After the win in Orlando on Sunday, I wrote that the Celtics won the fourth quarter with Jayson Tatum resting for most of it and called it the right blueprint for April. Monday night in Houston showed the catch. With Paul George resting on the second night of the back-to-back, Boston was outscored 35-18 in the 15:43 Tatum spent on the bench and lost 109-93.
My take: the Tatum-rest plan only works with George on the floor. In the 32 minutes Tatum played, Boston was plus-1 against a Rockets team that is now first in the West. Without him, and without George, nobody could carry the offense, the shooters went cold, and the Rockets ended Boston’s five-game winning streak without trailing once, per the AP.
Where the game went
Tatum sat three times, per ESPN’s play-by-play, and Boston lost all three stretches.
| Tatum on the bench, Nov. 2 | Time | Celtics | Rockets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of the second quarter | 6:37 | 6 | 11 |
| Late third into the fourth | 6:37 | 8 | 19 |
| Final 2:29 | 2:29 | 4 | 5 |
| Total | 15:43 | 18 | 35 |
The middle stretch decided it. Boston went without a field goal over the final 6:17 of the third quarter and lived on free throws, per The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. Inside that drought, Tatum was called for offensive fouls at 2:00 and 1:39, per the play-by-play, the second one his fourth foul of the night, and he went to the bench with Boston down 76-71. Sitting him there was the right call. The problem is what happened next.
Derrick White hit a pull-up to open the fourth and cut it to 82-75, and Houston answered with a run that ended the night. Marcus Smart made 3s on consecutive Houston trips, Reed Sheppard hit another, and by the time Mazzulla called timeout with 7:56 left, the Rockets led 93-79. Tatum checked back in at 7:02 down 95-79.
Compare that to Sunday. In Orlando, Boston outscored the Magic 20-17 in the 7:38 Tatum sat in the fourth, and George ran the offense, scoring seven points in that stretch on his way to 17 points and eight assists, per ESPN’s box score. Same plan, same coach, a different result, and the difference was George.
Nobody else could make the shot
The open looks were there. “For the most part, I liked [our shots],” Joe Mazzulla said, per the Globe. “When it was our live ball turnovers or missed shots, they just got off for a bit and took advantage of our empty possessions.”
I believe him about the looks. The shooters just didn’t make them. White shot 3 of 12, Payton Pritchard went 0 of 7 from the field and Sam Hauser shot 1 of 6, per ESPN’s box score. Tatum, White, Hauser and Pritchard combined to go 2 of 22 from three. Boston made 12 of 42 as a team.
Pritchard is the one to watch. He is 0 of 12 from three across the back-to-back, after an 0-of-7 night from deep in Orlando. Tatum defended him after the game. “It wasn’t just P, all of us had tough shooting nights,” he said, per the Globe. “It’s 82 games, bound to happen sometimes.” He’s right that two games prove nothing, and I argued last month that Pritchard’s contract is a bargain Boston has to use. But on a night without George, Pritchard is the second creator by default, and Houston could live with that.
The big men did their part. Luka Garza made four 3s and scored 14 in 18 minutes off the bench, and Neemias Queta, who started, had 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Neither of them is a ball handler, though, and running the offense is the job George does when Tatum sits.
Houston was the wrong night to find out
Some of this is just the Rockets. Alperen Sengun had 26 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds on 12-of-15 shooting. Houston shot 54 percent, assisted on 34 of its 43 baskets, and won the paint 50-34 and fast-break points 18-2. Tatum had five turnovers. The Rockets are 7-1 and moved into first place in the West, per the AP.
Tatum didn’t want the schedule blamed. “Everybody got to play back-to-backs, we’re not the only team,” he said, per the Globe. “Are they tough? Yeah. But a lot of us been doing this for a long time.”
He’s right about that too. I still think resting George was correct. I argued that Paul George’s minutes need guarding, and a 36-year-old on the second night of a back-to-back in Houston is exactly where you guard them. What Monday showed is the price. When George sits, Tatum’s bench minutes become the danger zone, and Mazzulla has to plan around it.
The fourth-quarter math, updated
Through seven games, Boston has outscored opponents 611-542 over the first three quarters and been outscored 215-186 in fourth quarters, per ESPN’s box scores. Houston’s 27-20 fourth added seven to that deficit. I first wrote about it in the Celtics’ fourth-quarter problem, and Monday was a reminder that one good quarter in Orlando didn’t fix it.
What to watch Wednesday
Now the plan flips. The NBA’s official injury report from Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. lists Tatum as questionable for Wednesday’s home game against Milwaukee with the reason given as rest, and Pritchard as questionable with a right shoulder contusion. George is not on the report.
If Tatum sits, Wednesday is George’s night to show the reverse: that he can carry the offense on his own, which nobody could do for Tatum on Monday. If both play, I want to see Mazzulla keep one of them on the floor at all times.