1. We (he) did iiiiii…it!
That was big time.
Jayson Tatum’s struggles with that exact type of shot have been well-documented, and for me personally, it’s gotten to the point where I don’t really think that 20-odd foot fadeaway is going in. But Tatum delivered, nailing this 21-footer with two guys closing out. And it was glorious.
Game-winners are a strange art. On one hand, I’d love if the Celtics ran the greatest set play of all time to get a wide open shot for any of their five starters. But on the other, I’d much rather have Jayson Tatum miss a game winner than anyone else, because that’s his responsibility and also his burden.
On some level, and probably a lot of levels, you have to live and die with your best player in the biggest moments. Even if it’s not the best shot… there are good reasons he keeps taking them. He’s the best guy Boston has, and it’s a shot I — and clearly the Celtics as well — have learned to live with. Because sometimes, it’s pretty sick.
2. Jaylen Brown’s simple execution
It got lost in the actual game winner, but Jaylen Brown hit a lowkey game winner roughly 30 seconds earlier.
This doesn’t look like that complicated a shot, but it’s an example of the type of late-game execution the Celtics have been lacking lately. Brown sees the space afforded to him by three non-committal defenders, and attacks it immediately, getting to his spot without any hesitation.
The last month and change of Celtics basketball has been full of indecision and inconsistency. Yet no matter how much of a lead Boston wishes they had in the final seconds, wins and losses will always come down to those types of shots; find what works, and go to it over and over again. That’s what’s going to get this team out of their funk
3. Dejounte Murray’s injury and a really tough Pelicans season
Dejounte Murray, the Pelicans’ big free agent acquisition and most fans’ preseason reason-to-care-about-an-other-wise-unchanged-roster, suffered his second and final major injury of the 2024-25 campaign, tearing his Achilles and endnoting a really, really rough Pelicans season.
Every team struggles because of injuries, but sometimes the NBA produces a team so cursed that it leads to an overall downward spiral and to a record that, honestly, just doesn’t make sense. The Pelicans are now 12-37, don’t have a snowball’s chance in a Louisiana summer of making even in the Play-In and may have to tear things down at the…
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