I’m talking Haliburton ate this team alive.
Don’t play down to the competition.
They won that game by 51 fucking points
No, that is not a typo.
No, this was not 2K.
No, this was not preseason.
How is that real?
I’ll tell you how that’s real.
Hell, this is the first time I’ve personally seen it since I was a literal child!
You almost have to stop and remind yourself that this is theworstthe Celts will look.
They barely have any reps together and look at what is already happening.
What do things look like say, after a month together?
This was what things look like when every cylinder is firing.
Pretty fucking awesome if you ask me.
We begin with Jayson Tatum
Remember when Tatum was getting off to slow starts in October/early November?
Well, um,…what if those days are over?
I’ll remind you, we still aren’t even at this dude’s NBA prime yet.
Think about that for a second.
Those numbers didn’t even feel real as I typed them if we’re being honest.
The easiest explanation for this insane jump in efficiency is Tatum’s approach.
This seems like the first season he actually realizes that.
That’s what 3 level scoring looks like folks.
Part of this success is because it feels like he’s taking better 3s.
30 points in 26 minutes immediately after dropping 33 points in 27 minutes on Monday.
What else is there to say?
- When you have the 2nd best offensive performance in franchise history, you get the next spot.
It shouldn’t be possible.
The crazy part is the Celts can play even better!
Was this a perfect performance?
I wouldn’t go that far, but it was about as close as you could possibly get.
you might feel his confidence through your television and it has completely changed his game.
How insane has Bald Derrick’s start been?
How about 64/57% with 2.8 3PM.
It’s an automatic 3PM.
We’re at the point with Derrick where it no longer matters what the extension price is.
Nobody has earned their money more than White since he got to this team.
He’s a must keep piece as far as I’m concerned.
- Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the other half of the Celts two headed monster backcourt.
What we’re seeing is a Jrue Holiday that is starting to feel more comfortable.
There was no fucking around letting an undermanned team hang around.
This team went for the kill right from the jump.
It was a 20 point lead before you knew what happened.
There was only more death.
A quick 9-1 run to pop kick open the quarter told me that this team was focused.
That’s a credit to Joe.
He’s had this team ready every step of the way.
He’s putting his players in positions to succeed, and they are responding.
This is what matters to me more than the score.
Their level of focus seems so much better from top to bottom.
- It’s hard to be worse than what we saw from the bench on Monday.
Suddenly the bench doesn’t look like a complete disaster.
Frankly I think both Pritchard and Hauser needed a performance like this given how they started the year.
That’s concerning, but also whatever.
That’s why he’s a backup point guard.
I also continue to really love the OREB chaos we see from Brissett/Stevens.
27-28 from the FT line.
He had only 2 FGA for forever, and the team was still up 20.
My thing is with a big, you always need to confirm they feel engaged.
That’s on Joe, that’s on the point guards, that’s on the best players.
When a big gives you great energy and effort, reward him by letting him touch/shoot the ball.
Especially when that player is an offensive unicorn.
- The passing on this team is weird.
In total, 27 assists is more than fine.
The weird part is no starter having more than 4 assists.
The team feels like it’s passing less, but still finding mismatches and taking high efficiency looks.
It’s different, which doesn’t mean bad, but the drop in AST% is noticable.
Last year the Celts were top 5 in this category at 63%.
So far this year, they are 28th at 51.3%.
Hopefully things even out as the sample size grows, but 28th in AST% isn’t exactly great.
The Ugly
- OK don’t be ridiculous.
The Celts were up by as much as 53 points in this game.
This section can have the day off.
As of today, there are two undefeated teams left in the NBA.
The Celts are 4-0 with a +20.5 point differential.
The vibes are beyond immaculate and there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
