Celtics
To stay alive, the Celtics needed an almost perfect game by Jaylen Brown, and they got one.
Celtics goalkeeper Jaylen Brown goes to the basket during the second quarter of match 5 against the Knicks at TD Garden. Danielle Parhizkaran / Globe Staff
Jaylen Brown and the Celtics are not yet ready to bow in the playoffs, winning a 127-102 victory in front of an emotional crowd of the TD garden on Wednesday.
Here are the dishes to take away.
Patient Jaylen Brown is an incredible basketball player
To stay alive, the Celtics needed an almost perfect game by Jaylen Brown, and they got one.
“Near perfect” for Brown does not mean a huge score night, although it is excellent on this front – 26 points on shooting 9 for 17, including three strengths at 3 points. His score unlocks the Celtics with Jayson Tatum absent, but we all knew that it would be the case.
The rest of Brown’s game is what propelled the Celtics forward and has maintained its season alive. Brown was incredibly patient on the offensive – when he entered painting, he forced nothing, instead of kicking the defense against a defense to try to prevent him from scoring. He was not always rewarded with a decisive pass-one of the best games of the Celtics of the game started when Brown collapsed the defense and ended with Kornet sliding on the edge for a Dunk of Pick-And-Roll opened several passes later. However, he was a lot rewarded – he finished with 12 assists and only made two rebounds unless a triple -double.
But Brown’s biggest contributions may have been on the defensive, where he took the task of keeping Jalen Brunson and tracked the Knicks custody in a very difficult match. Brunson finished with only 22 points on shooting 7 for 17 and he never had the kind of revolutionary rhythm he used to give the Knicks the 3-1 advantage that they appreciated on Wednesday.
“I thought his dive into the bench changed the game for us,” said Joe Mazzulla. “There were other games that have changed the game, but I thought it was one of them. So he was simply great at all levels. He just took him to keep Brunson, set the tone, and he did it at both ends.”
When Brown is locked up on the defensive against an opponent of Superstar, he is one of the first defensive threats 1 of the league-fast, inflatable and strong with a laser-focus (a laser-focus which, sometimes, makes you wish that it is so good in the ball too).
When Brown is patient on the offensive side, he is often as hardy as Tatum – an underestimated passer at this stage of his career and an explosive scorer.
When he brings together these two things, he can give an opposing team something to sweat in a crucial match 6.
“Be just who I am, and I think that’s all,” said Brown. “Be myself, go out, be aggressive and do it in several ways. It’s a team, we have always been a team. I have always preached the team. I did anything to advance this team.
“So, everything that is necessary on me, I am delighted to be able to facilitate the role, so it could change each match, every night, defensively, offensively, but the objective is to lead, to be myself.”
Jalen Brunson committed five faults in the third quarter (and one in fourth)
The Celtics continued to build massive tracks against the Knicks at the start of the series to see them escape like water in two hands.
What they had not yet tried was to make Jalen Brunson closed, which is probably not exactly a lasting strategy, but it worked incredibly well on Wednesday. Brunson committed five faults in the third quarter while the Celtics took by far – including some very useless for the four and five faults – and he committed his sixth with 7:19 minutes to play in the fourth.
Brunson fought against the aforementioned defense of Brown, and the Celtics attacked him on several occasions and patiently. This strategy has now worked against Brunson and Towns at various times in the series, and while the Celtics look at a match 6 that few people thought they saw, they will have to think about how they can make the two players work as much as possible on the defensive.
Luke Kornet changed the game for the Celtics
The Celtics and the Knicks were tied at tie 59 years out of the break and went to another incredibly tight finish.
Then, a Celtics player took over, and if we gave you five assumptions before the match of “which Celtic player will take over in the third quarter”, we doubt that you should.
Luke Kornet started the third quarter on the ground and his presence completely changed the game. He recorded five of his seven blocks during the period, obstructing the painting and sending the Celtics in the other direction several times, and he fell five rebounds.
Offensively, Kornet obtained a lot of help from Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, but the Celtics kept the Knicks at 17 points in the quarter in large part because they could not approach the edge.
Kornet also finished shockingly near a triple-double: 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Expect to see him play a major role (and maybe even start) in the future.
“It was incredible,” said Derrick White. “He entered and always seemed to be in the right position. Seven blocks of houses are crazy. He was incredible tonight and really intensified when we needed him. He had a great season and was great for us tonight.”
Kornet, on the other hand, was surprised to find himself interviewed after the third quarter.
“You take it in a way,” he said. “I was unfortunately a little tired and I did not have my usual mind and charm.”
Kristaps Porzingis was exactly the opposite
In the future, Celtics will also have to consider to what extent Porzingis can be part of the rotation – in contrast with Kornet, Porzingis played 12 minutes and was -12 in a game that the Celtics won by 25 points.
Porzingis simply does not seem healthy, the margin of error of the Celtics has never been smaller, and the case for Porzingis would be that he is the best rim protector of the Celtics – a case that Kornet sent packaging in the third line on Wednesday.
After the match, Mazzulla provided an update concerning.
“He couldn’t breathe,” said Mazzulla. “It was available if it is absolutely necessary. It was therefore only a decision between me and him. He had difficulty breathing, but he wanted to be there, and if we absolutely needed him, we could have gone to him and count on him. ”
Derrick White’s time to shine
White is close to a player of quality of stars – not quite an All -Star, but certainly more than an actor in a team that largely needs high -quality role players when it is entirely healthy.
However, Tatum’s injury assured that Celtics will not be entirely healthy in the foreseeable future. Wednesday, White was huge: a summit of 34 points on 16 shots, including 7 for 13 in the range of 3 points.
“I mean, our back is against the wall,” said White. “It is winning or going home right now, so none of us want to go home. We understand that it will only become more difficult. We have not yet won anything, I just have to find a way to go to New York and win a match.”
White’s 3 -point shot was excellent, but it also went to the Line of Launs, 11 times. With Tatum, the ball will be much more in White’s hands, which is sort of a silver line – White is an excellent decision maker and plays a very effective basketball brand.
“It is not like someone to walk and do what I do at the level it does,” said White. “So, we have to somehow play a little differently and find ways to create offenses, bounce back, just everything they do on the field. Everyone must intervene. We have done it tonight, and we have to try to find a way to win the match 6.”
The Celtics showed their courage. They shouldn’t be satisfied with this.
The Celtics are a team of championship caliber suiting the experience of the playoffs and the quality mental force of the championship, which made so surprising that they dropped 2-0 at home against the Knicks in the first place.
Wednesday’s match was not only a team that was fighting for pride after the drop in his star – the Celtics were the best and more fundamental team. They now led the Knicks from 14 points or more to each match, and they led by 20 or more in four of them. In two of these games, the Celtics shot their worst games all year round, and Wednesday, they took an advance of more than 20 points without Tatum.
The Celtics should not consider Wednesday victory for a pride point. In fact, now that it’s over, they shouldn’t consider it at all. They are undoubtedly the outsiders and by far the team less likely to move on, but they are good enough to think less about what they proved on Wednesday and more on what they could do on Friday.
“Four hours ago, we just had to win a match,” said Mazzulla. “Now we just have to win a match. It’s just that you have to watch it. So we have to win a road match.”
Match 6 presents itself at 8 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
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