The Celtics pulled out an impressive crunchtime win in a hard-fought battle over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night in TD Garden, 120-112. Boston is now 4-1 in games that both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown start, with the only loss coming in San Antonio after Brown was ejected before halftime with the Celtics leading.
It’s clear already how many matchup nightmares this team creates for others with so much playmaking and shooting with zero liabilities on either end in the rotation. They were already good, but JT has quickly brought them to another level, and it’s hard not to watch what’s happening just over a week into Tatum’s return, and salivate at the possibilities.
But that’s me looking at things through the lens of a Celtics fan. For the rest of the league, the view isn’t quite so rosy. Before his team came up just short despite a great effort, Suns’ coach Jordan Ott was asked what it’s like to prepare for the Celtics now that Tatum is back.
The rookie head coach, and Coach of the Year candidate, paused for a moment to reflect, then laughed a bit to himself, before responding:
“You know, I wish he wasn’t playing.”
Ott was joking and being tongue-in-cheek here, but the sentiment is no joke at all as he got a firsthand look at how this Celtics team now has the potential to be completely unstoppable when everything is clicking.
Ott outlines unguardable nature of Celtics offense
The Suns' coach went into more detail after cracking his joke, explaining how the Celtics now have two incredibly talented players who can beat you one-on-one, yet they are surrounded by elite shooting. He perfectly forecasted the issues that his team would face, and yet they had no way to stop it.
Boston now has four guys who can capably initiate offense with Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard, with guys around them who can either shoot threes, attack a closeout, or both in Sam Hauser, Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and even Ron Harper Jr.
The bigs know their roles and create tons of space with their screens, then you’ve got the rim-running threat from Neemias Queta along with the floor spacing element provided by Luka Garza and Nikola Vucevic.
Everyone on this team has a role, and they are all perfectly qualified to play it. Nobody is asked to do too much, and when everyone does their job, things flow, and the defense is forced to make impossible decisions. You can’t guard everyone, and you really can’t afford to help off of anyone. When the Celtics move the ball as they did on Monday night, there’s just no way to stop this team.