The Celtics found themselves in the second half of Game 6 trying to keep their season alive. Boston was able to keep the game close despite having a horrible start to the game. They came out of the break firing on all cylinders which lead to a big run at the start of the second half which switched the momentum in the Celtics favor, and with the extra effort, we saw the Celtics avoid elimination.
The Rise of Fire & Ice
The Celtics got good performances from pretty much everyone. Their starters all had double-digit point totals. Jayson Tatum led the way with 31 points, with Jaylen Brown adding 28 himself. It looks like Fire & Ice is hitting their stride again and this time it was to help the Celtics avoid elimination.
Tatum ended the game with 31/10/6 marking his fifth game this postseason with at least 25/10/5, setting the NBA record for most games with such a total before turning 23. He passes LeBron James who had 4 games with that stat-line. Tatum is in good company with his recent feat.
Jayson Tatum is the only player in NBA history with 5 career postseason games with 25+ pts, 10+ ast & 5+ ast before turning 23 pic.twitter.com/P3Yrozmp0q
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) September 26, 2020
Additionally, Brown was able to add 28/8/2 and a kiss to the Heat. Brown won’t get much credit for it but his aggression from the start of the game is what helped keep the Celtics in this game going into the half. Pair that with whatever was said in the locker room during the halftime break and you got a gut-checked Celtics team that starts the third quarter on a 20-2 run. This was only the second time this Celtics team won the third quarter.
Jaylen Brown. ? #Celtics pic.twitter.com/fQtAcAcrQY
— HonestLarry (@HonestLarry1) September 26, 2020
The young duo is heating up and the East should be scared come next year, especially since the front office duo of Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens have three first-round draft picks this year and it seems that there isn’t much needed to improve.
Big Men Walkin’
Enes Kanter got some playing time in Game 5 after not seeing the court in Game 4. Kanter added 8/4/2 in 10 minutes off the bench. He started off 3/3 from the field quickly adding some fuel to the Celtics’ fire. Although he did not play much against the Raptors last round, he could see some additional minutes in the rest of this series.
The Celtics have won both games that Kanter played in. He is a slight defensive liability, but I can see some lineup movement in the future where Kanter plays with Robert Williams who could off-set the defensive holes that Kanter comes with. Probably won’t happen until next year, but it’s still something to look at.
Daniel Theis was lights out last night against Bam Adebayo, who could have been favoring his injured left hand. Theis had a double-double putting up 15/13/1 with 3 blocks to add to his playoff leading total which is now 21. Theis’ emergence in Game 5 was crucial to the Celtics success.
Defensive Hustle
The Celtics outrebounded the Heat 60-48 and they were able to add 17 points off the fast break because of that. The Celtics laid off the Butterfingers before Friday’s game. They only committed 11 turnovers in comparison to the 19 they had on Wednesday in Game 4. The Celtics defense also held the Heat to 19 percent from the three-point line.
It looked like the Celtics got their heads on straight after halftime. Now let’s see if they can keep themselves looking forward to Game 6. Will the Celtics avoid elimination again and force Game 7? Only time will tell. Is it Sunday yet?
