BOSTON — Game 82. No Jayson Tatum. No Jaylen Brown. No Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Neemias Queta, Sam Hauser, Nikola Vucevic, or Hugo Gonzalez. And it didn’t matter. The Boston Celtics still battled.
The (very) short-handed Celtics welcomed the fully healthy (except for Jett Howard and Jonathan Isaac) Orlando Magic to TD Garden on Sunday night. The Magic needed a win in order to cement their playoff positioning. But they couldn’t get the job done.
Instead, Boston’s end-of-the-bench crew used a monster third quarter to carry them to victory. Here are two ups and two downs from the night.
It would be hard to find a person on the planet with more confidence than Baylor Scheierman. Every dribble, every shot, and every pass, he moves with purpose. And on Sunday night, that’s exactly what the Celtics needed.
Scheierman didn’t shoot well to start the game, but he looked like he belonged. He looked capable of helping this Celtics group play a competitive basketball game if his shots started to fall.
In the third quarter, his shots started to fall.
Led by Scheierman’s 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep range, the Celtics outscored the Magic 42-20 in the third quarter. Boston looked like the superior team on both ends of the court.
At one point, Scheierman threw up a prayer beyond the arc, sinking a shot that might have traveled 20 feet in the air. TD Garden went berserk.
Not only did Scheierman prove that he’s one of the best depth pieces on the Celtics’ roster, but he also showed that he could become even more than that.
This is the kind of night that reveals a lot about a player. Guys who are primarily role players could struggle. Jordan Walsh, for example, wasn’t nearly as effective as he has looked throughout the course of the year.
When asked to do more with the ball in his hands, he struggled at times, slowing down the offense. But in the second half, as he reverted to playing mostly off the ball, he found more success.
Ron Harper Jr. did the opposite.
From the very start of Sunday night’s game, Harper took on a ball-dominant role. He ran the Celtics’ offense, and he did a great job at it. And on top of that, Harper was efficient while doing so.
Though his assist numbers may not reflect it, Harper’s ball-handling and overall composure helped keep Boston in this game.
Plus, his defense and rebounding were crucial to stifling the Magic.
In order for the Celtics to be competitive on Sunday night, one of three things needed to happen.
One, the Celtics needed quality contributions from everybody. Two, the Magic needed to play poorly. Or three, the Celtics needed their top bench guys to show out.
Number three happened. And that means number one didn’t.
Max Shulga and Amari Williams were relatively disappointing in this game.
Obviously, they are end-of-the-bench guys for a reason, but when handed an opportunity to play, they didn’t do much with it.
Dalano Banton and John Tonje played
