{"id":52966,"date":"2023-11-28T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.celticsblog.com\/2023\/11\/28\/23978805\/celticsweek-5-next-man-up-jayson-tatum-kristaps-porzingis-jrue-holiday-boston-celtics"},"modified":"2023-11-28T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T21:00:00","slug":"celticsweek-5-next-man-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/28\/celticsweek-5-next-man-up\/","title":{"rendered":"CelticsWeek #5: Next man up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \"NBA:
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Injuries were a notable issue in an uneven week of Celtics\u2019 basketball<\/p>\n

The NBA season waits for no man, least of all over-fed and travel-weary basketball scribes. With Thanksgiving in our rear view and the calendar about to turn to December, let\u2019s take a look at what the early holiday season brought for the Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics, Week 5: 2-2 record, -10 differential<\/h2>\n

L @ Charlotte, 121-118 (OT)<\/h3>\n

W vs Milwaukee, 119-116<\/h3>\n

L @ Orlando, 113-96<\/h3>\n

W vs Atlanta, 113-103<\/h3>\n
\n \"NBA:
\n Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports<\/cite>
\n <\/figure>\n

What\u2019s Trending: Highs and lows, shorthanded<\/h3>\n

The Celtics\u2019 Thanksgiving slate can be summarized with a simple statement: it contained one of their best wins, and their very worst loss.<\/p>\n

Beating the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> behind a sick Jayson Tatum? Quality win. The Bucks may have made things interesting with an improbable run in the final two minutes of regulation, but all that really matters is that the Celtics led wire-to-wire against arguably their top competition in the East \u2014 and led wire-to-wire in the process. At present, the Eastern Conference looks like a three-horse race between Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, with the Orlando, Miami and Indiana lurking on the periphery. The Celtics have to feel good about having wins against the Sixers<\/a> and Bucks in the book already.<\/p>\n

Those Magic, though. In their third game of the week, the Celtics dropped an IST matchup against Orlando, failing to score 100 points in a game for the first time this season. This isn\u2019t your typical Magic team, of course. They\u2019re 12-5 on the young season, just a game behind the Celtics in the standings, and their youth movement is starting to generate some serious results. There\u2019s no shame in dropping a game to this <\/em>Orlando team. Losing a blowout while looking utterly feeble offensively, however, is a tough pill to swallow \u2014 especially if you care about the In-Season Tournament, which looks a lot less favorable to Boston after the defeat.<\/p>\n

Then, we get to our other ongoing storyline: the Celtics are hurt. Against the Bucks, the team lost Jrue Holiday, who suffered a lower ankle sprain and missed the team\u2019s next two games. On top of that, Kristaps Porzingis injured his calf in the third quarter against Orlando, subsequently missing the rest of the game as well as Sunday\u2019s win over Atlanta. Porzingis will be re-evaluated sometime next week. Celtics fans should be no stranger to lengthy injury reports, but these hopefully will be short-term absences for this roster.<\/p>\n

Player of the Week: Jayson Tatum<\/h3>\n

4 GP, 39 MPG, 32 PPG (47% FG, 35% 3PT), 9.5 REB, 4.3 AST, 1 STL, 0.8 BLK, -25<\/h3>\n
\n \"NBA:
\n Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports<\/cite>
\n <\/figure>\n

I\u2019ll be honest \u2014 this isn\u2019t the most inspiring Player of the Week slate. There just aren\u2019t many compelling candidates. Jaylen Brown was too inconsistent; brutal performances against Charlotte and Orlando are easily disqualifying. Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday played incomplete weeks, while Derrick White was somewhat incognito. I considered taking Neemias Queta here, solely for his energizing 15 minutes against Atlanta. Ultimately, though, Tatum claims a somewhat modest \u2014 for his standards \u2014 win.<\/p>\n

Against the Hornets, Tatum was in demolition mode. How\u2019s 45 points feel to you? Alongside 21 points from Payton Pritchard \u2014 16 of which came in the first half \u2014 he provided just about all of the offensive punch for Boston on the evening. It may have been a less-than-exciting result, a letdown defeat in overtime against a substantially weaker team, but this was a sizeable carry job by the the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

A gutty effort against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks deserves some recognition, as well. Tatum was a surprise appearance on the injury report on Wednesday morning, coming down with an illness and subsequently being listed as questionable. He toughed it out, and though his statline was a bit more ordinary than normal \u2014 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists \u2014 he managed to be an important piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

Tatum rounded out the week with a worse-than-it-looks 26-5-3-2 against Orlando and a nice 34-9-4-2 rebound against Atlanta. We\u2019ll have more exciting Player of the Week selections than this as the season goes on, but Tatum was comfortably the best of a weak field this time around.<\/p>\n

The Parquet Play: Jaylen Brown, ascending<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s simply no choice but to show some love to Jaylen Brown here this week. This dunk in Sunday\u2019s win over the Hawks was a stunner. Clint Capela is a large man and a sturdy rim protector. None of that matters when Brown gets a head of steam like this.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

GOOD MORNING pic.twitter.com\/Jep1jaKmIz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 27, 2023<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n