DeMar DeRozan first thought of air conditioning the TD Garden for good. With his “stepback” at mid-distance, bottom line, he had indeed given his team a six-point lead (106-112) on the Celtics‘ floor. But a penetration from Dennis Schroder, an outside shot from Jaylen Brown and a series of four free throws from Robert Williams III later, and the Celtics ended up winning an 8-0 final.
« It’s a moment everyone in this league has been waiting for., judges the pivot of the Celtics after the meeting, about his decisive passages on the line, where he nevertheless displays only 64% in career. I’m glad I did it and that my teammates supported me. It boosted my confidence. »
Confidence for the player himself but especially for his team. The Celtics are indeed one of the most struggling teams in close encounters. Prior to this match, they had only won twice, in eight matches, when the final gap ended with three points or less.
We made defensive stops when necessary
« We’ve had a lot of tough matches like this and the guys are learning from that. We begin to understand what we want to do at the end of the matches, the shots we want to get, it is visible. The credit goes to our guys. They got a little roughed up but they never put their heads down they kept fighting and they made it through », Appreciates their coach, Ime Udoka.
The latter takes as an example this match or the one against Indiana a week earlier, ended in overtime and won by the Celtics, to consider that his team “ performs better late in the game ». « We made defensive stops when necessary “, he judges.
His veteran Al Horford noticed it too. ” We had our backs against the wall. Rob signed a few actions at the end, he made a few free throws. JT (Jayson Tatum) released some good defensive possessions. These guys really hit it off. We just found a way to get this victory. »
Facing the best team in their conference all the same. ” Honestly, it’s just a win. I have the impression that we still have a long way to go to progress and be more consistent. We have taken a few steps forward in this area, but tonight we are satisfied with this victory “, wants to relativize the interior, whose team receives three opponents within its reach (Pelicans, Hornets and Blazers) next week.
| Tirs | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Jayson Tatum | 39 | 36.6 | 42.0 | 32.9 | 84.4 | 1.1 | 7.4 | 8.5 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 25.5 |
| Jaylen Brown | 29 | 34.7 | 46.0 | 37.5 | 77.8 | 0.8 | 5.6 | 6.4 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 24.4 |
| Dennis Schroder | 36 | 31.5 | 43.1 | 33.8 | 84.9 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 15.7 |
| Marcus Smart | 38 | 34.1 | 39.3 | 30.4 | 79.8 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 11.6 |
| Al Horford | 34 | 29.0 | 43.2 | 28.0 | 85.9 | 1.5 | 5.9 | 7.4 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 10.6 |
| Josh Richardson | 31 | 25.9 | 45.0 | 40.6 | 85.0 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 10.3 |
| Robert Williams | 34 | 29.2 | 74.9 | 0.0 | 66.1 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 9.1 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 9.9 |
| Grant Williams | 38 | 22.7 | 48.1 | 41.7 | 87.8 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 7.1 |
| Payton Pritchard | 33 | 13.8 | 37.5 | 37.5 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 5.2 |
| Romeo Langford | 33 | 18.4 | 41.8 | 32.8 | 64.0 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 4.8 |
| Jabari Parker | 12 | 9.4 | 47.4 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| One’s Edges | 26 | 12.6 | 54.2 | 25.0 | 80.0 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 5.1 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 4.1 |
| Aaron Nesmith | 30 | 10.4 | 36.7 | 24.2 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 3.2 |
| Joe Johnson | 1 | 1.9 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Justin Jackson | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 7 | 4.5 | 27.3 | 27.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 18 | 5.3 | 18.5 | 16.7 | 66.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Bruno Fernando | 14 | 2.7 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Brodric Thomas | 7 | 3.9 | 11.1 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| C.j. Miles | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
