Another incredibly ugly game, but I'll take an ugly win over an ugly loss any day.
This game was 42-39 Celtics at the half, which gives a goos sense of how ugly it was. The Celtics found some rhythm in the third quarter, pushign their lead to 12 (60-48) with 3:37 left in the quarter. A 5 minute scoring drought for Indiana helped a lot. Indiania snapped their drought at 3:06 left in the third that finally got them their 50th point, then cut the lead to 8 by the end of the 4th (68-60). Indiana continued to eat away at the margin, finally taking advantage of a 2:30 scoring drought by the Celtics to pull ahead 76-75 with just under 6 minutes left. The rest of regulation was an ugly back and forth, then the Celtics had the better of the OT though could never really pull away.
Nine man rotation used today, including some Enes Kanter minutes (7, in the first half). He came in and caught two airballed shots and scored on maybe his first 2 possessions, then scored another basket when either Tatum or Brown was trapped on the perimeter leaving the lane open. Then Indiania started to attack him and he left the game, never to return.
Marcus Smart got hurt (thigh contusion) and left the game not to return. He was generally ineffective even when he did play. He shot 4-11 from the field (though 2-4 from three) for 11 points in 23 minutes. Only one assist, one steal, 5 turnovers. This was an ugly game, the Celtics offense did not run well while he was playing. He was on for most of the little stretch in the third where the Celtics build their lead up to 12 and was a +9 overall.
Dennis Schroder was no better. 21 minutes, 0-4 from the field, scored 5 points from the line but missed three free throws. He did have 5 assists vs one turnover. Schroder came in with the Celtics up 9 in the third (57-48) and left a tie game (81-81), and was a -9 overall.
For the second game in a row, Ime avoided the Smart/Schroder pairining in the back court. But with Schroder having played about 12 straight minutes from the 3rd quarter into the 4th and Smart unavailble, Ime needed a different option. What he went with was a no PG lineup - almost all of the last 9 minutes of this game, including end of regulation and OT, was played by a lineup of Rob, Grant, Tatum, Brown, and Richardson. This group outscored Indiana 21-18 to come away with the OT win. The offensive flow with this group did not look great, but it also did not look great with Smart or Schroder at the point.
Rob had a nice double-double, 14-12, mostly on putbacks as opposed to lobs. He added an assist, 3 blcks, and 4 steals. Steals are an underappreciated part of Rob's game. On the other hand, he has no one on one game to speak of, whether posting up or facing up. Literally none. When he gets the ball in a one on one situation, he quickly gets rid of it. Often times he gets rid of the ball quickly because he knows where the ball needs to go, but in post up situations it is more like "I don't want to be here."
Grant had a poor shooting night that helped Indy climb back into and stay in this one. One of 6 from the field, 1 of 4 from three. With the game tied 81-81, Grant missed a short baseline jumper - not a three. Easy shot he should have made. With 2 minutes to go in OT, Brown feeds him for a corner three that puts the Celtics up five, his only made baskey of the game. On the following posession, he misses a corner three that would have pushed the lead up to 6. His one basket was a huge one though.
Tatum had a rough shooting night, going 7-21, including 0-7 for three. He salvaged his line by getting to the line a lot, where he shot 10-11. Second on the team with 24 points and added 12 rebounds, though he also had 8 turnovers. However, he hit the tying basket with 1.8 seconds left in regulation, scored to put the Celtics up 5 with 1:02 left, and hit a pair of free throws with 2.5 seconds left to put the Celtics up three.
Brown had a big game, scoring 26 on 11-26. He struggled from 2 (8-20), but went 3-6 from three. He added 15 rebounds and a team-leading 6 assists. He scored 5 points in the OT, Tatum 4, Grant 3. The Celtics had 4 made baskets in the OT, with Brown scoring 2 and assisting on 2.
Worth noting:
This wasn't a good team and the Celtics ought to be better than struggling to win. But, from a different point of view. This was a must win because another loss would have been an embarrassment akin to blowing the Knicks game. This time, at least, they needed to come through in the clutch and they did.
Rob, Jaylen, Jayson played huge minutes tonight (all between 41 and 44). Part of this was that the game went to OT. Viewed as a single game in isolation this is OK, but Ime cannot continue to ride the key guys this hard night in, night out and expect not to pay a price. Maybe part of the inability to compete late in games is overuse. They need to find a way to get more out of the bench. Langford we can trust to defend, which has been the name of the game in these past 2 wins. Josh Richardson can play more minutes than he has and is also a very good defensive wing. (He got 37 tonight). But he averages 26, and that is an number that can go up.