White, Celtics win 5th straight in victory over Raptors: 8 takeaways

White had another phenomenal game – 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting, including six 3-pointers, to go with three rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. His offense coming back around has been one of the biggest reasons the Celtics are surging again, since he opens up passing and scoring options for Tatum in particular – the Celtics might not have a more deadly two-man option than the Tatum/White pick-and-roll (the only deadlier option might be Tatum and Porzingis). 

White’s defense, however, might be the strongest part of his very strong two-way game. He’s big and athletic for his position, certainly, and he uses his physical gifts to his advantage. But his positioning is just as important, and just as impressive. He consistently puts himself in the right position as a shot blocker to go up vertically and contest, even if he doesn’t get the blocked shot. He also breaks up passing lanes as well as anyone this side of Marcus Smart – on Tuesday, all three of his steals were less about feats of great athleticism and more about simply having his hands in the right place at the right time. 

White won’t wow you very often as a basketball player unless you are wow’d by winning basketball plays that fly a little under the radar, in which case you will find yourself wow’d by him multiple times per night. 

Jayson Tatum had six turnovers. Were they his fault?

Tatum finished with 11 assists (to go with a relatively inefficient 19 points on 18 shots), but he turned the ball over six times. What should we make of his stat line?

A closer look at Tatum’s turnovers tell something of an interesting story. 

• The first was probably less Tatum’s fault than it was a credit to Ochai Agbaji, whose high, active hands deflected his pick-and-roll pass to Payton Pritchard up in the air. 
• The second was similar – a really nice read by Scottie Barnes, who dropped back to trail Tatum in the pick-and-roll and correctly guessed that he planned to whip a pass behind him to Hauser at the top of the key. 
• The third was objectively Tatum’s fault – he dribbled off his leg. 
• The fourth is where things start to get a little murky. Sam Hauser ran a pick-and-roll with Tatum, but he stopped short and found himself in no man’s land – neither rolling far enough to draw a defender nor popping to give Tatum a passing option. Tatum tried to lead Hauser into space to the hoop for a layup, but Hauser was frozen to the ground.
• The fifth was a genuine shame: Tatum crossed Raptors big man Orlando Robinson to the ground and tried to dish to a rolling Neemias Queta, who was already prepared for the offensive rebound and wasn’t ready for the pass. 
• And the sixth was also entirely Tatum’s fault – a bad dribbling turnover. 

So of Tatum’s six turnovers: 

• Two were objectively his fault. 
• Two could probably be credited to Hauser and Queta. 
• Two were a credit to the Raptors’ defensive pressure.

Tatum’s 11 assists and six turnovers are an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.83, but if you remove the two caused by Hauser and Queta (which isn’t how this works, but nevertheless), he’s at a much healthier 2.75.

Tatum and White were Headband Boys again

Tatum and White were both sporting headbands. Earlier this season, they agreed that if one of them called for a headband game, they both had to wear them. 

“It was my call,” Tatum told reporters afterward. “No particular reason. We had an agreement that whenever one of us say we got to wear a headband, we’ve got to do it. We was supposed to take turns. We did it in Atlanta earlier in the season. I waited 40-some-odd games for him to say it, so I took the responsibility from him, and just said ‘F*** it, we’re going to wear the headband today.’”

The Celtics were cold (but record-setting) from three

The Celtics broke the NBA record for the most games in a row making 15 or more triples, but they needed 51 attempts to do it. Aside from White (6-for-11) and Hauser (2-for-4), everyone finished below 30 percent, while Tatum went 3-for-12, and both Brown and Torrey Craig went 0-for-5. 

With the win, the Celtics improved to 4-7 this year when they shoot 30 percent or less from deep. 

Jaylen Brown had a minor injury scare (and played well) 

Brown exited the game with 8:05 remaining in the third quarter holding the back of his left leg – a somewhat concerning development for the Celtics since Brown has had hamstring issues at times in the past, and especially since hamstring issues can linger uncomfortably. Brown sat out the remainder of the third quarter.

The good news, however, was that it appeared to be nothing major: A closer look revealed that Brown appeared to get kneed in the back of the leg, and after stretching his leg out a bit before the start of the fourth quarter, he returned to the game. 

Brown couldn’t find the range from behind the arc (0-for-5), but he carved the Raptors up in the paint – scoring 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting. His shot profile, meanwhile, was highly diverse. His first bucket was a heavily contested mid-range jumper. He hit several slicing layups against Raptors defenders who couldn’t contain his first step or his change of speed. He scored a pair of baskets sealing a defender on his back and catching a pass over the top. 

No one player was particularly dominant on Tuesday, but on a night when the Celtics weren’t lighting the world on fire, Brown gave them reliable offense.

The Celtics ended the third quarter with a fantastic 2-for-1.

The Celtics executed one of their best 2-for-1s of the season to end the third quarter.

After Immanuel Quickley hit a pair of free throws with 39 seconds remaining in the quarter to cut the Celtics’ lead to seven, Payton Pritchard hustled the ball up the floor as fast as possible, clearly trying to catch the Raptors off guard at the rim. The Raptors, however, were ready for the Celtics’ end-of-quarter expert, and they walled him off at the rim. 

Pritchard bailed out and turned to the 3-point line. There he spotted Sam Hauser, who had floated out of the corner away from his defender. Pritchard found Hauser, who cashed in the 3-pointer with 29.1 seconds remaining. 

On the other end, the Celtics got a nice stop – swarming Orlando Robinson, who traveled as he tried to escape the trap under the rim. That gave the Celtics 8.3 seconds to get another shot off and, perhaps predictably, Pritchard was the one who took it – charging up the floor and throwing on the brakes so hard that Jonathan Mogbo stumbled trying to defend him. Pritchard buried the 3-pointer, and the Celtics went up by 13 entering the fourth quarter.