Celtics-Pelicans takeaways: C’s dominate on D in bounce-back win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics snapped their two-game skid Saturday night with an impressive road win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Boston didn’t match New Orleans’ energy out of the gate, trailing by as many as 11 points in a sluggish first quarter. Something clicked for the C’s in the second frame, however, as they erased the deficit and capped off the half with a deep Derrick White go-ahead buzzer-beater:
From there, it was all Celtics. They locked the Pelicans down defensively and didn’t relinquish their lead for the remainder of the game, going up by as many as 22 points in their 104-92 victory.
Boston improved to 58-16 on the season after dropping two straight games to the Atlanta Hawks. It took down a red-hot New Orleans squad that entered with 10 wins in its last 13 games.
The C’s had their top 10 active for the first time since March 7. All five of their starters scored in double figures with Jayson Tatum (23 points) and Kristaps Porzingis (19 points) leading the way.
Zion Williamson (25 points) and CJ McCollum (24 points) were the Pelicans’ high scorers in the losing effort.
The Celtics will wrap up their road trip Monday night when they visit the Charlotte Hornets (18-55). First, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game.
A defensive clinic
The Celtics didn’t look like themselves defensively during their two losses in Atlanta. They allowed 120+ points in consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 8-11.
Their struggles carried into Saturday’s action as they allowed the Pelicans to score 37 points in the opening quarter. From that point on though, they locked in.
Boston erased an 11-point deficit and took the lead at the half after allowing only 20 second-quarter points. The team’s defensive effort went up another notch in the third when it held New Orleans scoreless for a four-and-a-half-minute stretch and allowed only 11 points in the entire quarter.
The Celtics totaled seven blocks and seven steals in the win. They held the Pelicans to 39.5 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent from deep.
Kristaps…
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