How much fun was Celtics-Lakers?
How much fun was Celtics-Lakers?Barry Chin/Globe Staff
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Welcome back to Court Sense 🍀 A newsletter that meets expectations, sometimes
It seems like all the Celtics are doing lately is welcoming potential late-postseason opponents to TD Garden, and for the most part, taking care of business.
Saturday’s Celtics-Lakers showdown on Causeway Street came with more hype and expectations than any regular-season game around here that I can remember for some time, and it delivered.
The stars starred (40 points for Jayson Tatum, 34 for Luka Doncic, a triple-double for LeBron James etc.), the first half was back-and-forth throughout, there were memorable moments (Al Horford skying for a dunk in transition, then accidentally kneeing Doncic square in the face comes to mind), and the game was still in doubt with a few minutes to play.
But to the surprise of few, the defending champions were just too good, eventually putting Los Angeles away in what could be a preview of an NBA Finals that would have Adam Silver dreaming of a Scrooge McDuck-style money bath.
My favorite moment of the night? Glad you asked.
Please take a moment to review this truly spectacular stretch from the Lakers’ Jordan Goodwin, who produced one of the silliest turnovers you can imagine, had Tatum drill a stepback 3-pointer straight in his face, and blew a wide-open layup in the space of, like, 20 seconds. It was, in my opinion, cinema.
Anyway, the Celtics also took care of business without Kristaps Porzingis, who revealed Monday night that he’s dealing with an unclear viral illness which has kept him out for much of the last two weeks.
Boston has been shorthanded for most of its five-game win streak, which has seen Jaylen Brown (knee), Jrue Holiday (finger), Porzingis (mystery illness, I guess), Tatum (played 45 minutes against the Lakers and needs a nap), Sam Hauser (ankle), and Al Horford (scheduling conflict with seniors bingo night) each miss at least one game.
Some of the NBA’s biggest superstars — including LeBron James (left) and Sam Hauser (right) — were on display in Saturday’s Celtics-Lakers showdown.
Some of the NBA’s biggest superstars — including LeBron James (left) and Sam Hauser (right) — were on display in Saturday’s Celtics-Lakers showdown.Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Another theme of these recent games? The Celtics blowing leads, just for fun. Boston leads of 20-plus got whittled down to a single possession in the last five minutes in wins over the Nuggets, Lakers, and Jazz. Against Utah last night, the Celtics led by 21 points entering the fourth quarter just to look up and see a tied score with three minutes to play.
The upside? Blowing leads make for more fun finishes. The Tatum-less Celtics responded with a few exciting moments to close out another contender (for Cooper Flagg, not Larry O’Brien) in the Jazz.
Brown threw down a big dunk over one of the league’s best rim protectors in Walker Kessler, Hauser drilled a dagger 3-pointer (to give him a career-high 33 points), Holiday sealed the game with a quintessential Holiday steal that probably tingled Chad Finn’s spidey senses if he wasn’t watching — it was fun!
Maybe you all really enjoyed the way the Celtics romped to a 64-18 finish last season, winning every game by 30 points and putting teams away in the third quarter. Unfortunately, these Celtics are more interested in making things weird, and really, isn’t that what basketball is all about?
Anyway, after hosting four of the top five teams in the league (other than themselves, obviously) over the last two weeks, the Celtics will complete the set with Wednesday’s visit from the Thunder, who have won seven straight and are just one game behind Cleveland for the league’s best record at 53-11.
Oklahoma City beat Boston in one of the best games of the season in early January. Fingers crossed we’re in for something similar tomorrow night; or, at the very least, let’s make sure things get weird.
Let’s get into it.
ICYMI 🗞️
Jrue Holiday was crucial in the final moments Monday.
Jrue Holiday was crucial in the final moments Monday.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
There’s lessons even in a letdown game, as late Jazz surge proved Monday against the Celtics
By Gary Washburn
There were few positives coming out of the Celtics’ late-game win over the Utah Jazz on Monday at TD Garden.
There were no injuries and they executed enough in the final minutes when it counted for a 114-108 win after the embarrassment of blowing a 24-point lead to a team that’s been tanking since November.
The Celtics could have made their jobs easier by keeping their focus and preventing the Jazz from getting all those open 3-point looks — they were 8 for 9 in the fourth quarter. But there are lessons to be taken away from every experience, and for the second consecutive game, the Celtics blew a considerable late lead.
Continue reading
Other top stories we’re watching ...
With Jayson Tatum sitting, the Celtics beat the Jazz 114-108 Monday behind a career night from Sam Hauser. Adam Himmelsbach has the game story.
Joe Mazzulla said the game against the Lakers was just like any other, but his coaching said otherwise. Gary Washburn has more.
Are we in for another NBA Finals matchup between the Celtics and Lakers? We got a taste of a potential showdown on Saturday. Chad Finn weighs in on the matchup.
Trivia Tuesday 🧠
Each week, we’ll be asking a piece of Celtics trivia to test your knowledge on the 18-time champions.
Congratulations to Doug Crossley of Natick, the first person to correctly answer last week’s question. As a refresher, we asked you to name either of the two Celtics who have scored a basket for the team after their 40th birthday.
The answer that many of you correctly guessed was Robert Parish, one of the NBA’s longevity greats as the league’s all-time leader in games played. The Chief poured in 866 points after turning 40 ahead of his final season as a Celtic in 1993-94 as the last of Boston’s “Big Three” of the 1980s to play for the team.
There was one other answer, though, which only one person guessed correctly — congrats to Katherine McInerney of Nantucket, who showed off some excellent knowledge in identifying Joe Johnson, who at the age of 40 returned from a four-year absence from the NBA to score one singular bucket while on a 10-day contract with the Celtics in December of 2021. Kudos, Katherine!
Don't forget Iso Joe!
Don't forget Iso Joe!Winslow Townson/Associated Press
Anyway, here’s this week’s question: Who was the Celtics’ leading scorer of the 1990s?
(By total points scored, for the Boston Celtics of the NBA, from Jan. 1, 1990, through Dec. 31, 1999. Regular-season games only. Terms and conditions may apply. Ask your doctor if Court Sense trivia is right for you.)
Know the answer? Send us an email at courtsense@globe.com, and the first person to write in with the correct answer will get a shoutout when the answer is revealed in next week’s newsletter. Good luck!
This week in basketball 🏀
So, look, I don’t really want to talk about the Dallas Mavericks again, but the sheer misfortune that has befallen that franchise over recent weeks is just impossible to ignore.
As a quick recap, here’s what’s happened in Mavs world over the last six weeks, just a few months after the franchise made a wonderful run to the NBA Finals:
They blew up the club’s future in trading Luka Doncic, one of the most valuable and spectacular basketball players on the planet, for pretty much no good reason and received nowhere near the commensurate return for his talents;
The primary return for Doncic, Anthony Davis, got hurt in his very first game for Dallas and may not return this season;
Davis’s frontcourt mates, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively, are both out injured, and another forward, Olivier Maxence-Prosper, is having season-ending wrist surgery;
The Mavericks’ one remaining silver lining, Kyrie Irving, tore his ACL and is out for the season and likely part of next year, and at 32 years old will be facing long odds to return to his All-Star best;
Two of the lone healthy Mavericks, Dwight Powell and Kessler Edwards, smashed heads the other night going for a rebound and had to leave the game, because, sure, why not.
I’m going to take a quick intermission here to encourage you to check in on any Dallas natives or Mavericks fans in your life, they could use your support. Okay, back to it:
Dallas traded guard Quentin Grimes to the 76ers for Caleb Martin — since that trade, Grimes is averaging a career-best 17.4 points per game while Martin was, you will not believe this, injured, and has only played two games;
The Mavericks have been down to so few players (seven, to be exact) that, when substituting more than one player at a time, there is nobody left on the bench to greet those who have been substituted because they’re all on the court already;
Three assistant coaches have left the team: one left to coach the University of Utah, one is Slovenian and apparently was just there to coach the famous Slovenian guy, and one is facing some very serious charges for criminal assault;
“Fire Nico!” chants are springing up all over Dallas, as GM Nico Harrison’s job is being called for at FC Dallas matches, Dallas Stars games, and (this is a real thing) a Medieval Times horse show.
And ... breathe.
I do not wish to be hyperbolic, but I genuinely cannot remember a worse month or so for a professional sports team that did not involve matters of life and death.
Dallas went from a Finals run built around a 26-year-old superstar and MVP candidate, a one-man ticket to perennial contention set for another decade as the face of the franchise, to a basketball infirmary whose three best players (Davis, Irving, and Klay Thompson) are all 32 or older with injury histories that range from spotty to alarming.
I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Hug your franchise superstars and competitive basketball teams, folks. You never know how much time is left.
Up next ☘️
The Celtics are off Tuesday before hosting the Thunder on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., ESPN/NBC Sports Boston).
See the full Celtics schedule here.
This story first appeared in Court Sense, a biweekly Celtics newsletter from Boston Globe Sports.Click here to join the fun.
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.