Jaylen Brown snared a rebound off of a miss from Ja Morant and located Jayson Tatum in vast open house on the opposite finish. Without taking a dribble, Tatum flew for a one-handed dunk, let loose at a scream and pounded his chest with each of his fists.
In a back-and-forth sport towards one other younger NBA star, the play was the exclamation level as Tatum finally got here out on high once more. The Celtics star scored 39 factors – which included 19 within the second quarter, as he outdueled Morant, who had 30 for the Grizzlies and introduced them to the lead within the third. But the C’s held on within the late moments for a 109-106 win on Monday evening in Memphis.
Tatum’s dunk put the C’s up 105-94 with 3:21 to go, however Boston went inexplicably chilly offensively, and matched with a number of turnovers, let the Grizzlies again in it. Both Marcus Smart and Tatum missed two free throws within the closing minute, and Dillon Brooks’ dunk with 17.3 seconds left made it 105-103.
But they pulled by way of once they wanted to. Grant Williams, who hadn’t taken a shot all evening, drilled two free throws, and after a Desmond Bane triple with 3.5 seconds left, Tatum made two free throws. Without a timeout, the Grizzlies couldn’t get a shot off as Morant slipped within the backcourt, and the C’s survived. Tatum has defeated Morant in all of their head-to-head matchups
Monday’s win was fueled by the Celtics’ protection down the stretch. Tatum and Morant had taken turns carrying their groups – with Tatum main a 20-0 run within the second, and Morant scoring 14 within the third to flip the sport again – however the C’s locked in on the defensive finish, and notably Morant.
The rating was tied at 90 early within the fourth when the Celtics went on a 10-0 run that helped them finally maintain on. Morant, who was unstoppable for stretches as he made a number of highlight-reel performs, was flustered over the fourth as he scored simply three factors. Every Celtic seemingly took on the problem of defending him. Tatum and Al Horford every blocked him as soon as, and Smart took a cost on him.
Morant went simply 1-for-6 from the sector and in addition missed two consecutive free throws because the Celtics – who’ve been inconsistent defensively to start out the season – took main strides in the precise path.
“We were just really connected, really solid, and it was just good to see,” Horford mentioned. “We haven’t actually had these moments this season, so it is a good first step for us to proceed to construct on the defensive finish. …
“We talked about building those habits again, learning how to win, doing all these things and against that team, if we didn’t play this team, they would have embarrassed us because they’re a really good group over there. I’m happy we were able to bring it together and get the win.”
Other takeaways from the win, which improved the Celtics to 7-3:
– After a sluggish begin to the season that was amplified by some tough capturing performances, Smart has been on level the final two video games. The level guard was instrumental in setting his teammates up because the Celtics erupted for a franchise-record 27 3-pointers in Saturday’s win over the Knicks, and he made the offense look simple once more Monday.
Smart scored or assisted on the Celtics’ first 16 factors of the sport as he was posted 10 factors and three dimes early, and he continued to make the precise reads all evening. Perhaps fueled by some back-and-forth trash speak with a fan sitting courtside, Smart completed with 15 factors and 12 assists, his second consecutive double-digit help sport. He has a 23-3 assist-turnover ratio within the Celtics’ final two wins.
– The Grizzlies, who entered the evening ranked second in offensive rebounding, dominated the glass to start out the sport even with out Steven Adams as they scored 10 second-chance factors within the first quarter. But the C’s had been significantly better as they held Memphis to simply six second-chance factors over the ultimate three quarters.
“Our physicality after the initial stretch was great,” Celtics interim coach Joe Mazzulla informed reporters in Memphis. “I assumed we introduced the physicality after that preliminary stretch, so credit score to our guys for bouncing again in that. …
“I think it’s a lesson for us that we talk about a lot, is this is a hard league to win in and we’re going to get everyone’s best shot every night. And so we have to maintain the standard of physicality and mental toughness, and our guys really work at that.”
– For the primary time this season, Derrick White got here off the bench. Mazzulla made a last-minute name to insert Williams into the beginning lineup because the Celtics went with a double-big lineup to match up towards the Grizzlies. Williams didn’t have any discipline aim makes an attempt, however performed sound protection all evening and made two clutch free throws to shut out the win.
Source: www.bostonherald.com