Halftime Hot Takes (Beat LA)

The Boston Celtics are playing the Los Angeles Lakers. What else do you have to say?

Nosebleeds continue to prove difficult to stop

Once again, I am here to talk to you about defense. In particular defense in the paint. There were times when the Celtics found Anthony Davis in the paint and bothered the shot or gave him difficulty by sending a 2nd body. But there were a lot more times when he looked very comfortable with his looks down low. And the lane seemed to be a launching pad for the Lakers driving from the perimeter.

Big 3 - Tatum, Brown, ...and Theis?

The Lakers did a great job early on defense in particular by funneling the ball away from Tatum and Brown. Eventually the Celtics figured out more ways to get those two involved, but before that, there were open shots for their teammates and nobody capitalized more than Daniel Theis with 10 points (including two quick 3’s). Kemba, on the other hand, was very quiet with just 2 points.

If I could turn back time...

Despite Davis’ dominance, the Celtics did get some very solid minutes from Robert Williams. He did what he could to alter shots, came up with 2 official blocks, 4 points, and 6 rebounds. Of course one of his blocks led to an immediate turnover as he threw it to the other team. Call it a Time-lapse. Clearly Brad decided to go back to a double big lineup to match up with the Lakers’ size. But instead of Theis-Thompson it was a lot of Timelord and Theis (and according to our own Bill Sy that duo only played 2 minutes together before tonight). Good to see Stevens relying on Robert and good on him to make those minutes count.