Celtics

7 takeaways as Jaylen Brown, Celtics beat Heat in second straight win over East contender

Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 57 points after combining for 70 in their debut.

By Tom Westerholm

updated on October 22, 2022

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The Celtics held off a typically spirited charge by the Heat in the second half of Friday’s game to claim a 111-104 victory.

Here’s what happened as last year’s Eastern Conference finalists matched up for the first time in the regular season.

The big picture

The Celtics got contributions across the board in the first quarter, as units led by Jaylen Brown spent most of the period building an eight-point advantage. Tyer Herro helped the Heat stay afloat with 13 second-quarter points, but the Celtics maintained their eight-point lead going into halftime thanks to 25 combined points between Brown and Tatum.

The Heat started the third quarter hot and put together a 20-6 run that helped them take a one-point lead. But the Celtics answered with a 20-6 run of their own that built their advantage back to 12. The Heat pushed their way back to within five down the stretch, but Jayson Tatum helped hold them at arm’s length down the stretch and the Celtics improved to 2-0.

Star of the game

Jaylen Brown — 28 points (12-for-18 from the floor), four rebounds, three assists

You could make a strong case for Tatum, who scored 18 points in the second half with Brown sidelined late due to foul trouble, but Brown was the best player on the floor for three quarters. He scored in transition, beat Jimmy Butler off the dribble, cut backdoor for easy buckets, and buried two of his three 3-point attempts.

The Tatum-Brown duo combined for 57 points after combining for 70 in their season debut. Not a bad start!

What it means

The Celtics have now beaten the Heat and the 76ers to start 2-0. To no one’s surprise, they look like title contenders.

Takeaways

1. Early returns for both Brown and Tatum after two games are deeply encouraging for the Celtics.

The Heat tried to defend hyper-aggressively and once again forced a lot of turnovers — the Celtics finished with 19, which brought back echoes of the Eastern Conference finals — but Brown didn’t really get the ball ripped the way he did in the playoffs. Instead, he powered his way to the basket and consistently messed with the timing of Heat defenders by catching his dribble and finishing with one hand.

Tatum, meanwhile, simply looks stronger and steadier around the rim. The Celtics’ stars both have All-NBA potential if this continues.

2. Joe Mazzulla seemed to want the Celtics to work through their issues without burning timeouts in the second half. That bit him in the third quarter as the Heat erased their deficit and took a one-point lead, but the Celtics rallied just fine in the fourth when Mazzulla once again let them play through a Heat run.

“I love watching these guys just kind of figure it out,” Joe Mazzulla told reporters after the game. “To me, it’s empowering them that I believe in them, and that they can execute and we can still get good looks.”

Tatum praised Mazzulla for the strategy.

“Obviously you want to win every game you play, but some of these early games can be used for learning purposes later in the season,” Tatum said. “So I think it’s good for us, second game of the season, being on the road, in a hostile environment, to have to figure it out for certain points of the game and see how we respond. I think we did a great job.”

By contrast, Erik Spoelstra called timeout almost immediately after the Celtics went on a little burst of their own. The Celtics stayed hot and built their lead, largely thanks to a flurry of 3-pointers.

3. Malcolm Brogdon struggled from the floor and didn’t look comfortable in the flow of the offense, but he still helped the Celtics by moving the ball and even collapsing the defense when he missed, which opened up opportunities for offensive rebounders. Brogdon himself grabbed three offensive boards in the third quarter during the Celtics’ big run, and all three resulted in baskets.

“I got the size to impact the game even if your shot isn’t falling,” Brogdon said. “Whatever’s going on, playing hard, rebounding the ball, using my physicality, I can still make an impact.”

4. Brogdon seems like a very mature player who wants to win a title and understands that to do so, he might need to come off the bench for a championship-caliber team.

Still, it’s noteworthy how often the Celtics make a point to note — and appreciate — that he is a starter-caliber player who is helping his team immensely.

“To have him as a back-up is special,” Tatum said. “Obviously, [he’s] somebody who would be a starter on the majority of teams in the NBA, sacrificing. He is, he’s sacrificing to come off the bench and make us a better team. …

“That’s big, and I think that’s just him buying in.”

Brogdon was asked how big a weapon he can be off the bench.

“I hope it’d be huge,” Brogdon said, smiling slightly. “I believe I’m a starter on any team in this league but I’m a guy who can adjust and come off the bench if that’s what the team needs, I’m willing to do that and play to the best of my ability.”

5. Noah Vonleh isn’t perfect — he needs to defend without fouling more consistently, and he’s prone to offensive fouls.

But Vonleh has been significantly more helpful than the Celtics had any right to expect in their first two games. Against the 76ers, he gave productive minutes against Embiid despite being undersized and overmatched. Against the Heat, he pounded the glass on both ends and helped the Celtics take advantage of undersized Miami lineups.

Vonleh finished with four points and five rebounds and was +10 in his minutes. The Celtics clearly miss Robert Williams quite a bit, but Vonleh’s ability to hold down the fort in his absence bodes very well going forward.

6. The Celtics blocked 11 shots on Friday, including three by Derrick White, two by Brown, and two by Tatum. Several of their blocked shots were a result of their length when the Heat tried to rise up for jumpers.

“I love that our guys love playing defense,” Mazzulla said. “Any time you have a group of guys that love defense, you have a chance to be special.”

“I haven’t played on a team like this where everybody, 1 through 5, everybody takes pride in the defense end,” Brogdon said. “It’s a championship characteristic for sure.”

7. The season is only two games old, and it should come as little surprise that the Celtics have good things to say about each other after a pair of wins against good opponents.

Still, the way the Celtics are talking about their team feels notable, even this early.

“It’s just been fun,” Tatum said. “The way we’ve been playing is fun. Everybody gets in and contributes one way or the other. I think we feel it, and I hope you guys can see it, just the joy that we’ve been playing with.”

Brown, meanwhile, thinks the Celtics can get even better.

“We still got a lot of growth that we can get to,” he said. “I think we played two really good teams, two tough teams, physical teams, and we handled it pretty well, but I think we can be even better. I think we can be even more spaced, I think we can take care of the ball better, I think we can be better on defense than we’ve been.

“I think it’s a lot of positives the last few games, but look out. We have a lot of room to grow.”

The Celtics will travel to Orlando and take on the Magic on Saturday.