Celtics' Reserves No Longer Holding Back
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the rest of the Celtics starters have been strong. And lately, Green Team backups like Payton Pritchard are giving fans a lot to cheer about, too.
Jayson Tatum threw down a monstrous dunk in the third quarter, bringing the TD Garden crowd to its feet.
Tatum was a bit slow getting back on defense, and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Taurean Prince wisely tried to take advantage, quickly driving to the rim for what he thought would be a dunk.
Boston’s Aaron Nesmith had other plans, swatting away the dunk attempt in what soon led to an alley-oop dunk for Nesmith’s teammate, Daniel Theis.
Nesmith’s block starting what ended in a Theis dunk, speaks to how Boston’s dominance of late isn’t just because they have one of the best starting fives in the game.
Indeed, Boston’s reserves are not holding back when it comes to making their presence felt, delivering yet another strong performance in helping Boston extend its East-best winning streak to six in a row with a 134-112 win over Minnesota that puts them in a virtual tie for the best record in the East along with Philadelphia (46-27) and Miami (47-28).
Backup Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has been on an efficient shooting stretch of late, and Sunday’s game against Minnesota was no different as he scored nine points in his first nine minutes of play before finishing with 11 points.
Derrick White appears to be breaking out of his shooting doldrums, scoring 15 points to go along with six assists.
Of course, the success of the Boston Celtics will continue to depend heavily on the team’s overall defense which is tops in the NBA, as well as the offensive firepower of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
But the more this team plays together, the clearer it becomes that the one big question with them - how would the bench play? - is looking less like a mystery after all.
Here are the Stars, Studs and Duds from Boston’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves
STARS
Jayson Tatum: With Boston in a virtual tie for the best record in the East, Tatum’s place among the top players for the league MVP race is coming into focus. In what was a ho-hum performance by his standards this season, Tatum had 34 points on 12-for-21 shooting, while also dishing out six assists to go with five rebounds.
Jaylen Brown: For large chunks of the game, Brown was the second-best player on the floor behind teammate Jayson Tatum. Brown would finish with a double-double of 31 points on 12-for-20 shooting, and 10 rebounds
Karl-Anthony Towns: Towns had some nice, bully ball-like moments but they were few and far between to have any significant impact on the game’s outcome. He would tally just 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting along with four rebounds and five assists.
STUDS
Marcus Smart: The numbers continue to go against the grain when it comes to Smart’s impact at both ends of the floor for Boston. Playing just 27 minutes, Smart had seven points and seven assists while also grabbing three rebounds to go with two steals.
Anthony Edwards: The Timberwolves made a mini-run in the third quarter, fueled by the shot-making of Edwards. Edwards had 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting to go with five rebounds and six assists.
Derrick White: The scoring struggles White has experienced during most of his time this season as a Celtic, appear to be a thing of the past now. White had 13 points against the Timberwolves which is the third straight game he has hit double figures scoring off Boston’s bench.
Payton Pritchard: The shots just keep falling for Pritchard, providing the kind of scoring lift off the Celtics bench that will keep him in the rotation. He had 11 points while shooting 4-for-6 shooting which included a trio of 3-pointers.
DUDS
D’Angelo Russell: Having played 30 minutes, Russell provided very little to the Timberwolves at either end of the floor as he finished with just four points on 1-for-6 shooting.