Boston Celtics
The Celtics were floundering badly when White found his stride.
The Celtics nearly fumbled away a win against a profoundly mediocre Bucks team on Wednesday, but Derrick White helped them hold on to a 109-102 victory.
Here are the takeaways.
Derrick White found his offense at exactly the right time
The Celtics were floundering badly when White found his stride.
Wednesday’s game had an uncomfortably familiar texture in the second half as the Celtics — who raced out to a big early lead — went icy cold from the field and watched the Bucks march their lead down to single digits, then to nothing, then to a small deficit.
The first time the Bucks took the lead in the game was on a free throw by rookie Nate Ament halfway through the fourth. Playing without Jayson Tatum (who was resting) and Payton Pritchard (whose absence we will get to shortly), Derrick White spun into Ryan Rollins and drew a foul on the physical guard. That sent White to the line, where he made two badly needed free throws.
The Celtics tightroped their way through the next four minutes before a chaotic possession — which included a wild heave from White to beat the shot clock and a scrum under the basket — ended when Scheierman found a driving White for a layup plus the foul. That 3-point play gave the Celtics a five-point lead which — in an ugly, low-scoring game — felt as good as double digits.
On the next possession, White rocketed around a screen and dropped in another floater, pushing the lead to seven. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
White needed to have a good game for the Celtics to have a chance, especially after Pritchard went out, and he did — 24 points on 7-for-18 shooting to go with four rebounds and seven assists. There’s still plenty of room for concern about his shot — he was 1-for-6 from 3, and he is now down to 29.6 percent from deep for the season — but he showed up when the Celtics needed it badly on Wednesday to avoid an embarrassing loss.
Paul George stepped back into the primary star role
With Tatum out, the responsibility of being the team’s go-to star was handed to Paul George, and he put it on like an old shirt — it doesn’t belong in the regular weekly rotation any more, but he can still pull it off from time to time.
George gave the Celtics a much-needed offensive punch: 25 points on 8-for-18 shooting, including five 3-pointers. His last one was both his most impactful and perhaps his most impressive: A tough step-back triple right in Jaime Jacquez Jr.’s face, which gave the Celtics an eight-point lead.
George was a bit sloppy with six turnovers, but he picked off four steals — adding to his average of 2.6 per game, which is sixth in the NBA. His timing is otherworldly: George isn’t always even moving at full speed when he intercepts the ball, he just has a knack for putting himself in the path of the ball. On his first steal, he read what Jacquez was going to do, and when the former Heat guard tried to sweep the ball over his head, George simply met him at the top of the move and ripped it away from him.
“I think tonight was a great opportunity for him to kind of just play in a different role than the way he has before,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Defensively, he’s been elite since he stepped on the court. Offensively, it’s been a fun journey with him, just growing through it, and learning the system and how to play, and being unpredictable, and looking at different things.
“Tonight, I thought he was really good at demanding the ball and getting the ball where he wanted and making a play for himself or for others, and we need the best version of him for us to be a great team, and I think you were able to see that tonight.”
Neemias Queta changed the game’s complexion
George and White may have done most of the scoring, but Queta was instrumental in changing the course of the game when it looked like the Bucks might pull away.
Queta — who finished with nine points and 12 rebounds — blocked two shots, and both blocks came at pivotal moments.
The first came right after White reclaimed the lead for the Celtics, and it ignited a TD Garden crowd that was anxiously waiting for an opportunity to give the Celtics a boost with a massive cheer.
The second came two minutes later when the Celtics, still nursing a one-point lead, bricked a jumper and allowed the Bucks to get out in transition. Jacquez drove down the lane, but when he tried to put a layup off the glass, Queta punched it away out of bounds.
Meanwhile, Queta dove on the floor to protect the possession that ended in White’s big and-one, and he grabbed two big rebounds down the stretch, including one that led to a well-executed pick-and-roll in which George slipped him a bounce pass for a layup that put the Celtics back up by two.
A strong case could be made that while the stats favored White and George, Queta was actually the player of the game for the Celtics.
“He was really great finishing down the stretch,” George said. “He had some great finishes, some tip-ins, just keeping basketballs alive, rebounding for us, protecting the basket.
“He was great. He was great for us down the stretch, and it was the reason why we were able to pull away.”
Payton Pritchard took a painful-looking shot to the eye
Pritchard got hit in the face multiple times on Wednesday, including one swipe that left him bleeding from the nose.
The worst hit, however, was a brutal-looking scrape by Rollins — don’t seek out the replay if you’re squeamish about eye stuff — that caused the normally stalwart Pritchard to squint in obvious pain and discomfort while calling for a sub. Pritchard went to the locker room and didn’t return to the bench.
Mazzulla said he believes Pritchard will be fine.
“I don’t know exactly what it is, but he got hit in the eye or hit in the head, but seems to be okay and we’ll check on him tomorrow,” Mazzulla said.
Mitchell Robinson was a mixed bag
On the one hand, Robinson was just 1-for-8 from the field, he ceded his spot in the starting lineup as well as the closing minutes to Queta, and his two-man group with Luka Garza left a lot to be desired in the second half.
On the other hand, Robinson missed so many shots because he kept grabbing offensive rebounds — six in total on Wednesday, bringing his total number of rebounds up to 10 — and forcing up tough shots at the rim. His lineups with Garza worked far better in the first half, and his one basket was an aggressive flash to the post where he scored a nifty basket. Also notable: Queta was excellent, and ceding some minutes to him isn’t really an indictment.
Robinson’s start to the season has been unimpressive at times, and outright bad at others, but Mazzulla defended him.
“I think the other thing that gets mistaken is when a guy changes a role and expectations change, it just takes a little bit of time,” Mazzulla said.
“I think the greatest thing that you can give a guy like Mitch who has been in the league for nine years and played on a championship team and decided to come to our team, is to empower him and to ask more of him, and that just takes a little bit of time.
“When you’re relied upon in a different way and you have a level of empowerment, it’s not just a tactical adjustment that you have to make. You have to make a mental and a psychological [shift]. So he delivered tonight big time, but he’s been playing well for us.”
Luka Garza is on fire
Enormous credit is due to Garza so far, who has been throwing magnets at the hoop through eight games. Garza, who went 3-for-4 from deep against the Bucks, is shooting 52.4 percent from behind the arc and has been good enough as a floor-spacing four to add credence to some of Mazzulla’s two-big lineups.
What’s next
The Celtics’ bizarre November schedule now veers off to Charlotte on Friday for an NBA Cup showdown as the start of a four-game road trip that includes the Bucks, 76ers and Raptors.
Their next home game will be Nov. 15 against the Mavericks.
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