A Jayson Tatum long-range bomb gave the Boston Celtics the 126-123 win over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday evening in time beyond regulation.
How did they get so far?
Nicely, it was a workforce effort. Boston had six gamers rating in double figures, together with Al Horford, who tallied a season-high 18 factors.
Half of them got here within the fourth quarter, the place Massive Al was Boston’s main scorer.
“You’ll be able to at all times rely that he’s going to make a play when it’s time to make a play,” head coach Joe Mazzulla stated of the 17-year vet’s well timed buckets.
Horford bought himself going by doing simply that — making a play. With the sport tied at 102 with simply over 5 minutes to play, No. 42 drove previous Chris Boucher’s closeout for a classic and-one floater over Ochai Agbaji.
Regardless of lacking a nook three on the next possession, Horford remained prepared for the moments when his quantity 42 can be referred to as.
He sank a pair of late triples off of dishes from Tatum, who noticed a ton of consideration from Toronto’s protection for all the quarter. The second required him to make a play with lower than two minutes remaining. JT kicked him a move off of a double workforce, at which level Horford determined to pretend a move to the nook and take the look himself.
“It retains us on our toes,” the 38-year-old stated of the powerful battle in opposition to the Raptors. “I really feel like each workforce we’re enjoying in opposition to us is giving us their greatest shot… All of these things will make us higher.”
The vet makes a superb level. Despite the fact that the Celtics in all probability ought to’ve gained this recreation extra comfortably, they nonetheless managed to execute and make performs when issues bought tight. It’s much more enjoyable when you think about that closing video games is one thing that they’ve struggled with in years previous.
What number of video games do you, as somebody who helps the Cs, bear in mind watching the place you felt let down by the workforce’s late-game execution?
In all probability loads.
Now, what number of occasions do you keep in mind that identical feeling throughout final season’s playoff run?
Not many.
The Cs did a a lot better job at buckling down and ending video games, throughout their climb to Banner 18. In each Video games 3 and 4 in opposition to the Indiana Pacers within the Jap Convention Finals, the Cs pulled out wins in conditions the place there wasn’t room for error. Sport 3 showcased Horford’s readiness in an identical solution to Saturday’s win.
It was an evening the place he sank seven threes, together with two in spots the place he introduced the Cs inside one possession of the hosts, late within the recreation.
Don’t get me mistaken. The 2 video games had far totally different stakes. Nonetheless, the in-game scenario was just about the identical. Boston wanted all of the buckets they bought from the massive man in an effort to end the job.
With out his readiness, creativity, and execution, we in all probability wouldn’t have seen the primary made Tatum game-winner in who is aware of how lengthy.
