Celtics-Timberwolves Player Grades: Brown scores 29, but C's can't match physicality

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics 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.

Box Score

Game Flow

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 (2-17 from three).

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.

Jayson Tatum 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.

Here are four reasons why they lost.

Minnesota was extremely physical

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.

They limited Boston’s second chances

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.

Boston got too sloppy for too long

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.

Minnesota’s supporting cast was way too good

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 (26). No wonder he was talking so much trash in this game.

Player Grades

Jaylen Brown: B (29 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists)

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."

Jayson Tatum: B (16 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists)

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.”

He rebounded well, so that saves his grade some.

Derrick White: B- (15 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist)

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.

Neemias Queta: C+ (4 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist)

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.

Sam Hauser: C- (2 points 2 rebounds, 1 assist)

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.

Payton Pritchard: C+ (10 points, 1 rebounds, 3 assists)

He had a couple of bursts of scoring, but they need more than 4-11 shooting from Pritchard.

Baylor Scheierman: C+ (5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists)

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.

Hugo Gonzalez: D (0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist)

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.

Luka Garza: C (5 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist)

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.