Boston Celtics: 1 stud and 1 dud from MLK Day matinee win over Pelicans

A tale of two halves was the story told during Monday’s matinee between the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans.

The first two periods were simply owned by NOLA, as they were seemingly firing on all cylinders, even converting on 59 percent of their attempts from the field in the first quarter while holding Boston to a rather pedestrian 36.8 percent shooting.

However, during half number two, the game took a 180-degree shift, seeing the Pelicans severely struggle while the C’s went on to absolutely shine.

The final three minutes of quarter number two saw the shamrocks start to head in the right direction with a hot offensive stretch which, in turn, went on to bleed into the beginning of the third where, during this time-span, they saw themselves go on a 14-2 run to cut New Orleans’ advantage to just three within the first minute of the new period.

A close, hard-fought battle then ensued and, in the closing seconds of the third, the Celtics were able to take their first lead of the entire game, heading into quarter four with a 71-69 edge.

They would never find themselves trailing again and ultimately went on to come out victorious with a 104-92 win over the Pelicans.

This game saw several bright spots for Boston, with positive takeaways ranging from seeing all five of their starters coming away with double-digit figures in the scoring department to Aaron Nesmith showing signs of life.

Now, outside of the team’s two All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (who were superb as they finished with a combined 50 points and 16 boards) we saw eight other players see on-court action, many of whom actually produced quite admirably.

That said, there still were a few lowly performers who just couldn’t get their act together for the majority of the contest.

With this in mind, we at HH would now like to pinpoint 1 stud and 1 dud performer from Boston’s come-from-behind victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Martin Luther King Jr. Day: