Celts in out of cold
Bench, defense key to fifth straight win
A night earlier, Jaylen Brown posted a video on Twitter of himself, dunking an alley-oop pass from a friend — in his driveway, in the snow, at twilight.
Brown clearly brought that cold with him last night into the Garden, where the Celtics shot 40.4 percent and Minnesota made 36.8 percent of its hoists, but with their defense willing these frigid conditions were in the host team’s favor.
So what if the Celtics’ starting five shot a collective 33.3 percent (20-for60), their reserve backcourt combination of Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart accounted for 14 and 18 points, respectively, with a combined 14-for-24 from the field. That was a warmly received and decisive output for the Celtics in a 91-84 win over the Timberwolves.
The Celtics, winners of five straight, once again own the longest current win streak in league headed into tonight’s game against the Brooklyn Nets in New York.
It helps that the Celtics’ defensive reputation, after taking a hit in December, may be making a comeback.
“That’s all effort. Coach said we were playing great at the beginning of the season and then we dropped a little bit,” said Rozier. “That’s something that we can control and something we brought upon ourselves. We brought it down a little bit, but we’re playing at a higher level. We’re playing to how we were at the beginning of the season. Like I said, it’s a long season, it’s going to happen sometimes. We just are trying to keep our energy going.”
The next reward is rest. After tonight’s game at Barclays Center, and again after Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers in London, the Celtics will have four days each time for practice and rest.
“Well, we’ve had two practices, and a snow day. And I think the most important thing has been the off time,” said coach Brad Stevens. “But, you know, I thought it helped our defensive intensity. I thought our defensive intensity and focus was great all night, and then to win a game like that against a really good team where you can’t make a shot is, you know, that’s a good thing. Because you’re going to have nights like that, and you just have to find a way.”
As a result, beyond a typically monsterous 25-point, 23-rebound game from Karl-Anthony Towns, the Celtics weren’t hurt by any of Minnesota’s young cadre of stars. Not Jimmy Butler, who had 14 points on 3-for12 shooting, and not Andrew Wiggins, who scored 10 on 3-for-12 shooting.
“Their defense is terrific,” said Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau. “Smart and Rozier were huge for them. They are so deep that sometimes you can overlook those guys.
“We talked about how important Rozier and Smart are to the team and they made big plays at timely spots in the fourth for them,” he continued. “Then, of course, the way Al (Horford) passes the ball and Kyrie (Irving) keeps constant pressure on you and their wings, their versatility, their wings with both (Jayson) Tatum and (Jaylen) Brown it’s tough. They are a very good team. The numbers tell you that from win/loss to all their statistics. They play hard, they play for each other.”
Irving was 3-for-9 when he drove from the top of the circle to give the Celtics a 66-62 lead with 1.6 seconds left in the third quarter. Aron Baynes provided a little traction with back-to-back hoops early in the fourth during a 11-3 run that helped the Celtics to a 77-68 lead.
Baynes and Daniel Theis came up with the big offensive boards on a possession, buying more time for Horford to have his knee treated on the bench by the training staff.
Towns finally stepped up with a 3-pointer, though it was also at roughly this time that Irving got going, following up a 15-footer with a drive for two free throws and a 81-71 lead.
Butler hit twice from the line, before Irving got the hockey assist after going through Theis to set up a Baynes dunk. Smart followed with two free throws for a 12-point lead.
By the time Horford checked back in with 4:37 left, Minnesota’s Jamal Crawford had cut the lead to nine.
The C’s came out of a timeout with Irving sticking a 15-footer over Tyus Jones, and after errant looks on both sides, Tatum made only his second basket off a Smart feed for an 89-78 lead with 1:54 left.
“We understand that there’s some great players in this league who make some unbelievable plays,” Irving said about the team’s defensive work, “but we understand that if we stay disciplined we put ourselves in a great position.”