via the roof. He’s averaging 9.9 per sport since his return and has recorded double-digits in six of the Celtics’ final seven contests. Sunday’s sport was the third time in 14 video games that he cracked the teenagers.
In the meantime, Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 26 factors on 11-for-20 taking pictures and hit the Raptors with this collection of strikes as an exclamation mark on the Celtics’ win.
Tatum and Brown appear like they’re gearing up for one thing memorable.
Neemias Queta has made a case for Most Improved Participant
We must always begin by acknowledging that Neemias Queta is sort of actually not going to win Most Improved Participant this season. The betting odds at present favor Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Duren, each of whom have taken large high-profile leaps this 12 months.
Nonetheless, Queta’s enhancements this season really feel like they need to be acknowledged someway. He was dominant towards the Raptors on Sunday, an eye-opening +30 in a sport the Celtics gained by 14 factors. His affect was instantly obvious at any time when he stepped on the ground as a pick-and-roll goal and as a rim protector — 18 factors on 9-for-10 taking pictures, seven rebounds together with 5 offensive boards, 4 assists and three blocks. Queta scored 10 second-chance factors, and his 18 factors within the paint helped the Celtics outscore the Raptors 76-58 within the paint.
Joe Mazzulla stated Queta’s reads “open all of it up for all of us, as a result of we will run our actions.”
“We will see the 2-on-1s, we will make the fitting play, and he’s simply been doing an amazing job of that,” Mazzulla stated. “So yeah, it helps Jayson and Jaylen, and I feel it helps our entire crew as nicely.”
Brown concurred.
“It simply looks as if all the pieces is connecting with him,” Brown stated. “He’s simply bought a very good really feel for the sport, and he sees the place he must be, and it’s been actually nice for our crew this 12 months. It’s been a privilege to observe the expansion from the beginning of the season to the place he’s at now. It’s like night time and day nearly.”
Queta freely admitted that he thinks in regards to the Most Improved Participant award “on a regular basis” and stated he feels he has made a “good case for it.”
Nonetheless: “That’s stuff that we will’t management,” he stated. “On the finish of the day, I’m simply serving to the crew win, and that’s my predominant objective.”
Brown, unsurprisingly, agrees that Queta must be in consideration.
“In my view, he’s most likely one of the vital improved gamers this 12 months,” Brown stated. “And I don’t know if he’s up for the award, however he must be.”
Nikola Vucevic is again
Vucevic returned after struggling the least-heralded fractured finger of all time — an harm suffered within the midst of Tatum’s high-profile return to motion.
Afterward, Vucevic stated he felt good and had no points.
“To me, it was a pair issues the place I’d’ve possibly been hesitant swiping on the ball, issues like that,” he stated. “However first or second play within the sport, I bought hit within the finger. Little little bit of ache, nevertheless it went away and it was wonderful. So it was good to go after that.”
The veteran middle appeared a bit of rusty. He missed each of his 3-point makes an attempt and was 2-for-5 in 13 minutes of motion, tossing in a few floaters across the rim. He and Brown miscommunicated badly on one turnover, which was a reminder that Vucevic’s time with the crew has been very restricted up to now.
Vucevic stated “the chemistry half” is his greatest adjustment earlier than the postseason.
“That simply has to come back from us taking part in and working towards collectively,” he stated. “Which is sweet [that] I get a minimum of these 5 video games in earlier than the playoffs. Then we’ll have that week between that may assist.”
The Celtics need Vucevic to really feel comfy; Mazzulla stated he has no issues in regards to the middle attempting to do an excessive amount of.
“If something, ensuring he’s aggressive sufficient to the place we now have one of the best model of him, in order that we will have a distinct layer of what we wish to accomplish is an important factor,” he stated.
The Celtics have been messy within the margins
Whereas Tatum and Brown performed nicely within the fourth quarter significantly, they turned the ball over 5 occasions apiece — a lifeline for a Raptors crew that prefers to play quick. The Celtics, who common a league-best 12.3 turnovers per sport, coughed it up 15 occasions.
The Celtics have been additionally at an obstacle from 3-point vary: 8-for-28 (28.6 %) to Toronto’s 8-for-20 from deep. These two margins usually spell doom after they go towards the Celtics.
Nonetheless, they countered the sloppiness and poor taking pictures with effort: 44-31 general on the boards (12-6 on offensive rebounds), 76-58 within the paint, and 16-9 on second-chance factors.
Brown famous that the Celtics depend on getting downhill.
“That opens up a number of our 3s, so in occasions that our 3 ball just isn’t falling, we’ve bought to seek out different methods to win,” Brown stated.
“Previously, that’s most likely been one in every of our critiques is that once we shoot a number of threes, typically we don’t get to the paint sufficient. So to see us having the ability to dominate some video games within the paint is sweet.”
Jordan Walsh supplied a spark once more
After Walsh’s six-game absence on a string of DNP-CDs, he has now performed 5 video games in a row, together with rotation minutes in 4 of these contests. On Sunday, he supplied a very nice activate the bench, significantly within the third quarter when the Celtics have been scuffling a bit — a steal and a slam in transition, adopted by a herky-jerky drive and end over a troublesome contest.
Scheierman appears to have locked up the first back-up wing slot within the playoff rotation, however Walsh persistently appears to be like able to go when he’s given a couple of minutes.
“That’s key this time of 12 months,” Mazzulla stated. “You need guys that if you put in, whether or not it’s 5 minutes or 20 minutes, you may depend on them to make performs, and he does that, particularly on the defensive finish.”
What’s subsequent
The Celtics will host the Hornets at TD Backyard on Tuesday, tipping off at 8 p.m. earlier than Thursday’s pivotal contest towards the Knicks in New York. The Knicks — who maintain the tiebreaker — have been off on Sunday, so the Celtics at present maintain a three-game lead over the Knicks for the 2-seed. Each groups have 4 video games remaining.
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