Boston Celtics: 2 unsung studs from C’s glorious comeback win in Game 2
By Mark Nilon
Wednesday night saw Game 2 of this year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets. The C’s came into the exhibition feeling quite confident, as they still have home-court advantage and had just come away from Game 1 with an incredible victory at the buzzer to give them a 1-0 lead in this best-of-seven series.
As many expected, feeling bitter about how things ended in their last outing, Brooklyn came out of the gates swinging, taking a 33-24 advantage by the end of the first whilst seeing the team as a whole playing lights out despite being matched up against incredibly tight defense by the C’s (shot 60.9 percent from the field through the first half).
The Nets would hold onto their lead through nearly three and a half quarters of action, and then… well, Boston’s offense finally started to catch up with their defense.
Ime Udoka‘s squad kept up their stout intensity on the less glamorous side of the ball throughout the entirety of the exhibition, and it eventually was met with conversions on offense that, frankly, were just not falling throughout the first 36 minutes of regulation.
If nothing else, the Celtics showed that patience, not panic, is the ultimate key to success.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown went scorched earth during the final period, cultivating 17 of their combined 41 points during this stretch while shooting 66.7 percent from the floor.
Once again, however, the Jays proved to be far more than just scoring options for the shamrocks, as they also went on to finish the night with 16 assists (10 of which came from Tatum) and 10 rebounds whilst putting showcasing efforts on the defensive end as well.
Now, while the team’s two stars saw their impressive production carry over from Game 1 to Game 2, so too did the overall effort put forth by the entirety of the ball club as well, for this contest could not have been won without the high-level production provided by the other six players who took to the floor.
During the crunch-time fourth quarter, as a collective, the Boston Celtics shot a stellar 64.7 percent from the floor and dropped 29 points, all while holding the Brooklyn Nets to just 26.3 percent shooting and 17 points.
In the end, the C’s came away with yet another hard-fought victory, scraping by the borough boys by a final score of 114-107.
As already stated, Wednesday’s win was unequivocally an overall team effort, as every player who stepped foot on the hardwood positively impacted the game in one way or another.
We were so impressed by the ball club’s overall production, in fact, that we feel as though we at HH should go more in a positive direction than our typical “studs and duds” and, instead, pinpoint 2 unsung studs from Boston’s glorious comeback win over the Brooklyn Nets that now has them up 2-0 in their first-round series: