By Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com | Posted November 26, 2018 at 10:25 PM
Gerald Herbert/AP Photo
NEW ORLEANS -- The Boston Celtics rolled the New Orleans Pelicans 124-107 on Monday, getting big performances from Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum en route to a comfortable (needed) win.
Here are 10 things we learned.
1. Marcus Smart in the starting lineup helped.
Smart will likely only start when teammates are injured, but having him in place of injured wing Jaylen Brown made a big difference on both ends.
The obvious difference was defensively, where Smart wrecks havoc whenever he's in the game. New Orleans gets by on the strength of Anthony Davis and its guard play, and Smart was able to help contain half of that.
Offensively, the Celtics benefitted from all the turnovers -- some of which were caused by New Orleans, and some by Smart. Boston also doesn't have to worry about finding shots for him within the flow of the offense. If Smart gets to shoot, he's happy to do it, but he's not focused on it.
2. The Pelicans were aggressive against Kyrie Irving (it didn't really work).
Defensively, New Orleans tried to double and trap Irving frequently off the dribble with very mixed results. Irving did commit several turnovers (more than usual) and he didn't have a fantastic shooting night.
But the result was a lot of open shots for the Celtics, who happily cashed in. Open shots haven't always worked out well for the Celtics, but they made New Orleans pay for their defensive strategy in the first half.
