The Morning After Recap: Tatum leads Boston Celtics to win over Raptors

Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to a win over the Toronto Raptors with his 40 points. Let’s look at how the C’s got it done in Tampa.

The Boston Celtics picked up their fifth win of the season on Monday night, beating the Toronto Raptors by a score of 126-114. Without Marcus Smart and Jeff Teague due to minor injuries, the Cs were short-handed going into a back-to-back against a reputable opponent.

Due to Jayson Tatum‘s aggressiveness and the bench’s shooting ability, Boston won this one relatively easy after a slow start.

Tatum finished with 40 points on 11-19 shooting and a perfect 13-13 from the line. Through three quarters, he had 38, needing only three more to tie his career-high of 41.

He didn’t get there but had an amazing game nonetheless.

The main criticism in the All-Star’s game is not driving to the basket enough to create contact. This would make the game much easier on him, as he would be able to get easy points at the free-throw line rather than relying on his jump shot each game.

He caught fire in the second quarter, scoring 21 of the C’s 38 points in the period. He has proven to be unguardable when his shot is falling and is steadily improving his driving and finishing ability.

If he can put both of these core skills together, he has the potential to be an all-time great.

Boston’s bench was led by rookie Payton Pritchard, who had the best game of his young career.

Finishing with 23 points on 8-13 shooting and eight assists, he made all the right plays when his team needed it. He can easily drive by his defender with his quickness and get into the paint and has already showcased his surprising finishing ability for a smaller guard.

He has no problem scoring through contact against bigger defenders, and can also make the correct pass from the paint if there’s an open teammate. This, along with draining the outside jumper, are skills that can help the Celtics for a very long time.

In the short term, he has already gained the trust of coach Brad Stevens to play crucial minutes at the end of close games, playing 32 in this one.

His connection with Robert Williams off the bench has been exciting to watch, pairing the excellent finisher around the rim with a crafty passer off the pick-and-roll. This leads to more reliable bench offense compared to last year’s team, which had Brad Wanamaker at point guard.

On the defensive end, he held his own even in mismatches in the post against the likes of Pascal Siakam, drawing a travel on the play. He’s already a productive player for this Celtics team, and he’s played less than 10 games in the NBA.

The aforementioned Williams played 20 minutes off the bench at center and recorded 11 points,  15 rebounds (six offensive), and two blocks.

Those are extremely efficient numbers in a short period of time, as he was simply outworking the Raptors bigs in the paint. Celtics fans know he has the leaping ability to turn anything into an alley-oop, but he has also begun to transfer that athleticism to the defensive end.

After Timelord replaced the duo of Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson, who both started once again, the Boston Celtics defense drastically improved.

Along with Grant Williams, Timelord provides a more switchable option at center, who has gotten better at challenging shots with his long wingspan without fouling. This bothered the Raptors tremendously, as they shot 20-45 in the paint on the game. 

Grant had a bounce-back performance after his poor start to the season, looking like himself again on the defensive side of the ball. He finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and three blocks in 24 minutes.

He was active on the offensive glass and his long ball looked better than ever, making three of his 4fourshots from distance. If he can continue to improve and provide stability on the defensive end, he deserves a major spot in the rotation. The key variable to the amount of time he will play is his ability to make shots from downtown. If he can be respected as a shooter on opposing teams, he will be a valuable piece to this team’s young core.

Semi Ojeleye‘s reemergence as a productive player is perhaps the most surprising storyline of the young season for the Boston Celtics.

Ojeleye played 30 minutes off the bench and scored 12 points on 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Similar to Grant, his jump shot looks improved this year, as his release is quicker and smoother. It’s not realistic to expect him to hit three triples a game, providing strong defense off the bench while being able to be respected on offense is the most important thing.

The offense will never run through Ojeleye, and he will likely be sitting in the corner for the majority of it, but he’s made himself a contributor in the rotation when not many thought he could do so.

Jaylen Brown had maybe his worst game of the year, and it was still a pretty decent performance.

Scoring 19 points on 7-16 shooting from the field, Brown let Tatum become the primary option in this one, as he was getting better looks and draining them from all over the court.

With two superstars in the making, the Boston Celtics have the ability to rely on either player to carry their offense on any given night, and they gain even one more primary option later on in the month with the upcoming return of Kemba Walker.

With no Smart or Teague available to play, Stevens gave the start to Tremont Waters, to the surprise of many.

Waters hasn’t gotten consistent playing time, and this was only his second start in as many years.

He shows flashes of a capable NBA point guard, but the shot just didn’t fall for him in Tampa Bay, going 1-8 from the field for five points. His deep range is intriguing but still needs development as an undersized point guard.

The Celtics went back to the double-big lineup in this game, only varying away from it once all season. They got off to an awful start with their starting lineup on the floor, falling behind 23-10 in just over five minutes of play.

Although the combination of Thompson and Theis allows you to rebound the ball better and get more second-chance opportunities, their lack of defensive quickness allows for open perimeter shots repeatedly, something that the Raptors took advantage of in the first quarter. To start the second half, Ojeleye replaced Theis in the lineup, instantly improving on both sides of the ball.

In the future, look for Brad to make some sort of lineup change, as the Thompson-Theis experiment has had enough of a chance in this shortened season.

As a team, Boston shot 15-29 (51.7 percent) from downtown compared to Toronto’s 13-37 (35.1 percent). With that big of a shooting disparity, it’ll always be hard for Toronto to win.

The Raptors were also outrebounded 56-37, including on the offensive glass (12-8).

For the Raptors, they got decent offensive production from their core players, with Fred VanVleet dropping 35 and Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry combining for 40. However, they couldn’t get stops on defense when they needed to, allowing the Celtics to run away with the game stemming off of a 38-14 second quarter.

Off to a 1-5 start, Toronto should be nervous about their playoff aspirations in what is a very similar team to last year — one that took the Boston Celtics to seven games.

A good win for the Celtics, bringing them to 5-3 on the year.

Onto Miami on Wednesday!