Celtics Struggle to Win Against Pelicans with Three Stars and One Flop
Starting a three-game road trip, the Boston Celtics defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 118-116 on Friday night.
New Orleans dropped to 12-37, while Boston improved to 34-15.
After their comforting victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, Boston secured back-to-back wins. As both teams got into foul trouble late on and Jaylen Brown received a technical foul for disagreeing with officials, discipline became an issue. In the end, the Celtics did enough to thwart the Pelicans’ tenacious home comeback attempt. Although it wasn’t nice and resembled the difficulties Boston had faced for two months, the team managed to triumph.
Brown had a productive night from the field, shooting 11 of 18 and making baskets when the Celtics needed them most. With just 33.9 seconds left in a contested closing stretch, Brown came through with a midrange jumper that put the Celtics up by two points.
Brown decided to change the tempo while the game was tied and ended up scoring a team-high 28 points.
Trey Murphy III
Murphy III led the Pelicans as they swiftly got to work destroying the Celtics’ 5-0 start.
The guard from New Orleans scored 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting in the first quarter. In the first 12 minutes, he worked hard to put pressure on the Celtics defence, scoring 21.5 points a game on average this season.
When his ninth three-pointer of the evening slammed in off the glass to keep the Celtics ahead by one possession in the fourth quarter, he soared once more.
Murphy’s 40 points at the end of the game against the Celtics are a season high and one point short of his career high.
Tatum, Jayson
Tatum made two three-pointers in the second quarter to establish his rhythm. He was an effective perimeter shooter who led the Celtics with 16 points in the first half.
Tatum stayed aggressive to go to the basket when it was needed in the fourth quarter, but Boston struggled in the third. On the game’s last complete possession, the Celtics then gave him the ball. Tatum broke a 116-116 deadlock by burying the game-winning jumper from the left elbow while facing two defenders.
Tatum concluded the tense game with a double-double and a Celtics victory with 27 points and 10 assists.
Turnovers
With 11 first-half mistakes that resulted in 13 points for the Celtics during that time, Boston received a gift from the Pelicans.
The Celtics and Pelicans combined for 33 total turnovers in the sloppy game, indicating that neither team did a great job of handling the ball.
