Boston Celtics’ young second unit puts up 39 points in win over Clippers

In their 119-115 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night, the Boston Celtics played their game and got contributions from the usual suspects.

Jayson Tatum dropped 34 points on a night where Jaylen Brown was missing due to knee soreness. The Cs star that has been dealing with that very ailment for the better part of the last year, Kemba Walker, added 24 points.

Finally, second-year man Carsen Edwards had 16 points in under 30 minutes of action.

*record scratch* I’m sorry, repeat that last one?

You read that correctly: Carsen Edwards was the much-needed tertiary option on the offensive end that helped lead the Cs over Los Angeles in one of the season’s signature victories.

Edwards has long been the subject of frequent mock trades here at Hardwood Houdini, but on Friday night he proved that there are worse uses for a roster spot than a guy who can catch fire from the field (3-5 from beyond the arc, 5-8 overall) in case of an emergency. He nailed his first three deep-balls he took with the same confidence that he showed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, the 2019 NBA Las Vegas Summer League, and any game he finds the floor against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Being without Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart qualifies as an “in case of emergency” situation during a pandemic-affected season. That the team’s fifth-leading scorer (Daniel Theis) also went down in this one just showed how much urgency was needed to take down the #2 team in the NBA record-wise.

They did it, though, and Edwards wasn’t the only reason why. Robert Williams chipped in 10 points, Payton Pritchard added eight in his return from an MCL sprain, and while Semi Ojeleye added a measly five points, his late-game defense on Kawhi Leonard helped slow down the former 2x NBA Finals MVP enough to hold off the Staples Center co-tenants.

Truly, it was a banner night for a Boston Celtics team looking to regain ownership of the “most banners” distinction from Los Angeles’ other professional basketball outfit. Coming into the contest, the bench ranked in the bottom third of the league (24th) in scoring per game. On Friday, though, they matched the Memphis Grizzlies’ league-leading 39 points off the bench to secure the signature win of the 2020-21 season.

With Edwards continuing his hot streak (he was 10-for-18 from the floor and 4-for-10 from three before Friday night, per boston.com) perhaps HH will hold off including him in deals as he carves out a role in the rotation he has fought hard for.

In any event, here’s hoping Edwards can build off of his double-digit scoring outburst and fortify his role in Brad Stevens’ rotation as a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” scoring sparkplug.

The Boston Celtics take on the Phoenix Suns tomorrow in a 2 P.M. eastern time matinee in the desert.