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1. Dominant Shooting Display
Coming off of Boston’s lowest scoring output of the season against the Denver Nuggets at only 84 points, the Celtics came back home to TD Garden and set a new season-high in points with 148 against the Brooklyn Nets. Boston did this with some historic shooting, going 52-78 (67%) from the field and 22-34(65%) from three point range. This resulted in the highest effective field goal percentage in NBA History, at 80.8%. Looking at the shooting chart, it is all Celtics green.
2. More Incredible Ball Movement
Continuing the trend on the Celtics historic offensive night, Boston racked up 38 assists in their win over Brooklyn, a new season-high and the most they had in a game since the 2022 season. When asked about the Celtics ball movement postgame, Joe Mazzulla talked about how it was funny people equate assists to ball movement. He said, ““Sometimes you only need one pass for an assist. We’re making good reads we’re making shots. So we have to continue to be able to do that.”
3. Second Half Run
In the Celtics 97-81 win against the Phoenix Suns on February 24th, Boston used a 50-11 run between the second and third quarters to pull ahead and stay ahead to take the victory. In this game, Boston once again used long scoring runs to control the game, this time it was a 51-16 run from the 7:07 mark of the third quarter to the 6:56 mark of the fourth quarter.
Hard to believe by the final score, but this was a close game at halftime, where the Celtics led 66-57. You could tell that Boston was going to eventually win this game, but recent history has showed that Brooklyn does not go away quietly. However the Celtics outscored the Nets 43-26 in the third quarter and 39-28 in the fourth quarter to end it.
4. Nikola Vucevic Bounce Back
In the loss to the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Vucevic had one of his worst games with the Celtics, finishing with 2 points and 8 rebounds on 1-7 shooting. In his matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, Vucevic bounced back with his best game as a member of the Celtics, finishing with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists on 9-13 shooting from the field, 3-3 from three point range, and 7-7 from the free throw line. Vucevic is the third player in Celtics history to record 25+ points, 10+ rebounds and 85+ TS% off the bench alongside Kevin McHale and Payton Pritchard.
In the Celtics recent games, teams have started to pull the chair out from Nikola Vucevic when he gets the ball inside. To counteract this, Vucevic showed off some quick post moves tonight, getting the ball and putting up the shot before the defense had time to make their move.
Vucevic was also incredible when it came to trailing and rolling in the pick-and-roll in this game. He always ended up in the right place at the right time for a pass from Jaylen Brown or Derrick White on the roll and it was a masterful display.
5. Jaylen Brown the Net Positive
You might see people using databallr statistics to diminish the incredible season that Jaylen Brown is having. According to the numbers, Brown is a net negative according to his on/off rating at a -10.1. Boston is a +5.2 net rating when he is on the floor vs a +15.3 net rating off the floor. I have to quote the great Homer Simpsons of The Simpsons fame to give you my opinion on this stat: “People can come up with statistics to prove anything Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.” Brown showed he was a huge positive in this game against the Nets, finishing with 28 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block on 9-12 shooting from the field and 4-4 from three with a +25 +/-.
The Nets decided to put two defenders on Brown for most of this game and because of that, he was able to dissect the defense and find the shooter for a wide open shot.
Scoring wise, Brown was able to get to the basket at will and take advantage of very poor defensive play by the Nets. On most of these possessions he is able to get the switch on to a big and blow by them for an easy look at the rim. His three point shooting was very impressive to me as well because Brown doesn’t take a lot of threes and in this game he was able to knock down some pretty difficult step-backs on some solid contests.
6. Payton Pritchard Was Dialed In
Payton Pritchard was another player who had a tough game against the Nuggets and was able to bounce back in a big way. He finished with 22 points and 5 assists on 9-12 shooting from the field and 4-5 shooting from three. He was also a +40 in +/- in this game, the highest on the team in this game. Pritchard had a great run in the second quarter when he scored 8 straight points on Brooklyn but the fourth quarter is where he started to show out.
Not taking any chances, Pritchard scored 9 points on 4-4 shooting from the field and 1-1 from three, finishing as a +15 for this quarter alone. He utilized the jumper in this scoring run and used his handle to get his defender off the spot so he could splash the shot in their face and kill any potential momentum that Brooklyn tried to build.
7. Derrick White Playmaking
In his last 10 games, Derrick White is averaging 6.8 assists since becoming the Celtics starting point guard. I have raved about his ability to pass in another article but he once again showed these improvements of timing on his passes in this game. White finished with 12 points, 7 assists, and 2 blocks on the night and did an amazing job setting up his teammates. His most impressive passes in this game for me came along the perimeter. When the Celtics were swinging the ball around, White did a great job of finding the open man for the a wide open three.
8. Baylor Scheierman
In a game where 6 Celtics players ended up in double digit scoring, Baylor Scheierman finished with a very underrated great game. In 13 games in the starting lineup this season, Scheierman is averaging 8.7 Points, 6.3 Rebounds, 2.5 Assists 1.1 Steals on 42% shooting from the field and 37% shooting from three. In this game he had 10 points and 6 assists on 3-3 shooting but there was a sequence in the second quarter of this game that puts into perspective how good he has been.
In the second quarter, at the 3:43 mark, Scheierman had the ball on the wing with the shot clock running down. He then fired an incredible hook shot pass to Sam Hauser in the corner who splashed the three. Then on the next offensive possession, Baylor got into the paint, stopped on a dime, and hit a sweet fadeaway jumper.
This is the perfect sequence to show the improvements that Scheierman has made since his rookie season. Last year he was known for some flashy passes but not much more. This game proved that he knows when to make the right play. Last year there were times where he was timid when it came to creating his own shot. This game proved that his confidence is at an all time high.
9. Hugo Gonzalez Cutting
Hugo Gonzalez had a very good game coming off of the bench in this one, finishing with 8 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks on 4-6 shooting. He didn’t hit a three in this game but the thing that made him so impactful was his ability to cut to the basket when the Celtics are looking for it. Two of his cuts came when Brooklyn decided to double the Celtics player with the ball. Hugo came streaking in from the three point line and was able to finish with an easy dunk. The other came on an alley-oop inbounds play from Scheierman where Gonzalez had a free lane to the hoop.
10. Josh Minott Revenge Game
At the trade deadline this year, the Celtics decided to trade Josh Minott to the Brooklyn Nets despite showing some flashes with Boston earlier this season. Despite only playing one game for the Nets since the trade, Nets coach Jordi Fernandez talked highly of the young wing’s character. Fernandez said, “Great personality. Just you could say that he’s been a teammate in the group for a long time the way he’s just blended in right away. He knew what we were about.” He also talked about Minott ramping up with the G-League team for this game.
In his second game with Brooklyn against the Celtics, he had a semi-Revenge Game against Boston, finishing with 9 points on 4-7 shooting in 16 minutes off the bench. The play he was able to exact his revenge came in the first quarter with a monster poster dunk on Hugo Gonzalez that had everyone in the crowd stunned.
Overall I think Brooklyn will be a great place for Minott to continue his development as a player. There are very low expectations for Brooklyn right now and if they end up getting another top pick, he could be a very nice insulating player behind the rest of the rookies. I am very high on Minott so I hope he has a very long and successful NBA career moving forward but tonight the Celtics got the better of him in this matchup.