I am going to try my hardest to remain calm during this. To keep things relaxed, I’ll start with a simple list of things that happened during that Celtics win:
Late substitution, choreographed Hugo Gonzalez game tying three with .4 seconds left in overtime… ok? All that after a comeback to take a big lead before blowing said lead and almost losing however not losing and reversing a dead-to-rights situation because of two of the nastiest plays you’ve ever seen to get two clutch threes and of course
only winning in double OT because of massive AMARI WILLIAMS minutes in BOTH OVERTIMES because both Luka Garza and Neemias Queta fouled out?!
We also had Ron Harper Jr. minutes? Baylor Scheierman second on the team in rebounds? Did I mention Hugo Gonzalez had a few plays where he looked like LeBron? And Payton Pritchard had a few where he looked like Curry? Do we have Steph and LeBron at home? Am I freaking out?
More conventionally, we had a Jaylen Brown triple-double (sure), 32 from Pritchard (yep), and the Celtics have played a quadrillion combined minutes without Derrick White on the first night of a back-to-back during a home game against the Brooklyn Nets. Of course, it was in Brooklyn, but it was a home game. Jaylen was getting MVP chants in OT, it was sick.
Yes, the Celtics were playing the Nets, not exactly your idea of a monstrous juggernaut. But come on man… no Tatum, no DWhite, both centers fouled out, not much from Simons, Jaylen Brown is just John Snow standing there alone drawing his sword against charging horses in that one Game of Thrones scene… and we get it done? I mean that’s just a ridiculous win. Ridiculous!
Look, I don’t have any profound thoughts about this other than what I’ve already said about this team: I don’t really understand it, parts of me refuse to accept it, and yet it clearly, unmistakably works. It is the ultimate example of how, in sports, you really just have to judge the results because we really can’t understand what’s up and what’s down. I had no idea any of these guys were going to be playable, let alone half as good as they actually are.
So, in judging the results, we need to decide if the lunacy that just won us that game is a glorious flash in the pan or if there’s real stuff to build on. For Amari Williams, his performance in a position of dire need is the stuff of Greek myths, like both centers foul out and he has to come in and make some ad-hoc home run touch pass to Pritchard while standing on deaths door? And the game-sealing and-one into the block in OT? Though he obviously has a long way to go, that will stick in my head for a while.
And Hugo, my goodness gracious, I do not know what to think of this man. His effort level is breaking the scale; he’s not actually scoring that much, and every game, it feels like he has 20 more points than he actually does. But it’s all well and good because his play is completely additive. Not sure I’d want him playing 30 mins in a playoff series, but he’s like a hot potato to throw at the other team and force them to juggle it for 10-20 minutes per contest. He creates situations to capitalize on.
He also has one “so that might be something” play per night. He had a step-through in transition that, I kid you not, kind of looked like LeBron. He used his physicality to create space in a way that is generally the bag of much more mature players. I’m not saying he’s going to be LeBron, but I’m officially not not saying that. Deal with it.
This might be bad for tomorrow’s result, given that Jaylen Brown just played 46 minutes and now they have to fly to Chicago where it’s like -652 degrees outside. If the snow storm/extreme cold forces the NBA to move the game from 8 p.m. to noon like they did for the Hornets game tomorrow… well then, just pack it up we’ll get ‘em next time. I imagine they would have already announced that, but I just wanted to mark it in case it was still possible.
I know the Celtics are on a serious Boston fan backburner this week with the Patriots playing in the AFC Championship, but I hope you all spent your Friday night watching that absurdity. It was well worth our time.
