The Jays apply their law to the Pelicans

When one isn’t, the other is… or sometimes both at the same time! The already depleted Pelicans fell to the Brown-Tatum duo at their basketball peak and lost 125-114 on the floor of the Celtics. This is Boston’s 4th win in a row and 8th in 10 games. It was Al Horford with a pair of 3-pointers that got the Celtics going, followed by a 9-0 run by Jayson Tatum early in the 2nd quarter.

But on the other hand, one player is at the top of his game: CJ McCollum. The back of New Orleans will doubt the Celtics for the semifinals with 22 points on 6 of 7 from 3! On the Celtics side, Jaylen Brown already has a double-double in his pocket and Boston joins the locker room with a six-point lead (64-58).

It’s Malcolm Brogdon who will bring an extra spark in the 3rd quarter backed by the big Brown. The Celtics’ back Trey Murphy is doing a total between “fadeaway” and “spin move” and he has already reached 36 points and leads by 12 points (97-85).

The lead even reached 15 points in the final quarter, but CJ McCollum pulled the Pelicans back within 10 points with 7 minutes remaining.

It’s New Orleans’ back against the rest of the world, and the Celtics by “Jay’s” respond with an 11-3 run to get back to halftime and confirm their 4th straight win (125-114).

WHAT TO REMEMBER

A duet that complements each other. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have perhaps never played better together this season, and tonight they have 72 points, 25 of 43. It’s the 19th time in their careers that they have combined for 30 points in the same game. The Celtics’ record? 18 wins to 1 loss.

Rebound. However, the Robert Williams III-less Celtics, coming off of tonight’s upset against the Nets, were largely dominant under the boards: shooting 50-33, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds and leaving just 4 on the other end of the floor. . At halftime, the Celtics already had 12 more rebounds than the Pelicans.

TOPS/FLOPS

✅ Jaylen Brown. When he hits the bull’s eye from a distance like tonight, he opens up a game for him, and his strength does the rest. He spent the whole night in “attack mode”.

✅ Jason Tatum. Once he was a lieutenant, but he knew how to make a difference in the 2nd quarter or the last five minutes when needed.

✅ Malcolm Brogdon. Very clean game, 20 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench. The Pelicans had no replacements at that level that night.

✅ CJ McCollum. He keeps the team at arm’s length after the injury to Zion Williamson. Its first half is very high.

⛔Larry Nance Jr.. +/- -20 to 0 points in 20 minutes. A game not for the Pelicans’ usual 6th man.

NEXT

Boston (30-12) : Shock tonight in Brooklyn.

New Orleans (25-17) : Friday trip to Detroit.