1 week Ago By Tom Westerholm
By Tom Westerholm Jayson Tatum willed the Celtics to a 107-98 Game 4 victory over the Magic with a massive performance, as Celtics took a 3-1 lead in their first-round series. Here are the takeaways. We’ll go out on a limb by saying that Jayson Tatum is not happy with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
But, the wrist injury Tatum suffered in his collision with the Magic guard in Game 1 doesn’t seem to be affecting his production. Tatum picked up one half of a double technical along with KCP in the fourth quarter after shoulder-checking Caldwell-Pope on his way to the free-throw line, which Caldwell-Pope answered with a little shove of his own. Tatum was headed to the line sitting on 35 points, and after a smirk and a side-eye at official Tyler Ford for his technical, Tatum added two more free throws en route to a 14-for-14 performance at the line.
He scored 37 overall on 25 shots, along with 13 rebounds, three assists, and three steals, another in a long list of huge playoff performances in Tatum’s already highly decorated playoff career. Sunday’s win was not guaranteed at any point. The Magic tied the game deep in the fourth quarter, and the Celtics continued to struggle in their quest for consistent offense against sturdy Magic defenders who don’t mind switches.
The Magic are (ahem) physical enough that a trip back to Boston in an even series would been concerning for multiple reasons. Any extended series against the Magic comes with health concerns, and an emboldened Magic team entering a Game 5 with the knowledge that they were one game away from unseating the champs may have played with plenty of extra (ahem) physicality. The series isn’t done.
The Magic will be plenty physical in Game 5. The Celtics will need to generate offense against a staunch defense. But Tatum — smarting wrist and all — has been able to find his offense in a big way, and the Celtics are nearly in the second round because of it.
A little behind-the-curtain moment here: After Kristaps Porzingis committed his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, we had a whole thing written about how the series continues to be a tough one for the Celtics big man. He hasn’t consistently been able to exploit mismatches in the post or near the free-throw line, he hasn’t consistently hit from three, and he has been a target defensively at times. But then Porzingis returned to the game when it was tied and immediately converted a 3-point play.
Shortly afterward, he defended Wendell Carter Jr. very well without fouling, pitching in an important stop at a critical time. He defended without fouling the rest of the way, and he was part of the Celtics’ late run, which boosted his box score plus/minus to a deserved +8.
Porzingis finished with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting in his strange performance. The Celtics still look their best with a nearly 39-year-old playing center, but Porzingis showed some important signs of life in Game 4. How could Al Horford possibly be 38 years old? Al Horford coming through like a freight train out of nowhere pic.
twitter.com/IKAeYkq3is Horford finished with five blocked shots in yet another staunch defensive performance, becoming the second player along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (!!!) to record five blocks in a playoff game after the age of 38. Perhaps predictably, Horford has been the team’s best 1-on-1 defender against Paolo Banchero.
As Porzingis struggles, Horford has been a highly switchable option – on one memorable play late, he picked up Cory Joseph full-court, harassing the Magic point guard on his way up the floor. How that dynamic progresses in the postseason will be interesting to watch. The Celtics never had to deal with Porzingis’ obvious preference to play drop coverage defensively last year during their run to the title, and Horford, as he has done so many times in his career, stepped up enormously on the defensive end.
Will teams continue to target Porzingis successfully? If so, can Horford — who will turn 39 during the Celtics’ playoff run if they have the kind of success they hope to have — remain healthy throughout another grueling postseason? Will Joe Mazzulla go to Horford-only lineups more often if they do? Payton Pritchard’s offense is yet to surface against the Magic — it turns out that a team that limits an opponents’ 3-pointers isn’t ideal for Pritchard — but his harassing defense against Banchero earlier this series was notable, and he wasn’t a particularly fun matchup for the much taller Wagner either on Sunday. The Celtics will need Pritchard to shoot better down the road, but for now, he is finding ways to make an impact, despite a scoreless night in Game 4. After turning the ball over 21 times in Game 3 and giving up 15 offensive rebounds, the Celtics turned the ball over just 10 times in Game 4 and gave up just seven offensive boards.
The Magic scored just eight points off turnovers and 14 second-chance points after scoring 26 points off turnovers and 16 second-chance points on Friday. The Celtics still aren’t launching many 3-pointers, but that’s a side effect of playing a team that doesn’t need to collapse and switch, which should, in theory, happen more in future rounds. For now, the Celtics can look at their box score from Sunday without wincing nearly as much as they did on Friday.
The Celtics now head home with a chance to end things. Game 5 – with a chance to face the winner of the Knicks and Pistons on the line – tips off at 8:30 p.m.
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