The Boston Celtics (11-10) defeated the New Orleans Pelicans (10-11) in an important 124:107 win (BOXSCORE). The Celts dominate most of the game, but still have to tremble briefly in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the crisis of the Pelicans is worsening.
The Celtics had to give up Jaylen Brown (back) at the end of their three-game away trip, but on the other hand the Pelicans fans were happy about the return of Anthony Davis, who had to pause with hip problems.
The almost catastrophic start of the landlords, however, could not be changed much by the brow. New Orleans was already trailing 2:10 after about three and a half minutes, did not hit any of the 4 field throw attempts during this period and at the same time had 4 fast ball losses on the account.
Even an early break from Head Coach Alvin Gentry did not bring any real improvement. The Celtics took advantage of the numerous mistakes of the Pels and already in the first section they took a 15-point lead.
In the second run New Orleans still had some problems with the partly suffocating Celtics defense. Only towards the end of the section did Nikola Mirotic turn up the heat. The 27-year-old scored 5 out of 7 threes in half time alone and led his team to an 8-0 run just before the half-time break. So NOP at least shortened to 48:57.
Shortly after the change of sides, the Pelicans even reduced the gap to 6 points, but in the further course of the run the home side again did turnover after turnover, while on the opposite side they found no remedy against the efficient offense of the Celts.
Thus the lead increased up to 20 points in the middle of the third quarter. The decision? Not at all. Again the Pelicans managed a run with which they approached 79:89 until the start of the final section.
Now Davis woke up slowly but surely. Boston was getting more and more trouble getting a handle on the brow. The Big Man scored 14 of his 27 points in the final section and kept his team within striking distance.
However, Boston always found the right answer in the form of several threes by Al Horford (20 points, 3/4 threes) and some daggers in the Crunchtime by Kyrie Irving (26 points, 10 assists, 5 steals, 5/10 threes). New Orleans had nothing left to oppose this.
In addition to Irving and Horford, Jayson Tatum also played well with 20 points, 7 rebounds and Marcus Morris (19 and 11). Terry Rozier also scored 14 points from the bench, while Daniel Theis did not play.
In the Pelicans Davis was topscorer (16 rebounds, 5 assists), while Mirotic was only a little visible in the second half (25, 6/11 threes). Jrue Holiday also had a black day (13 points, 7 assists, 8 turnovers), Julius Randle still contributed 15 points.
New Orleans Pelicans (10-11) vs. Boston Celtics (11-10) 107:124 (BOXSCORE)
Kyrie Irving. The Point Guard of the Celts was not only at Crunchtime. Almost throughout the whole game Irving convinced both in scoring and as a playmaker in a well-known manner. Not for nothing did he have the second-best plus/minus rating at Boston with +24.
Jrue Holiday. Irving’s counterpart was not really present from the beginning – and when he was, he only made a negative impression with his numerous ball losses. Holiday never really found his way into the game. Despite his 13 points and 7 assists, the 28-year-old did not play well.
Over long stretches of the game, the Celtics were extremely good at sealing off their own zone. On the one hand, the Pelicans were forced to play numerous, mostly inefficient mid-range jumpers (in the first 36 minutes, NOP had a better quota from downtown than from the field) and on the other hand, the guests managed to more or less take the brow out of the game. Davis only became a factor for the Pelicans late (too late) when he was continuously alluded to in the post.