1. Starters lump of coal turned to diamonds
At the 9:22 mark and the Celtics down 20, Mazzulla pulled all of the starters off the floor out of a timeout, seemingly sending a message due to the lack of effort. The bench unit of Anfernee Simons-Hugo Gonzalez-Sam Hauser-Baylor Scheierman-Luka Garza would come in and immediately make an impact. They rattled off a 10-2 run off the jump and cut the Pacers lead to 8 by the end of the quarter after Brown and White checked back into the game at the 1:15 mark. Boston then outscored Indiana 29-13 in the fourth quarter to seal the comeback victory.
When asked about it postgame, Joe Mazzulla talked about the benching and praised both the starters and the bench guys. “It’s a credit to [the starters] of having an understanding that anybody can impact winning at any time,” he said. “Like these [bench] guys can help us win, these guys can help us win, we need them and they need us. And you take care of the guy next to you. I think it’s just a level of empowerment amongst the guys on the team.”
Jaylen Brown was asked his thoughts on the benching postgame and echoed an approving sentiment towards Mazzulla’s decision. He said, “To be honest, I was pissed. I was ready to play. I felt like we were mailing it in. It was only 3 minutes in but you know we trust our coaching staff so it was the right decision … the 2nd group is the reason we won the game … it was a great call by Joe.”
If Mazzulla didn’t bench the starters in the third quarter, I really don’t think they come back to win this game. This game as also Joe Mazzulla’s 200th win of his NBA coaching career and it came in maybe his best game.
2. Brown guided the sleigh
Much like Rudolph on that foggy Christmas Eve, Jaylen Brown led the way for the Celtics victory in the fourth quarter. Brown scored 14 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter alone and made some incredible plays to complete the comeback.
Brown was incredibly aggressive when it came to going downhill and attacking the Pacers defense to start the quarter. His first basket of the came on a layup driving on Andrew Nembhard, the second came on a layup attacking Jay Huff, and the third came on this drive of Pascal Siakam to give the Celtics their first lead of the night since early in the first quarter. Brown was stuck in the corner with the shot clock running down, so he used his shoulders to create space on Siakam and contorted his body to make this reverse layup.
His best play of the night came on his last made shot of the game and gave Pacers fans everywhere PTSD from Game 1 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals. With 4.9 seconds on the shot clock, Derrick White inbounded the ball to Brown in the corner. Brown caught it and immediately hoisted a fadeaway jumper over Nembhard who was right on top of him in an almost exact recreation from his three from the 2024 playoffs.
This game was the 7th game in a row Brown has scored over 30 points in a game and the MVP chants he received at the free throw line tonight should tell you how much the Celtics faithful is loving it. No matter what challenge Brown has been thrown in to this year, he has navigated it to almost perfection. He is becoming a special player and needs to win Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December.
I love Hugo Gonzalez. I could end my thoughts with that right there and I think it will get the point across. Gonzalez had another incredible game. He played a career high 37 minutes and it felt like he didn’t play enough. Hugo was the main catalyst behind the Celtics third quarter comeback and was the definition of a spark plug off of the bench.
Before I talk about his second half performance, I wanted to highlight this play in the second quarter. Derrick White blocked the shot on defense and passed it ahead to Gonzalez. Hugo then proceeded to got to another level of speed and blow by everyone for an easy layup.
Gonzalez showed more of his offensive bag with this play in the third quarter where he, in stride, caught the ball, drove to the basket, and hit Pascal Siakam with a mean Eurostep.
On the defensive end, he became a pest, giving of shades of Marcus Smart. After a made basket, Gonzalez was pressing against Andrew Nembhard. Nembhard proceeded to elbow Gonzalez in the throat out of frustration and with a little bit of embellishment, the Celtics got the ball back and Nembhard got a technical foul for arguing it. I love this play from Hugo because it shows that he is going to do everything in his power to win.
Its hard not to be insanely impressed with the way Gonzalez has been playing. He has shown some elite defensive instincts that most rookies just don’t have and his offense is still serviceable, shooting 53% from the field and 41% from three so far. To quote Jayson Tatum, Hugo is a bad “Bad Mother F——r!”
4. Luka Garza’s Workshop
After not playing in a game since December 5th, Luka Garza had a double-double in the Celtics win over the Raptors in their last matchup, putting on a clinic on the offensive boards. In this game, Garza continued to show how much of a rebounding monster he truly is. Garza had 9 rebounds in this game in total and 5 of those being offensive rebounds. Garza was single handedly keeping plays alive with his effort on the glass.
This play in the fourth quarter highlights his efforts the best. White missed a three, Garza dove after the rebound. While being boxed out by Jay Huff, he was able to tap it over to Pritchard who missed the layup, but that shouldn’t take away from Garza laying it all out on the line to give the Celtics another chance at scoring.
5. A Derrick White Christmas
Derrick White had a solid game in this one with 19 points and once again showed up when the Celtics needed him most in the fourth quarter. After White made a three to cut the Celtics deficit to 1 point early in the quarter, he followed it up with this nasty crossover move to get around Ethan Thompson. Then, thanks to a beautiful Gortat screen by Garza, White had a wide-open lane to dunk it home and give Boston the lead again.
When the Celtics benched their starters in the third quarter, it looked like Joe Mazzulla was giving Anfernee Simons his time to shine and lead the offense. Simmons rewarded his trust by scoring 9 big points in the quarter to chip away at the Pacers lead. Simons looked very Damian Lillard-esque on this side-step three, making a beautiful move while having Jay Huff on an island.
Mazzulla gave praise to Simons after the game, saying, “We talk about depth, we talk about guys sacrificing and all that. There’s no one that’s done that more than him.”
7. Rockin’ Around the Rim
Looking at the box score, it is interesting to look at the Celtics shot diet in this game. Boston only attempted 37 three pointers and absolutely dominated the points in the paint battle. Boston outscored Indiana 52-28, feasting on the Pacers weak interior defense. Behind Luka Garza’s efforts, the Celtics also dominated the boards in this game, out rebounding the Pacers 49-36.
8. Pacers Heatmiser to Snowmiser shooting
Coming into this game, the Pacers were the worst three point shooting team in the NBA at 32%. However, by halftime Indy was shooting an insane 60% (12-20). Their entire game plan was penetrating the Celtics in the paint and kick out to a wide open shooter before Boston could close out. Thankfully for Boston, Indiana went ice cold after that hot start, shooting only 1-20 (5%) from three and 12-44 (27%) from the field in the second half.
9. Spirit of Never Giving Up
This game showed how incredible the Celtics will to win really is. A standard of never giving up and fighting until the last second has engrained itself into every part of this organization and it is amazing to watch. You can argue it all starts with the way Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum carry themselves as superstars, but you also have to commend Joe Mazzulla and the rest of the coaching staff on getting them prepared to play in any situation on any given night.
When asked about how Mazzulla has instilled this mentality and education to into the team, Brown gave a great answer, calling it “Celtic University.” Brown said, “Where it’s like, you’re in class and you’ve got to pay attention… It’s like being in school and we’re going through breaking down the footage and trying to really expand our knowledge for the game.”
10. No Celtics on Christmas
For the first time in a decade, the Boston Celtics will not play on Christmas Day. This Pacers game was their last game of the season until after the holiday passes. It’s such a weird feeling. To put into context how long it’s been since the Celtics haven’t played on Christmas, this was the roster of the team:
I’m happy for the players who will be able to spend time at home with their families, but it will definitely feel like something is missing for Celtics fans everywhere. For me, the routine has always been, open presents, eat brunch with the family, watch the Celtics at normally the 5 pm time slot, and finally end the night by watching Christmas movies and eating dinner.
Now, I’m not sure what to do to fill the void of Celtics basketball but the rest of the games should hopefully be entertaining. The only plus side of the NBA’s slate of games this year is that it is better than the NFL games that are on the schedule, which should give a point to the “Christmas is a basketball’s sport” crowd.
Even with no Celtics game, I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!
