Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Here's What Stood Out in Celtics' Win vs. Grizzlies: Jayson Tatum Outduels Ja Morant as Boston Hangs on to Hand Memphis First Home Loss this Season
Jayson Tatum and Ja Morant slugged it out at FedExForum on Monday night. The former generated a game-high 39 points, while the latter produced 30.
The Grizzlies and the home crowd fed off Morant's energy as he made some of his patented acrobatic layups, flew over the top for a block, and made 5/12 of his threes (41.7 percent).
But after picking up a technical at the end of the first quarter, Tatum scored 19 points in the second, shifting momentum in Boston's favor.
The Celtics went on a 27-4 run in that frame that set them up to play from ahead for most of the game's remainder.
Now, for a deep dive into how Boston earned its third-straight win, surviving down the stretch to hand Memphis its first loss at home.
Marcus Smart Gets Boston Off to a Fast Start, but Points in the Paint and on Second Chances Fuel Grizzlies First-Frame Run
Coming off an outstanding and underrated performance in Saturday's win against the Knicks, a game where Marcus Smart dished out 11 assists, the most by a Celtic this season, and scored 13 points, Boston's floor general produced ten of the visitor's first 12 points on 4/5 shooting.
With the exception of a forced three on his lone miss, this wasn't a case of Smart forcing it; he was taking good shots, working within the flow of the offense.
Smart scored or assisted on the visitors first 16 points of the game.
With the score tied at 20 and 4:21 remaining in the frame, Al Horford went right at Xavier Tillman's chest, bumping him twice with his off-arm before finishing off of the glass.
On the ensuing Grizzlies' possession, Ja Morant picked up a technical for voicing his displeasure about the lack of a foul call when Derrick White thwarted the Memphis star at the basket.
When the Grizzlies got the ball back after Jaylen Brown cashed in on the free throw for the technical, Morant drove to the cup. Despite being surrounded by Celtics defenders, the player with more impressive body control than, perhaps, any player in league history, produced the type of acrobatic layup regularly seen from him but rarely by anyone else.
After floaters from Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones, Memphis, on a 9-0 run, extended the hosts lead to 31-26 with 1:04 left.
Picking up where he left off after generating a career-high 17 points in New York on Saturday, Sam Hauser ended Boston's scoreless drought by drilling an open three from the left wing.
But not only did the quarter close with the Grizzlies on a 14-5 run, Tatum picked up a technical after the frame ended, arguing about the lack of a foul call against Dillon Brooks, who took a physical and on-brand approach to guarding Tatum as he screened for Malcolm Brogdon.
While Smart led the Celtics with ten points and four assists, and Boston produced 16 points in the paint, Memphis had 18, pairing it with ten second-chance points.
Tatum Sparks Dominant Stretch by Celtics in Second Quarter
That technical lit a fuse under Tatum, who drilled a three and followed it up by dribbling behind his back, shooting the gap, and hitting a high-arching layup off the glass to get the Celtics the lead back.
He then swished a three over Bane on Boston's third shot of the possession. With that, he had scored eight-straight points, fueling the visitors' 13-0 run. That burst put the Celtics ahead 44-40 with 8:09 to go in the second quarter.
The following time down the floor, Brogdon drove and kicked the ball out to Brown for a three from the right corner, extending Boston's run to 16-0.
Tatum then blew by rookie David Roddy, going strong to the cup for two more points, giving his team a 49-40 advantage.
Headlining the Celtics' 18-0 run was Tatum's scoring and Boston's ability to get whatever they wanted offensively, but tightening up at the other end, limiting the Grizzlies' paint touches, was also at the root of this dominant stretch during which the Celtics held Memphis scoreless for 4:30.
At the 6:02 mark, on a play featuring more beautiful ball movement by Boston, even though it ended with a Tatum miss, Brogdon grabbed the board and got the ball back to Tatum for a layup on the opposite side of the rim, extending the Celtics' advantage to 53-43.
And when Horford gathered a feed from Tatum and cashed in on a three from the left slot, it pushed Boston's run to 27-4 and put the Celtics ahead 58-44.
With the Grizzlies searching for a spark, Brooks provided it. After missing a layup, he sprinted to swipe the ball from Brown from behind, then fired it down the court to Brandon Clarke for a dunk as part of a 10-3 Memphis run. That trimmed the gap to 61-54.
The only other scoring the rest of the way came on four free throws from Tatum, giving Boston a 65-54 advantage at halftime. He generated 19 points in the quarter and had 25 overall.
The Celtics' ball movement, off-ball activity, and continuing to attack the basket resulted in 17 assists on 24 field goals, shooting 52 percent from the floor and producing 32 points in the paint.
Doing his best to keep Memphis close, Morant led the Grizzlies with 13 points.
Grizzlies Claw Back in the Third Quarter
It was clear early in the frame that Memphis, yet to lose on its home floor, was going to play with far more energy and focus in the second half.
In less than two minutes, Morant found Bane for a bucket, drilled a three, then lofted an alley-oop to Clarke that brought the crowd to its feet.
Morant than cashed in on a three from 27 feet, injecting more energy into his team and the home crowd, while cutting the Grizzlies' deficit to 70-64.
Starting with a Tatum layup at the 6:23 mark, the Celtics went on a 7-0 run, featuring Smart finding Horford for a three and then a dunk, pushing the lead back up to 12.
But momentum immediately swung back towards Memphis, who responded with a 12-4 run, including an old-school three-point play by Morant and a mid-range fadeaway jumper by Brooks.
That whittled Boston's 12-point lead down to four, 84-80, with 1:59 left in the period.
With 48 seconds to go, Morant uncorked a floater from the lower part of the free-throw circle, giving him 14 points in the third.
And when John Konchar buried a three from the right wing with 10.4 seconds remaining, it gave the hosts an 85-84 advantage entering the final frame.
Celtics Sloppy Down the Stretch, but Hang on for the Win
It took nearly two minutes for either side to score in the final 12 minutes, but Brown broke the ice with a finger roll layup to put Boston back on top, 86-85.
A clear path foul in a Celtics game almost always means it sent the opposition to the free-throw line, but this time around, trying to atone for a bad pass that got picked off by Brown, Konchar grabbed Sam Hauser, sending him to the line with Boston retaining possession.
Hauser made both shots from the stripe, but a Smart turnover negated the chance to do more damage.
Then came a Tatum three and a Brown transition layup, headlining a 9-2 by the Celtics with Morant on the bench. It also gave Boston a 95-90 advantage with 7:13 remaining.
That brought Morant back into the game.
At the 6:46 mark, Tatum and Smart went into one of their patented plays where the former enters the ball to the latter and quickly gets it back along with a screen from Smart.
But with Bane, who was guarding Tatum, in the way of Tyus Jones, who was defending Smart, the Celtics' floor general broke to the basket, where he absorbed the contact from Santi Aldama, scooping and swishing a shot with his left hand. He then tacked on the free throw, putting Boston ahead 98-90.
And with momentum on the visitor's side, a Morant miss turned into a thunderous breakaway jam for Tatum 14-2 run, extending the Celtics' lead to 105-94 with 3:21 on the clock.
And while Boston seemed poised to comfortably close out its third-straight win, having possession and an 11-point advantage with 1:50 left, the game started to spiral.
Grant Williams and Brown got called for traveling on back-to-back possessions -- the one on the former was incorrect as he kept his pivot foot down.
Morant surprisingly going 0/2 at the foul line prevented the Grizzlies from cutting further into the deficit, but when he buried a step-back three with 41.9 seconds left, the lead was down to four.
In a heart-stopping moment for Celtics fans, Morant poked the ball away from Smart, and with him and Tatum in pursuit of it, Morant dove to the floor, crashing into Tatum's leg.
The foul had Tatum on the ground, clutching his left knee. Fortunately, he ultimately appeared ok.
However, he missed both shots when he stepped to the free-throw line. That came on the heels of Smart, who was otherwise outstanding on Monday, missing a pair of free throws, keeping Memphis' hopes alive.
But after a Bane three cut the lead down to one with 3.5 seconds left, Tatum redeemed himself at the stripe, cashing in on both shots to put Boston ahead 109-106 with 2.2 seconds to go.
Morant slipped after catching the ensuing inbounds pass, and the Grizzlies were unable to launch a last-chance attempt at forcing overtime.
Tatum's the star and was the driving force in this win, which is reflected in him scoring a game-high 39 points and earning the matchups highest plus-minus rating (plus-15).
But two players who also deserve their own spotlight are Smart and Horford.
The former set the tone, scoring or assisting on Boston's first 16 points. He finished with 15 points on 6/11 shooting, a game-leading 12 assists, seven rebounds, and only two turnovers.
Throughout the night, Smart worked within the flow of the offense, regularly setting his teammates up for high-quality scoring chances.
As for Horford, he matched Smart's 15 points, knocking down 6/7 shots, including drilling each of his three long-range attempts.
A refreshed Horford, who sat out Saturday's game against the Knicks with it being the second half of a back-to-back, also grabbed six rebounds and registered two blocks.
And while both teams produced 48 points in the paint and the Grizzlies added 18 off turnovers and 16 on second-chance opportunities, a separator in this game was the Celtics taking 28 free throws to Memphis' 14, making 21 compared to the nine points they got at the foul line.
Up Next
The Celtics return home to host the Pistons on Wednesday night. The game tips off at 7:30 pm EST. Inside The Celtics will have content related to the game coming out before, during, and after. And follow @BobbyKrivitsky on Twitter for updates and analysis from pregame to post.
Further Reading
Celtics Granted Disabled Player Exception for Danilo Gallinari
The Top 5 Plays from Saturday's Celtics-Knicks Game
Eager to Skip Ahead to the Playoffs, the Celtics Must Not Squander the Time Leading Up to It
