Following their ugly loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, the Boston Celtics welcomed the floor-dwelling New Orleans Pelicans to town on Sunday. The Pelicans have been the worst team in the Western Conference for most of the year, mainly due to their inability to get healthy. But they had some guys on Sunday.
Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones were sidelined, but everyone else was available, and New Orleans came to play. They were sinking almost half their threes for most of the night, and the Celtics couldn’t hit the ocean if they were shooting from a boat. By the end of the evening, however, the Celtics still scraped by with a 120-119 victory.
Here are three studs and three duds from the Celtics’ win over the Pelicans on Sunday night.
Stud - Kristaps Porzingis
Another game, another red-hot first quarter for Kristaps Porzingis. He was crucial to the Celtics’ success on offense for a lot of this game.
Once again, having a guy who’s able to stretch the floor is such an important weapon for the Celtics. New Orleans’ bigs are forced to either guard Porzingis well beyond the arc or give up open shots. And they often choose the latter.
Porzingis is an amazing multi-tool player who the Celtics have been able to deploy in a bunch of ways on both ends of the floor. And since the Pelicans run a bunch of small lineups, his impact was magnified even more on Sunday night.
Dud - Guarding threes
For what felt like the millionth game in a row, the Celtics’ opponent shot the lights out from behind the three-point line. It’s a math game Boston wasn’t used to losing until recently.
Everybody from Dejounte Murray to Javonte Green was on fire from three, and in most cases, they were guys the Celtics looked comfortable leaving open. Clearly, that strategy hasn’t been working too well.
Joe Mazzulla has stated that it’s impossible to take everything away, but perhaps it’s time to start pressuring three-point shooters of all shapes and sizes a bit more.
Stud - Al Horford
Al Horford’s stats may not pop off the box score, but he was a big part of Boston’s success in this game, especially on the defensive end of the court.
Zion Williamson, who returned in this one after a one-game suspension, was put in Horford’s back pocket for most of the first half. He got cooking thanks to some transition opportunities, but when he was in the half-court, Horford had his number.
Horford also did a solid job crashing the glass and making the most of his opportunities on the offensive end (the latter being a point of struggle for the big man at times in recent games).
Dud - Making threes
Yet again, the Celtics struggled to hit their threes. Ever since the start of 2025, Boston has been frigid from beyond the arc, and it’s putting them in some very tough positions.
At the beginning of the season, they paired high volume with solid efficiency, and while their volume has dropped a bit, their efficiency has fallen off a cliff.
It’s very difficult to win basketball games when shooting around 30% from three-point range, and that’s where the Celtics have been hovering lately.
Stud - Diversifying offense
For as much as the Celtics were struggling to make their threes on Sunday night, it was clear that they were making more of an effort to find offense in other areas.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown did a great job of driving to the hoop, and if there was no open shooter, they took care of business themselves. Neither had the most efficient night, but both got inside at a decent rate.
On top of that, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White had a nice stretch of hustle plays in the first quarter, earning the Celtics some extra offensive opportunities. Their work on the glass helped them get even more, too.
The threes may not have been working, but Boston was very active in finding a way over that hurdle.
Dud - Late-game errors
As the Celtics were trying to close out this game, they were actively working against themselves. Late in the fourth quarter, they committed multiple mental errors that helped New Olreans stay in the game.
Derrick White mess up an inbounds pass, and CJ McCollum tipped it back at him, giving New Orleans back possession. And not long after that, Tatum fouled Murray on a three-point shot, and he made all three free throws. They even had a five-second violation and a pair of missed free throws.
In close games like this one, those types of mental mistakes can be the difference between a win and a loss.
Bonus stud - Jayson Tatum
We're adding a bonus stud, because Tatum was awesome to close this game. Multiple big shots, some monster dunks, and great rebounding on top of that. He took over at the right times. But those last two free throws would have been nice.)
(Brown's playmaking deserves a shoutout, too.)