Minnesota was missing Anthony Edwards, but they made up for it by playing fast and physical, which Boston didn't match
fell apart in the fourth quarter in a game they led by as many as 15, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves 102-92. Jaylen Brown scored 29 for Boston, but the team shot poorly overall and got beat up along the way.
The TWolves were missing Anthony Edwards, but they got 23 off the bench from Bones Hyland to make up for some of the lost production. Brown fueled an opening 11-2 Celtics run, but he was the only person hitting shots in the first quarter. He scored 11 of Boston’s 23 points in a period where the teams combined to shoot 16 for 49 . They extended their nine-point first-quarter lead to 15 early in the second, but Minnesota went on a 21-4 run to take the lead. The blitzed ball handlers and forced Boston into a sloppy, iso-heavy quarter where they turned it over nine times for 13 Minnesota points. Bones Hyland’s buzzer beater gave the Timberwolves a three-point halftime lead.came out scorching hot in the third, scoring seven-straight points and fueling an 11-0 run. Tatum got up to 13 points, but Jaden McDaniels had an explosion of scoring himself, putting up 15 in the quarter and keeping it a one point game heading into the fourth. Hyland got going at the start of the fourth, fueling an 11-4 run that gave Minnesota a six-point lead. The Celtics actually went about six minutes without scoring, so if you start the run past Boston’s points it was actually 16-0 Minnesota, which included eight-straight points for Naz Reid. The Celtics never really challenged after that.This might have been the most physical game the Celtics have played, which says a lot considering some very tough games against Detroit. “It messed up the timing of our offense, messed up us getting the ball in the scoring area,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought it impacted our screening, it impacted our creating advantages. So I thought that was the tale of the fourth quarter from an offensive standpoint.” Brown said it flatly: “We didn’t match it tonight.” The Wolves set the tone and Boston didn’t meet it.Not only did Minnesota keep the Celtics off the boards, they turned Boston's aggressiveness against them. “When we missed layups and we weren't able to get our offensive rebounds, they took advantage of that with their speed and getting out in transition,” Joe Mazzulla said. "That was a huge difference in that second quarter with their speed and their ability to create off the dribble." The Celtics only grabbed 21.3% of their misses, and even that’s a number that was inflated by a few Luka Garza tip attempts late in the game. The Celtics are normally in the mid-to-high 30% range.The overall turnover number wasn't horrible, but the nine second-quarter turnovers for 13 points were a killer. Instead of building on a first-quarter lead, the sloppiness put them behind at the half. It gave Minnesota’s second unit tons of confidence to take over later in the game.The Celtics got smoked in the second and fourth quarters, especially by the speed of Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland. They combined for 40 points to more than make up for the absence of Anthony Edwards. Toss in 19 from McDaniels and that's how Minnesota survived only nine points by Julius Randle. Hyland’s 23 off the bench was almost as much as Boston’s entire bench . No wonder he was talking so much trash in this game.He started strong but shot 5-17 after a 4-9 first quarter. He turned it over three times, all in the second quarter. “They tried to blow up handoffs, and in that second quarter, we were too lackadaisical with the ball,” Brown said. “I was too lackadaisical with the ball. We just wasn't good enough. It's definitely a game you're going to look back and wish you could have some possessions back because I feel like you're in a position to win that game. We didn't play Celtics basketball tonight."He did almost all of his damage in the third quarter, so we saw at least one stretch of classic Jayson Tatum. It didn’t last long, though. “I'm still just trying to figure it out,” He said. “It's been a long time. It's only my what? Ninth game, eighth game? So still just trying to get a feel for it.”Derrick White: B- He had a few nice defensive plays, and he saved the Celtics from a bigger collapse in the second quarter, but not the best night for White. You rarely see White as a -12.I think he had some really good minutes early in the game, but he did nothing in the second half. Literally zero points and rebounds.Another struggle for Hauser, but he had some moments of decent defense. He’s shooting 35% from three post All-Star, 31.3% in March, and 25% in his last five games.He had a couple of bursts of scoring, but they need more than 4-11 shooting from Pritchard.He held his own guarding Randle, so I’m giving him a little grace. I also think he was a victim of the Minnesota physicality because he’s so dependent on a fluid offense to get his shots. The TWolves throwing off Boston’s timing will impact his numbers in a big way.Hyland was flat-out taunting him. It was bad. Gonzalez is a really good defender but Hyland torched him and let him know about it.The five offensive rebounds were inflated by getting three on one possession in the fourth. He missed every shot in that sequence. This would have been a good Nikola Vučević game.John Karalis is a 20-year veteran of Celtics coverage and was nominated for NSMA's Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year in 2019. He has hosted the Locked On Celtics podcast since 2016 and has written two books about the Celtics. John was born and raised in Pawtucket, RI. He graduated from Shea High School in Pawtucket, where he played football, soccer, baseball, and basketball and was captain of the baseball and basketball teams. John graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism and was a member of their Gold Key Honor Society. He was a four-year starter and two-year captain of the Men’s Basketball team, and remains one of the school's top all-time scorers, and Emerson's all-time leading rebounder. He is also the first Emerson College player to play professional basketball . John started his career in television, producing and creating shows since 1997. He spent nine years at WBZ, launching two different news and lifestyle shows before ascending to Executive Producer and Managing Editor. He then went to New York, where he was a producer and reporter until 2018. John is one of Boston’s original Celtics bloggers, creating RedsArmy.com in 2006. In 2018, John joined the Celtics beat full-time for MassLive.com and then went to Boston Sports Journal in 2021, where he covered the Celtics for five years. He has hosted the Locked On Celtics podcast since 2016, and it currently ranks as the #1 Boston Celtics podcast on iTunes and Spotify rankings. He is also one of the co-hosts of the Locked on NBA podcast.Celtics-Warriors Player Grades: Best Combined Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown Game YetBest NBA Prop Bets Today
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