As everyone predicted, the Boston Celtics just came up short in a nail-biter against the Utah Jazz, 105-103. An absolute slog of a game got exciting at the end, just for it to but a gut punch all the same.
Here's what stood out:
Payton Pritchard’s three-point shot might, MIGHT, be back
Payton Pritchard has played a key role in Boston’s offensive success when it’s been present so far this season. He’s shown tremendous comfort when serving as the team’s initiator, seamlessly weaving through the opposing team’s defense to get to his sweet pull-up mid-range jumper.
Yet, prior to Monday’s game against Utah, Pritchard had struggled significantly from long range. He sank just 18% of his attempts from beyond the arc, through Boston’s first seven games of the season -- far worse than his career rate of 39.3%.
Game eight was different than the rest. The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year finally looked like himself and snapped his cold spell, sinking three of five first-half attempts. Unfortunately, he went cold for the rest of the game, missing five of his last six from distance.
If the former is a sign of things to come, Pritchard might be the second-most reliable scorer on this team behind Jaylen Brown this season.
The Celtics' offense was once again stale, especially without Jaylen Brown on the floor
Aside from Pritchard, buckets did not come easily for the Celtics. Even Jaylen Brown, who’s largely been efficient and effective this season, struggled to get himself going -- at least to the same level he’s been at so far.
The third quarter, in particular, was a brutal watch for its first nine minutes. Boston struggled to create paint touches, and when they did, they didn’t do much with them. In the minutes when Brown was on the bench, there was no creation, just a lot of settling from the Celtics.
Their offense didn’t wake up until it was Brown who decided it was time for him to take over. He scored seven of the team’s 10 points after checking in with 3:26 to play in the third.
He also completely carried them late in this game. The Celtics looked completely dead and buried until Brown sparked a comeback in the fourth quarter by forcing his will and getting to the basket.
It’s no fun when the threes aren’t falling
I suppose this could just be lumped into the last point here, but, man, the Celtics are hard to watch when the threes aren’t falling. It’s been the case all year. Boston’s struggled to connect from long range, which is a big reason that they’re 3-5 at this point.
They’ve mostly done a good job of creating good looks, especially from the perimeter. The shots simply aren’t finding the bottom of the net. There was a stretch early in the fourth quarter where they found themselves open three or four possessions in a row and did nothing with it.
It’s truly been a different experience than the last two seasons.