BOSTON — The Boston Celtics welcomed the Minnesota Timberwolves to town on Sunday for a late-afternoon showdown at TD Garden. It was the first time these two teams met this season after a pair of entertaining games last year. And this one lived up to that billing as well.
A red-hot start to the game for Jaylen Brown wasn’t matched by the rest of his team, as the Celtics were ice-cold in the first quarter. But the Timberwolves couldn’t find a real rhythm either. Both sides battled all night, and even though the Celtics jumped out to a 15-point lead, Minnesota got themselves back into the game. In the end, the Celtics barely managed to hang on, earning a 107-105 win over the Wolves.
Here are three studs and three duds from the Celtics’ win over the Timberwolves on Sunday afternoon.
Stud - Jaylen Brown
This was a fairly ugly game for the Celtics from an offensive standpoint, especially in the first quarter. Nobody on the team could make a shot—except for Brown.
Brown was unconscious from behind the three-point line as he made his first five three-point attempts, accounting for Boston’s first 15 points of the game.
His first two threes were him being in the right place at the right time and benefitting from the Celtics’ amazing ball movement. But after he saw a couple go down, he was hot. Brown pulled up in isolation and started raining down triples on the T-Wolves.
The Celtics star cooled off a bit as the game went on, but his impressive start fueled Boston at a point in the game where they couldn’t find a rhythm.
Dud - Xavier Tillman
Xavier Tillman got his first real minutes in a while on Friday night against the Washington Wizards. He looked solid, but on Sunday, it wasn’t as impressive a showing.
Neemias Queta has been struggling a bit, and with Luke Kornet out, Tillman was Boston’s first big off the bench against the Wolves. Unfortunately, he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity as much as he could have.
Offensively, Tillman’s spacing looked a bit awkward at times, and he often chose to go inside instead of spacing the floor. It made for a mediocre night.
Defensively, outside of a block late in the third quarter, Tillman was also pretty average. He had a couple of nice possessions, but he was a bit foul-happy, and he got blown by far too easily.
It wasn’t an awful game by Tillman, but it wasn’t the type of knock-your-socks-off performance that he may have wanted with this opportunity.
Stud - Derrick White
This was a bit of a weird game for Derrick White. He started the night ice-cold from three, but once he turned it around, his impact was felt on both ends of the floor.
White’s shot-making steadily improved throughout the evening, but that’s not where most of his best plays were. That would be on the defensive side of the ball.
Two huge blocks defined his defensive masterclass, and both were in the third quarter.
The first was a crazy close-out block on Jaden McDaniels, who was swatted at the three-point line in the corner. White fought around a screen to pick up the rejection. The second was a late-in-the-shot-clock block on Anthony Edwards, who was swatted on a pull-up jumper with time expiring.
A clutch fourth quarter solidified White’s impressive night, sealing his spot on the studs list.
Dud - Al Horford
In the grand scheme of things, Al Horford wasn’t terrible on Sunday. Few players were. But so many guys had average games that it left these studs and duds decisions up to opinion.
Horford made a couple of nice threes, but he was pretty inefficient as a whole. And considering how choppy Boston’s offense felt at times, they could have used a bit more consistency from him.
Meanwhile, his defense wasn’t quite as sharp as it usually is. Everyone on the Celtics was getting blown by a bit, but Horford was one of the guys getting targeted more often. And when the Wolves didn’t go by him, they were stepping back for a three as Horford backpedaled (namely Anthony Edwards).
Stud - Bend don’t break
The Celtics’ offense was pretty wishy-washy for a lot of the night. From Brown’s massive opening that was paired with a rough start for everyone else to their confusing lack of ball movement on some possessions.
But every time the Wolves made a run, the Celtics were there to stop it. White had a huge fourth quarter, Jayson Tatum and Brown scored some nice buckets, and the Celtics always kept Minnesota an arm’s length away.
The Timberwolves had the Celtics within striking distance late in the fourth, but even then, a wild Brown triple from well beyond the arc kept Boston ahead.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Celtics got the job done.
Dud - Defensive consistency
The Wolves didn’t shoot very well from the field, but the Celtics’ defense didn’t look amazing all night. Every time they strung together a nice possession or two, they couldn’t find another.
Whether it was an Edwards three or Rudy Gobert snagging an offensive rebound to give the Wolves an extra shot, the Celtics’ defensive consistency just fell a bit short.
Julius Randle was a big part of the problem in the first half, too, as he was drove by everybody on the Celtics.
From Tatum to Brown to Horford, it felt like everyone was putting their hand up at times as if to say, ‘That’s my bad.’ Minnesota capitalized on their defensive struggles and made this one a game.