Over the last 96 minutes of basketball, we have yet to see the Celtics trail in a game.
I’d say that’s a pretty impressive last two days.
Friday night against a Jazz team that had been 7-3 heading into that game, blowout.
There’s a reason I call this team a wagon, and we are currently seeing it.
This is what wagons do.
Credit to me for acknowledging that.
So if you want to take what I say with a grain of salt, I get it.
The Celts 11 road wins are actually tied for the most in the NBA, not just the East.
Hopefully, you still get the idea.
It’s OK to enjoy the ride and the ebbs and flows of an NBA regular season.
Will any of this matter if the Celts choke again in the playoffs?
But it is January 7th.
And what we’ve seen through this date is better than any of us could have possibly imagined.
You know the 1986 Celts?
Laughed off the internet.
Personally, I’m going to use it to allow my brain to think completely irresponsible thoughts.
4-4-4-4 through the playoffs?
At some point this shit has to break through, it just has to.
In terms of last night, I loved the test heading in.
I’d consider it checked.
The Good
- The Celtics have shown an ability to play dominant basketball in a variety of different ways.
When this certain thing happens, it does not matter who is across the court.
The Celtics become truly unbeatable.
How have things looked in 2024?
I dunno, pretty good I guess.
He found himself among the leaders in attempts while being at the bottom of the league in makes.
Well, I have some news
We already knew Tatum’s catch & shoot game was strong.
When Tatum’s three is falling like this, what exactly can a defense do?
If you don’t close out, that’s a three in your eyeball.
If you do, Tatum is going to just go by you and finish strong at the rim.
- Add this mentality to the talent level?
Be still my heart, our franchise player gets it.
Let others cry about the MVP.
- If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a billion times.
I know Jaylen can score.
What I care about is seeing Jaylen continue to take steps forward in terms of his all around development.
Not his scoring, not his three point shooting, we know that stuff is elite.
When Tatum came back in and his role had to change and defer/create more for others, he did.
Each guy did a great job of picking their spots and executing at a high level.
- Everyone knows how devastating the Pacers offense can be, the pace they play at is insane.
That is, almost every team.
Look at how spry Al is!
Is he 37 or 27?
- Another really strong showing for Oshae Brissett when it comes to thriving in his role.
Here’s to hoping it’s not an Amar’e Stoudamire issue and things will be fine.
Maybe he doesn’t play tomorrow, but I’m just praying it’s nothing serious.
- Outside of Al, not a great shooting night for the second unit.
Can’t say I hate it as long as it works.
- This had to be one of the worst officiated games we’ve seen all year.
I mean holy shit.
Bizarre whistle after bizarre whistle.
0 FTA in the first half despite 17 shots in the paint and 9 at the rim.
A 12-5 foul difference against the team that is 29th in the NBA in fouls.
Zero consistency on either end of the floor.
Once the 15-0 FTA advantage was gone, things looked different.
The Ugly
- The worst thing you might do against the Pacers is turn the ball over.
In the first half, 20 of the Pacers 49 points came off TOs.
You pair that with 2nd chance points, and those are the areas that usually lead to losses.
Just because it didn’t this time doesn’t mean that level of play is acceptable.
Especially when it’s not just Jaylen missing FTs, it’s everyone!
Tatum bailed them out for sure.
We get to see the immediate counters and then how the Celts counter to those counters.
