What tone does Boston set as they begin their road trip with a game against Minnesota?

We saw the Celtics stumble a bit during December, finishing the month with an 8-6 record. However, they ended 2024 with a bang, destroying the Raptors with their biggest win of the season, a huge 54 point win. Tonight they play their first game of the new year, a game against Minnesota Timberwolves which is led by their young star, Anthony Edwards. Minnesota currently has the 8th^th seed in the West, facing a disappointing season so far as they were the 3rd^rd seed and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals last year.

Following their success, they made an unexpected move, trading away their longest tenured player, Karl Anthony Towns, to Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Minnesota is still trying to figure out the post-trade issues, but they seemed to find a rhythm recently. They were on a 3-game winning streak before dropping a hard-fought game to the Oklahoma City Thunder on the final day of 2024 after an MVP-level performance from Shai Gilgeous Alexander. Tonight they will be hungry to get back on track against our Celtics.

How does the Celtics’ approach balance their offensive attack?

While his place in history is hotly debated, there is no way to take away Rudy Gobert’s 4 Defensive Player of the Year awards and his 7 All-Defensive team selections, which came as a result of his elite shot blocking. Across his 12-year career, he averaged over 2 blocks per game. game, although this year he is averaging 1.4 BPG, his fewest since his rookie year. That doesn’t mean he’s any less of a threat in the paint. The Celtics will need to try to draw Gobert to the perimeter as much as possible if they want to open up driving lanes.

It’s usually easier when you have stretch bigs like Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Unfortunately for the Celtics, Porzingis will miss his 4th^th game in a row as he has been ruled out tonight. While Al can still warrant some attention, he will also need to rediscover his rhythm from range. Across the last two games, Horford has made 1 measly three in his 16 attempts. That won’t cut it against a team like Minnesota, especially since he’s the only floor-spacing big available to Boston tonight.

To add insult to injury (or maybe injury to insult?), Jaylen Brown has been ruled out for the game with a shoulder injury. Jaylen is arguably the Celtics’ best in-and-out player, perhaps second only to Jayson Tatum. Brown is relentless when he attacks the rim and is also always a threat from deep, both of which Boston will miss tonight. In their previous matchup, the Celtics scored just 30 of their 107 points in the paint, while Jaylen made 7 threes in 10 attempts. With him and Kristaps absent, the Celtics may struggle to vary their offense.

Who will take on the task of guarding Anthony Edwards?

Not only do the Celtics suffer from losing Jaylen on offense, they also lose their best defender for Minnesota’s star player. In the previous game, Brown guarded Edwards for more than 7 minutes of playing time, by far the most on the team. Jaylen held Ant to just 3 points, 4 assists and 2 turnovers on 1/4 shooting. The next three most common defenders were Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, who combined to guard Edwards for only under 7 minutes. Together they held Ant to 9 points and 1 assist on 3/13 shooting.

However, with fewer elite defenders, chasing matchups becomes easier. Ant had the most success when defended by either Al Horford or Xavier Tillman, scoring 15 points on 6/10 shooting. In all likelihood, he will attack Boston’s big men again tonight. The Celtics will need to lock down defensively and we’ll see if they continue to switch everything with Jaylen out of the lineup.

Will Boston concede the paint defensively?

Minnesota has had a great year from behind the arc, shooting 37.2% from three as a team, currently ranked 9th.^th in the league. They also do it at high volume, averaging 40 3PA per game, ranked 6th^th in the league. This is an increase of 22.4% compared to last year. On the other hand, they have an average of 45.9 2PA per game this season, ranked 28th^th in the league. With nearly half of the Timberwolves’ shot attempts coming from behind the arc, we can see the Celtics hunker down on the perimeter and push the Wolves to the paint. With Kristaps absent tonight, it may become more enticing for Minnesota to attack as well, although the Celtics will need someone to step up to at least challenge shots when the Wolves get into the paint.