Following their second-biggest win in franchise history against the Toronto Raptors, the Boston Celtics embarked on a road trip. First stop: The Twin Cities. They took on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, but they were without Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, both of whom were injured.
The game started off with a bolt of electricity, as neither team was missing. Boston’s defensive game plan was seemingly to hedge their bets with some Timberwolves getting open shots, but Minnesota was hot. The result was a very close game. After a back-and-forth affair, the Celtics walked off the court with a 118-115 win, just barely scraping by.
Here are three studs and three duds from the Celtics’ win over the Timberwolves on Thursday night.
BONUS STUD: A lot of players played very well in this game, so Jrue Holiday wasn’t on the main list, but he deserves a shoutout. He was his usually elite two-way self in this one, and especially effective as a playmaker.
Stud - Derrick White
When it came down to crunch time on Thursday night, Derrick White was ready to roll. Time after time, possession after possession, White made almost every big shot that came his way.
He didn’t grab a ton of rebounds or dish out a bunch of assists, but his scoring was the real prize for Boston in this one.
Not only did White hit some huge shots down the stretch, but he also enjoyed a very efficient outing that benefitted the team all night long.
Plus, as per usual, White’s defense was crucial (even though the Timberwolves were red-hot from behind the three-point line).
Dud - Guarding drives game plan
The Celtics played super well in this game, so it’s tough to find many true duds, but their defensive game plan in the first quarter was a bit odd.
As mentioned, they decided to double Randle, turning him into a playmaker instead of a scorer. But that resulted in the Timberwolves getting a bunch of open threes, which they knocked down.
In theory, they were betting on Randle turning the ball over a lot, but they sent doubles at more players than just him. They were
Stud - Backup bigs
In his first big-time minutes in a while, Neemias Queta looked great. He was almost always in the right place for Boston, especially on the offensive end of the court.
Whether it was running in transition with Holiday or helping pressure the ball on defense, Queta was ready to make a play. His energy was huge, especially in the second quarter, when Boston surged forward. He didn’t play a ton of minutes, but when Queta was on the court, he looked awesome.
Meanwhile, Luke Kornet was equally as effective. His presence around the rim gave the Celtics a constant lob threat around the rim to throw a pass to.
On top of that, Kornet also did a great job passing out of the short roll. Jayson Tatum, in particular, constantly found him rolling to the rim, and he almost always made the right pass out of that spot.
Dud - Close-outs
Boston’s defensive game plan was weird, but it kept them in the lead for most of the game. But for that to have been their plan, they should have done a better job of closing out on three-point shooters.
Minnesota got a ton of wide-open threes in this game, and the first and third quarters were particularly rough. Jaden McDaniels got open a ton, as did Randle, and they were both on fire from deep.
Doubling guys on drives is one thing, but if they were going to do that, they should have been sprinting out to shooters afterward. Minnesota didn’t take nearly as many threes as the Celtics, but they made enough to keep up with them.
Stud - Jayson Tatum
This wasn’t Tatum’s most efficient game of the year, but he was the ultimate puppet master. And when the shots were falling, Tatum was tearing the Timberwolves apart.
From the very start of the game, Tatum did an amazing job of setting up the Celtics’ offense, and as the contest went on, some tough shots started to fall for him, too.
With Brown and Porzingis sidelined, Tatum took on an all-around role, doing a bit of everything for the Celtics. He was essential to everything they were doing, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
He looked like one of the best players in the world.
Dud - Math
Whenever the Celtics employ a defensive game plan like the one they used on Thursday night, they are playing the math game. Joe Mazzulla believes certain players won’t be able to beat them throughout the course of a game.
But oftentimes, shooters get hot, and the game plan backfires, creating a very close-knit game. It happened with Caleb Martin on Christmas Day, and it happened again on Thursday against the Wolves.
Mazzulla and the Celtics play the psychological math game as well as Boston Rob on Deal or No Deal Island, but sometimes, that type of strategy only goes so far.
Minnesota got hot from three on Thursday, and since the Celtics are always going to stick to their guns (which is usually a good thing), this game was neck and neck.
In the end, the math actually worked out, but it felt like it was a dangerous game to be playing.