With 37 seconds left, Joe Mazzulla drew up a two-for-one in a tie game. Al Horford, who was playing double-big late in Minnesota, was able to catch a long rolling pass as the Timberwolves matched Jayson Tatum with two defenders. Three stars from the Boston Celtics were positioned behind the three-point line when Horford attempted a dribble past Anderson, and Horford slid out of bounds. After two plays, Jaylen Brown retreated to get a better look at Jaden McDaniels but missed the game-winning pass.
The Celtics went on to lose, continuing their offensive devolution by shooting 2-for-7 with one assist and two turnovers in overtime as Anthony Edwards sealed the Wolves’ 114-109 win. Mazzulla and Tatum didn’t sound phased on the ground after a 5-0 start, a strange game where foul trouble flowed in both directions and an opposing star caught fire late — Edwards scored 38 and hit three late shots in a row. A familiar collapse in the clutch for the offense should sound some alarms though. The Celtics posted an 89 offensive rating (-5.5 net rating) in nine clutch minutes on Monday, along with a 0.60 AST/TO ratio, 50 eFG% and a 98.84 pace.
“I just had too many turnovers,” Tatum said, laughing. “I had way too many turnovers. I gotta be better. We all gotta be better, but especially me. Clean those up in late game situations for sure. We played hard, we competed, so a lot of things on the offensive end we can learn from. Late game, our communication could be better, knowing where certain guys are going to be. Just some little things that we can clean up.”
Boston found answers in their first two clutch finishes, wins against the Knicks and Heat. Kristaps Porziņģis keyed weak side actions on opening night and screening by Derrick White and Jrue Holiday beat Miami. The Celtics posted a +87.6 net rating in seven clutch minutes before Sunday. White (personal) didn’t rejoin the team in Minnesota and Holiday struggled, finishing 4-for-16 (-19 +/-) with three turnovers. Porziņģis picked up five fouls by the end of the third, but only attempted six threes in his 35 minutes and 0 field goals appearing in all five overtime minutes as color commentator Brian Scalabrine begged for his involvement.
Instead, back-to-back scoring possessions to open the extra period devolved into Tatum over-dribbling and losing the ball against Edwards and isolating McDaniels, who shut him off throughout the loss. Brown committed an offensive foul screening for Holiday. Holiday didn’t help by calling his own number to back down Mike Conley and miss.
Brown didn’t look Porziņģis’ way behind the three-point line, instead shooting an errant leaner after declining Kristaps’ screen over Rudy Gobert with 1:20 remaining and Boston trailing by seven. Mazzulla didn’t call timeout until 0:16 remained down by five. Holiday had finally delivered a touch to Porziņģis that created free throws and Tatum stole an Edwards pass to pull within one possession before McDaniels hit a key mid-ranger. Edwards had hit three straight jumpers following Celtics misses.
“We were trying to make the right play,” Tatum said, mentioning a pass he threw out-of-bounds in a 98-98 game. “I thought (Brown) was in the corner, he slid to the slot. I caught the ball in the paint, his man helped … those are some of the things we need to clean up. Just knowing where guys are gonna be. That’s not my fault or his fault. We gotta get on the same page. That’s a play that really sticks out.”
For the time being, the setback in Minnesota will be overshadowed by a 33-26 performance in Brooklyn and lopsided victories over the Pacers and Wizards, but underlying statistics that provided the framework for a 5-0 start indicated some regression. Before Monday, only Boston and the Clippers had a higher effective field percentage (59.5%). The Celtics also forced less turnovers than any other team (10.5 TOV%, 30th), and even though they forced 24 mistakes from the Wolves in the defeat, they also made 18, tying the other three teams for 10th place in their own turnover rate (14.2%). A new-look group could have used figuring out teammates and trying to move the ball as an excuse. However, they were only ranked 25th in assists and 28th in total passes going into the game.
