The Boston Celtics entered Tuesday night with quite a bit of optimism off a blowout victory over the Wizards Sunday.
C’s fans as always were just hoping for some grasp of consistency, and boy we got it in bunches.
The shamrocks were coming into the game with a fully healthy unit of their usuals.
On the other side, the Kings were one of the top offensive teams in the league in their last 10 games.
The Celtics have a tendency to overlook teams they should absolutely beat given such circumstances — we had to see the magic to taste the rainbow tonight.
The Boston Celtics are notorious for slow starts, but this game was certainly not one of them. They were in full command from the tip and led the game practically wire to wire.
The Celtics got off to a sizzling start ending the opening quarter on a 38-13 run. Did things change in the second for Sacramento?
No chance, as the C’s led at the half and their lead snowballed to as large as 33.
From there, the team just continued to build and build on their enormous lead that would reach as high as 60 points, before ultimately beating the Kings 128-75.
The Jays combined for 66 points, while guys like Marcus Smart (even with being scoreless) and Timelord followed suit with impactful performances.
It feels abnormal to see a team such as the Celtics, who have been on quite a rollercoaster ride this season with few highs, many lows, and numerous speed bumps, manage to string consecutive blowout wins together.
Maybe the tides are turning. Maybe, it’s too soon to say.
In any event, we at HH are loving every minute of this high.
Without further adieu, here are 3 takeaways from this Boston Celtics beatdown win over the Sacramento Kings:
Boston Celtics takeaway No. 1) Top-5 defense was stellar
The defense was a complete jailhouse. Throw away the proverbial key, for Tuesday night we saw an absolute lockdown performance.
The Boston Celtics held the Kings to a season-low 30 percent shooting performance as a team and they only put up a measly 75 points total.
For the C’s, it’s all about that 18 in terms of getting the next banner. For the Kings, it was all about that near 18 percent shooting in the opening frame.
Big props have to be given to unsung heroes in Marcus Smart and Robert Williams.
These two do a tremendous job of anchoring a top-five defense in the NBA — yes, entering Tuesday’s game the Boston Celtics were ranked fifth in defensive rating.
As I mentioned in the intro, Smart did not score on the night, but his impact and presence go far beyond buckets. He was a +36 out there and dished out seven dimes.
We have two tremendous scorers in Brown and Tatum already. As a complement, we need a point guard who guards well and distributes to the stars while being a controller of the offense.
The veteran guard did this in spades against the Kings, proving maybe he can adapt his game to suit the pair of All-Star wings.
Boston outrebounded Sacramento 72-51 — no, this is not a typo.
The rebounding effort was led by Robert Williams who had 17 boards to go with 13 points to complete his double-double.
On top of all this, the C’s perimeter defense was stifling. They held the Kings to 18 percent from distance, equating to just 6-33 shooting.
We saw playoff-caliber defense from the Celtics.
That’s one way to defend TD Garden.
Boston Celtics takeaway No. 2) Tatum and Brown Coexisting?
We have only seen it a handful of times all season, but Tuesday was yet another example of Tatum and Brown each having exceptional and standout performances.
The duo combined for 66 points, and Boston Celtics fans will take that any night on the TD Garden floor.
There’s some delicious whip cream on a shamrock shake of a game for you.
Jayson continued his hot shooting streak as he was dialed in whilst scoring his swift 36 points. The wing shot 14-23 overall including seven made treys.
Also, let’s not forget he dazzled the crowd with his ability to read the offense and make plays for others with six assists.
Alongside with this, Jaylen was not to be forgotten in the shadows of his star counterpart, as he dropped a monster 30 point,10 rebound double-double.
He threw in five triples of his own and dished out three dimes including some really fancy bounce-pass dimes.
The reality is, despite their amazing individual performances on the surface, the eye test also showed us that they shined as a collective.
The Boston Celtics have two guys on this current team that are capable of putting on all-world performances. If they click consistently together, then the Eastern Conference may be in trouble.
Let’s hope it is not an aberration.
Defensively, Brown and Tatum bought in as well and it was a consistent start-to-finish effort, whether it be due to them hustling back down the floor after a made basket or locking in defensively on the perimeter.
Another notable highlight, the duo combined for only two turnovers.
There were no lazy passes or over-dribbling leading to an advantage for the Kings.
Boston Celtics takeaway No. 3) Three’s-a- plenty for a poor shooting team
The Celtics shot a bunch of triples against the Kings, and they made a bunch of threes against the Kings.
Overall, the Boston Celtics drilled 20 3-pointers on 45 attempts, equating to a stout 44 percent shooting performance.
Eight different Celtics made at least one 3-pointer on the night, with Tatum serving as the high man with seven.
The Kings being 28th in defensive rating helped a handful, but you have to give the C’s their due, for they were still rather smart with their shot selection.
The ball zoomed around the court, leading to hockey assists for days.
Having over twenty is generally a good night of passing, and Boston had 32 assists on the night — this was astonishing.
Sacramento was exploited for being one of the worst defenses in the NBA. They seemed allergic to guarding the perimeter, which is a recipe for the triage of treys.
Is this the same team that shot 10 percent or less twice on the season, and one night where they shot a terrible 4-42?
Marcus Smart embraced the “us against the world” mentality in the last game’s press conference against the Wizards and it may have rubbed off on the team and this is the team responding.
We have waited all year for the Boston Celtics to spit in the face of adversity and come together.
This may be a glimpse of what is to come or a total one-off.
I guess only time will tell.