Boston Celtics close strong, Kristaps Porzingis leads balanced attack past Los Angeles Lakers

Boston Celtics close strong, Kristaps Porzingis leads balanced attack past Los Angeles Lakers

Boston Celtics get the Christmas Day win the Lakers Chris porzingis was awesome and I love love love the fourth quarter execution it’s all right now on the lockdown Celtics podcast be ever ready recognize the city of champ Boston baby we do what you can’t locked on number 18 tat and brown

J team step back we going to wet that and slay teams of course the Celtics who else could it be scream like kg with the lario B Coral above average assessing the team status best daily pod no cap salary matching clutch like bir the DJ John on replay Prime Time dapping up the

Truth on the sideline raining JS how we started raising B how we finish lock on Celtics home of the winners heyy there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I’m here for you

Every day even on this Christmas day of course I’m here on this Christmas day because the Boston Celtics beat the Lakers on this Christmas day so make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your podcast open up that phone open up that app and say okay which podcast do I

Want to listen to lock on Celtics subscribe done or you could do the same thing on YouTube hop into the comments section let me know what you think I’m John corales I used to play a long time ago now I’m here in my very festive sweater to help you guide you through

This this win I cover the Celtics for Boston Sports Journal all that stuff uh and yeah let’s just talk about this and this show is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase of uh last

Minute tickets you know there just something about a win over the Lakers gets me all giddy it’s all I’m thrown I’m all discombobulated it’s Christmas it’s been a great Christmas uh for those of you who celebrate uh Christmas with me uh thank you all if you’re celebrating a different holiday hope

You’ve had an enjoyable holiday as well it’s just a just a big fun time here uh for me right now uh later on uh we’ll talk about just the successful road trip and and I’ll talk about that fourth quarter execution and and all kinds of fun stuff let’s just dive into the

Beginnings of this uh I think the the biggest headline here is how balanced the attack was christops porzingis uh comes back from the onegame absence from the sprained ankle 28 points 11 rebounds to assist the steel a couple of blocks he was fantastic and he led all five

Starters were right around 20 points so porzingis obviously 28 Tatum had 25 and not on a great shooting night I didn’t think he was aggressive enough for most of the game offensively but finished with 25 because he got to the line 13 times and hit 12 eight rebounds

Seven assists 20 258 and seven is a nice a nice line and he did a lot of the uh the little things he Joe Missoula loves to talk about screen assists and very simply a screen that sets a guy to go and score and I thought Jason taton

Probably finished this game it’s not fully tabulated yet but uh the well maybe it is I don’t know the the point is that he did the all the little things to help the Celtics uh when when this the scoring wasn’t there right like when when you’re not when you’re Jason Tatum and the

Scoring isn’t uh you know the shots aren’t falling and you’re not scoring at your usual level what can you do to help the team and hey it was a plus 10 on the night that that’s that that’s meaningful that you go out there and you shoot six

Of 15 and one of six from three you still find a way to get to the line you still find seven assists there to to get your teammates going you do other things you you don’t sulk you don’t do you’re you’re playing good defense I think generally speaking that that’s

What you want out of a star player uh Derek white Drew holiday 18 points a piece Jaylen Brown 19 so just balanced attack here for for the Celtics came out strong in the first quarter sucked in the second quarter another thing here is the the bounceback they they had a bad

Second quarter okay did did I like the fact that they had a bad second quarter no but they can have these bad stretches and it doesn’t derail the whole game they came back and had a big third quarter third quarters are you know how how much have we talked about

Third quarters over the past well all month long coming into this game are are coming into this road trip I should say on road on the road third quarters for the Celtics their offensive rating was 94 on this go four game Road Trip it’s 151.50 they went from next to last

To the best in the league and that’s Focus that’s execution coming out of the half and not doesn’t matter if you’re up or if you’re down if you’re if you have a big lead it’s a bigger lead doesn’t matter they now the second quarter was rough for the Celtics so they had no

Reason to come out slow in the third but they came out in the third and and played really well 4133 uh porzingis was big in the third quarter I thought the Celtics they could have done even more to get porzingis the ball but he was he was the only guy that

Consistently had a mismatch that you were like continue to hunt this continue to go after this they could have they could have I think gotten him the ball even more in this game but they they still took advantage of that and came out in the third quarter

And in in the second half really the whole second half was where the Celtics kind of got a you know got the the the meat of their their their lead here um so porzingis was the guy in in the third quarter for the most part and

Then it was a very balanced attack after that in the fourth uh I would say it’s very impressive that they won this game shooting 31% from three they uh they still put up 126 points they were 33 of 49 from two because they were 20 of 25

In the restricted area and nine of 15 outside of the restricted area so that’s what 29 of 40 in the paint overall that’s just really good and that’s where they ended up winning this game we talked about how do you win without shooting how do you win without hitting the three-pointers they shot

31% and they they still were able to put up 126 points because they got to the rim they got to the paint they they forced the issue a bit they attacked the mismatches they attacked poor Austin Reeves in the fourth quarter relentlessly that’s what you’re supposed

To do you’re supposed to go at them and this this was a really good fourth quarter because were able to mix it up they were able to attack and they didn’t care about shooting just three-pointers right they didn’t go in there and say we’re gonna generate three-point shots they were they were

One of seven in the three quarter in the third quarter which means they were 11 of 14 on other shots on two-point shots in the fourth quarter the the attacking the getting to the rim the higher percentage shots that’s how you close out a game getting to like

They they had a couple of layups from Derek white they had Drew holiday attacking the rim uh J Jason Tatum had a couple of shots around the rim those guys getting to the rim were able to uh get the higher percentage shots and we’ve been saying this I I’m gonna

Harp on it forever now but fourth quarter is about getting the buckets it’s about getting putting the ball in the hole it’s not about playing the math game it’s about just can you score the Celtics had a lead in the fourth how do you finish this off you’ve just got to make baskets

Go in the other end and defend them and try to stop them and build your lead to a point where the you can get to garbage time but in lie of that trading baskets will work if you’ve got a lead trading baskets in the fourth quarter is fine it’s not it’s not

Ideal you prefer to win the fourth quarter and the Celtics did by two but trading baskets when you have a lead ah I’ll live with it because at least you’re making baskets and you’re making baskets by getting the the types of shots that they did this was a success uccessful road

Trip and I’ll talk about I know I know the the Warriors game not withstanding I think that this this is the Celtics kind of showing us that this isn’t last year’s team they weren’t derailed by The Warriors loss in fact kind of I’m kind of happy that they lost to the

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Celtics your first list in every day now why not go over to lockdown sports today the first ever 247 streaming Channel on YouTube go check it out put it on leave it on it’s a fun all day thing get caught up on all the big stories and sports all the great conversations here

On the lockdown call me crazy but I’m kind of Happy the Celtics lost to the Golden State Warriors you know why because first of all losses are going to have to happen anyway right so there as I’ve been saying even if even if they live up to a 65 win

Pace that’s there’s still going to be losses that’s what 17 losses so if you’re going to strategically look at okay where are these losses going to happen that loss against Golden State that’s not so bad they didn’t have poring we’ talked about this I’m not I’m

Not trying to like go bring that back up but losing that game last season was kind of like a flash point where the Celtics uh fell apart a little bit they kind of lost their way they lost their identity and the more you hear from Joe moula the more there was very obvious

Pressure to keep on winning keep winning every game keep and when they didn’t win every game it became a little bit a little bit of like the pressure built up for sure this year I know everybody wants to win every game and obviously you want to win you

Wanted to win the the the Golden State game but they have to lose at some point and losing that game this time around and having these next three games be what they were I’m like you know what actually that loss considering the way they responded is

Good because because you got to see that this isn’t last year’s team you got to see that they had a bounceback that they would come back on the backto back without Tatum and wax the Sacramento Kings a a good team a decent team right not a slouch not the Pistons who are

Next and side note boy am I afraid of this game against the Pistons can I just just derail my my train of thought for a second Detroit Pistons on a what 26 27 game Lo losing streak coming into Boston Boston coming off a big road trip big win against the

Lakers seeing the Pistons and being like ah we got it and letting down that first game home from a big Ro big road trip oh I’m just the tiniest bit just ner nervous that this is going to be where the the streak ends for Detroit and Boston’s going to they’re going to look

At each other like what just happened like this is gonna be the first thinker of the Season I’m just saying I’m afraid of it I hope it’s not the case but anyway Sacramento is a good team the Clippers without kawhai still a good team even though they were on the third

Game in four nights Celtics go out there destroy them what’s you’re supposed that’s what you’re supposed to do in that situation they go into la build a big lead second quarter fall apart a little bit get out fall out of their good their good habits kind of lose

Their way a little bit third quarter get back to it fourth quarter great execution and I’ll talk about that six-minute stretch because there’s a lot that I loved about that stretch uh but they come out they close that game out and it’s a three in one road trip and it’s a successful road

Trip you play Four games if you win three out of every four games on the road you’re on your way the Celtics played Four good teams Golden State I don’t care what their record is that’s a good team with Klay Thompson rounding into form with Steph Curry being Steph Curry

With certain guys being who they are and and playing better that’s that’s not a that’s not a a horrible horrible loss I know the way they lost it is horrible I got it no need to get into the comments about it I understand but still a successful road trip and

Losing that game and being like Oh it’s okay that they lost that game because they bounced back and won their next three and now you’ve got games against Detroit Toronto and San Antonio to round out the year I mean that could be a nice little streak going even though I’m a little

Nervous about the Detroit game I think sometimes you need the same thing to happen so you could be like oh okay it’s actually not so bad you know you ride a bike you trip you fall you you know you slip you fall you hurt yourself you break an arm sometimes you

Just got to get back on the bike again and fall again so you get up and be like oh I didn’t break my arm this time so in the grand scheme of things no we want we all want the Celtics to go 82 and0 we understand they’re not going to

Go 82 and0 and in the moment moment people lose their minds about certain losses in certain situations we we assign the value to certain games but they’re all still one of 82 and so we assigned certain value to the to the Warriors game and now I’m going to go back and reassign certain

Value to it because of what it kind of indicates it’s it’s it’s almost like a nice callback in a movie it’s it’s like the main character going back to the scene of something bad happening and and nothing bad happening this time and like leaving that scene that’s like there’s a

Catharsis you know you feel better about you’re like all right they were at the same record they went to the same basic road trip and this time they didn’t soil themselves they still lost to the Warriors but they bounce back and they’re okay so Count Me In as successful road trip

Uh very happy with where they are very happy with how they’re progressing okay still nowhere near where they’re going to be in fact when I come back I’ll explain why I don’t think they’re anywhere close to where they’re supposed to be and why six minutes of the fourth quarter kind

Of gave us a taste of where they they’re supposed to be and how much I just how much I just love that talk about that next Today’s Show brought to you by game time game time knows that you have had a frustrating time getting tickets we know you know you’ve bought tickets from

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Lockdown Celtics podcast Boston Celtics are a work in progress still and as I said in the last podcast they’re right where they’re supposed to be for a contending team which is in December still a work in progress still figuring some things out Joe moula talked about Jason Tatum Jason

Tatum’s thing is not sacrifice necessarily his thing is reinvention being able to do the things that he does the non-scoring things and still help the team where in the past if he had a bad scoring night he just might fall apart or might force it might press you know not for nothing

But he only took 15 shots in 41 minutes now that’s that is kind of not the most accurate number because he did get filed and get to the line 13 times but it’s still like this could have been a night where Tatum forced it and he

Still found a way to do a lot to help the team was it his best game in the world no but he still was a positive but that’s part of why they’re nowhere close to where they’re going to be this Celtics team this is and this is

Perfect this is exactly what we want it’s very similar to what I was saying in the last podcast you want a team to not be the finished product in December go through January go through February go through March and get closer to that finished product because I I think

There’s so much more that they can do so much more where Tatum can get more comfortable in this role you can find a way to flow through christops porzingis porzingis got 19 shots he could have gotten 25 in this game and and I think he probably should

Have uh White and holiday are really playing great at this point holiday I feel like is is fully acclimated 18 points seven and seven uh 18 for Derek white with 11 assists two you know two steals two blocks for him just ridiculous numbers there think these

Guys are starting to figure it out the bench did not do a whole lot in this game Al Horford just six points although they were very well timed points Sam Hower is ice cold Payton Pritchard scored 10 points all in a very concentrated 10 10-point um swing there

He had at the beginning of the second quarter that was actually very important but uh he didn’t do anything kind of after that so the bench this they’re they’re still not finding that starter bench balance one of these days they have the potential to put this whole

Thing together and if they do it’s going to be scary now we did see some in that in that six minute stretch in the fourth quarter I broke it down on Boston Sports Journal uh I I just I love that stretch so much that when I saw it I saw it

Happen I was like I can’t wait to look at the video and explain everything that happened so I did that on Boston Sports Journal I broke down the entire six minutes from the 830 or so markk to the 230 Mark where the Celtics outscored the

Lakers by seven they turned a five is I think it was a five-point lead in no it was an eight-point lead into a 15-point lead and got the separation at that point they just needed a couple more buckets after that to Salt the salt the game away and the beauty of that

Stretch is that six different guys scored all of their top six guys Tatum Brown porzingis white holiday and Horford they got six assists on those nine buckets from three different guys so three different guys had assists and you just got this nice varied kind of offensive kick where it starts off

With this great great play where holiday pushes the ball Jaylen Brown gets it and it has a an open three an open enough three where you’re like this is where Jaylen Brown takes that shot but he gave it up because the Celtics had an advantage goes to Hower

Goes back to Holiday he he takes a dribble gets to the rim kicks it out to Al Horford and that’s a three-pointer beautiful beautiful beautiful because there’s so much trust in that play the ball moved a lot and they got the highest percentage shot in that because

The wideopen corner three is a high percentage shot they got a tip in from Jaylen Brown who uh just got great position uh on a a holiday kick to the corner for a Hower three Jaylen Brown makes a great decision on the break to not flare out to the corner because it

Was a fouron four and there were three guys there if he had flared out to the corner the three guys there could have just stayed in this little kind of triangle that they were in and guarded the Celtics instead Jaylen makes a cut that opens up the corner gets Hower the

Shot and because Hower has this amazing teardrop three-pointer nice soft rebound Jaylen is right there for the offensive rebound so they’re working hard they’re doing that kind of stuff they get pick and roll layups from Derek white uh they get uh Jason Tatum as the screener to

Free up Derek white you got Jason Tatum getting the ball on the Baseline and taking a fade away which is a fourth quarter shot that is a playoff shot those types of plays are are where the Celtics are going to close out games it doesn’t matter hitting three-pointers

It’s a layup it’s fade away in the on the on the Baseline it’s getting them to within a spot where a guy feels comfortable gets to a place where he can rise up and take a nice shot that he can hit that’s what the fourth quarter is

About you got uh a stop on The Fast Break quick alleyoop to Dereck white because Derek White’s processing power is out of control it’s amazing he as he’s running down the floor he like initi it’s like Quick Glance boom okay yep I got it give me the ball bang let

Me take another quick glance Yep this is exactly what I thought it was there goes the alleyoop DK white is so smart um and then you know running a a a pick and roll or not a pick and roll but uh just just playing off of porzingis targeting Austin Reeves on the Block

Porzingis makes an amazing pass Tatum gets the spot against uh a Reeves who they were targeting repeatedly at that point what makes that so so much of a great play was Tatum didn’t demand the ball he had the ball and he gave it up Derek White had Austin Reeves on him

But instead of just calling the calling white over he gives it up to porzingis then White sets the screen and then Tatum sets up on the Block on the low the low right Block it’s a wild angle for porzingis to make that pass but he makes a perfect pass and they take advantage

Of the mismatch without having it be just Tatum running a pick and roll that that kind of stuff is awesome that’s how you attack a mismatch without it just being Tatum calling a guy over and saying come set a pick for me these six minutes were just

Spectacular uh I’m trying to find words that I haven’t said before but honestly it’s just the trust that was involved the understanding that you can attack these certain situations without it just having to be Tatum and brown all the time Derek white can attack them Drew holiday can attack him anybody that was

Facing Austin Reeves can attack him you don’t have to this team is too good for it to just be two guys or one guy Jason Tatum attacking that’s the full power of the Boston Celtics that’s what it is and on each of these plays if you go look at it on

Boston Sports Journal you can see they have other guys that other options if this thing didn’t work you can be like okay if this drive didn’t work you have Jaylen Brown cutting down the middle could have dumped it off or he was there for the putback or you could have kicked

It to porzingis in the corner if he got the close out he could have K hit Jaylen down the middle I can look at the play and be like this happened and this is why it happened and that’s good that it happened but for some reason if it

Didn’t they could have done this or they could have done that or they could have done this and there’s three four other options that’s the full power of the Boston Celtics they’re not doing that all the time if they can do that all the time W the league better watch out The

League better watch out but they did it for six minutes in the fourth quarter exactly when you need it to be happening and I loved it thought it was just an incredible stretch there because so many guys touched the ball so many guys scored it was not one guy it was not the

Same old stuff it was great great great execution not a perfect game by any stretch the second quarter was bad defensively they they could have done better but the execution down the stretch this is what you want and it was a great road trip it’s a great win against the Lakers and we’ll

Take any wins against the Lakers now like I said the Celtics take on the Detroit Pistons they should win they should be favored by 20 and they should win by 30 this should be a domination can the Celtics after this long trip Christmas away from the families they’re coming

Back tomorrow they’ve got Wednesday they got a practice Wednesday can they reset and be ready because facing the Pistons boy it’s set up for a very stupid loss it’s set up for a stupid loss and I hope I hope I’m wrong because if this if this

Team is what what I think it is then maybe they they kind of don’t play the way I think they they might or they come out slow and they roll afterwards but this is a team that’s never taken these excuses this season they’ve not taken these excuses this this season and they

Have executed in spots where I’ve been kind of like this before it should be easy should be easy pickings we should see uh Drew Peterson come out again in the fourth quarter and you know all these guys theano band all those guys we’ll see I’ll be here I’ll be talking

About it I’ll be at the arena podcast from TD Garden so uh make sure you’re subscribed wherever you get your podcasts and you can watch the show on YouTube would love to see you there get into the comments section let me know what you think and if you’re with me on

A daily basis Monday through Friday if you’re one of my every dayers I’d love it if you shared the podcast spread the word tell your friends tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the lockdown Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day

The Celtics finished off a successful road trip with a strong second half and a win over LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the LA Lakers. Kristaps Porzingis led the way, Jayson Tatum did other things while not shooting well, and they got a balanced attack, especially in a great fourth quarter close where everyone contributed. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal talks about all that, why the loss to the Warriors was good, and why these guys still aren’t even close to their full potential.

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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