Tom Westerholm

2 weeks ago | boston.com | Tom Westerholm

The Celtics were without all of their best players, and the Stay Ready group was not ready for the Magic, who clinched the No. 7 seed with a 96-76 win. Here are the takeaways. No Jayson Tatum. No Jaylen Brown. No Kristaps Porzingis. No Derrick White. No Jrue Holiday. No Al Horford. And appropriately, the Celtics had no chance against the Magic. Sometimes Payton Pritchard goes wild in a game like this, taking the opportunity to have a huge performance in a larger role.

2 weeks ago | boston.com | Tom Westerholm

Kristaps Porzingis hit a dagger 3-pointer on a big night against his old team, and the Celtics claimed a hard-fought 115-112 OT victory against the Knicks on Tuesday. Here are the takeaways. 1. Kristaps Porzingis is having fun (still)For two years now, Porzingis has been very evidently having a great time when he plays at TD Garden. But on Tuesday, Porzingis appeared to be having an equally great time at Madison Square Garden.

2 weeks ago | boston.com | Tom Westerholm

Jaylen Brown dropped 31 points and helped spark the Celtics to a dominant 123-103 bounce-back win over the Suns on Friday. Here are the takeaways. Jaylen Brown didn’t look healthy, but he did look great. Much has been made (including in this space!) over the last few days about Jaylen Brown’s knee, which he admitted after the Celtics’ loss to the Heat on Wednesday has been bothering him.

3 weeks ago | boston.com | Tom Westerholm

Tyler Herro scored a game-high 25 points as the Heat welcomed the Celtics back home with a tough loss, snapping the Celtics’ winning streak at nine with a 124-103 loss. Here are the takeaways. You could probably have predicted that oneUnless you had tickets to that game, you can’t reasonably be too angry at the Celtics for what was unquestionably a lackluster performance, and frankly, if you bought tickets to that game, you also probably could have seen that one coming.

3 weeks ago | boston.com | Tom Westerholm

Jayson Tatum nearly posted a triple-double and Luke Kornet had his best game of the season as the Celtics won their eighth game in a row on Saturday, beating the Spurs 121-111. Here are the takeaways. After Tatum’s brief injury scare against the Kings, he returned to the lineup on Saturday and looked every bit as dominant as he had before he sat out. Tatum, as he tends to do this season, worked his way into the game.