CelticsWeek #12: Scheduling shenanigans – CelticsBlog

The NFL Playoffs could also be hogging the highlight, however the NBA stays as energetic as ever. It’s Week 12 of Boston Celtics basketball, and as we close to the midway level of the 2023-24 season, we now have loads of hoops to debate. Let’s zero in on one other week of Celtics basketball.

Photograph by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe through Getty Photographs

Boston Celtics, Week 12: 2-2 file, +4 differential

L @ Indiana, 133-131

W vs Minnesota, 127-120 (OT)

L @ Milwaukee, 135-102

W vs Houston, 145-113

Reader, we look like in a stoop.

Or a minimum of, as a lot of a stoop as a crew can have once they’re 30-9 in an NBA season. It’s uncommon that we’ve posted considered one of these columns and not using a profitable file for the week, and even perhaps rarer to see a differential this low. Certainly, the Celtics had been simply 2-2 this previous week with a degree differential that ought to have been fairly a bit worse than it was. A troublesome week, although not a disastrous one.

The elephant within the room: the Milwaukee loss. It’s the worst lack of the season to date, and it’s definitely one which hurts given the probability that the Celtics find yourself in competitors with the Bucks for playoff seeding. Sealing up the collection tie for the 12 months would have been a pleasant accomplishment. As an alternative, the Celtics fell behind early and by no means caught up, with Mazzulla opting to go away the core rotation on the bench because the groups took the courtroom within the second half. An intensive, wall-to-wall butt-kicking. It stings a bit.

On the identical time, it additionally feels comprehensible, a minimum of a bit. This was as a lot of a schedule loss as you will notice within the NBA. It doesn’t let the Celtics off the hook for a win they may have used, however this was brutal timing for a back-to-back. After the time beyond regulation win over the Western Convention-leading Timberwolves on their residence courtroom — a thriller! — the Celtics had been instantly tasked with hopping on a airplane to Milwaukee to face the second-best crew within the East the subsequent night time. Higher groups than this one have struggled in the identical circumstances.

This 12 months has featured some genuinely… quirky scheduling. Maybe its because of the integration of the In-Season Match, however it feels as if outlier scheduling eventualities have arisen extra often. Again-to-backs really feel fairly poorly deliberate — take a look at the Sixers within the midst of a four-games-in-five-nights stretch this coming week — and enjoying consecutive video games towards the identical opponent in the identical place has grow to be surprisingly frequent. Neither of those are simple circumstances; an imbalance in relaxation can create some very unusual outcomes, and it’s not simple to beat any NBA twice in a row. Each got here into play this week, with Monday’s loss to the Pacers being their second consecutive sport on Indiana’s residence courtroom. It’s unlucky, however you play the schedule you’re given. Upward and onward.

Saturday’s tilt with the Rockets got here with its personal intrigue, as properly. It was former Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s return to TD Backyard, the primary time he has confronted Boston since his dismissal from the crew. Some cryptic comments in pregame interviews didn’t create a lot of a distraction, although, as the sport itself was little greater than a speedbump. The Celtics thumped the Rockets by 32.

Photograph by Maddie Meyer/Getty Photographs

Participant of the Week: Jaylen Brown

4 GP, 32 MPG, 29.3 PPG (58% FG, 61% 3PT), 6.5 REB, 2.5 AST, 1 STL, +11

One outstanding stinker of a sport has sometimes been sufficient to disqualify a participant from profitable this award. There have simply been too many standout performers this season — there’s at all times been one other man who didn’t stumble. In all honesty, although, the Bucks sport hardly even elements into this calculus. If we took a participant out of the operating as a result of they struggled in Milwaukee on Thursday, there simply wouldn’t be anyone left. Who performed properly towards the Bucks? Sam Hauser and Oshae Brissett?

That line of considering is what leads us to Brown, who was absolute nails this week outdoors of the 10-point, 5-of-14 night time towards the Bucks that noticed him benched at halftime. Take away the blowout loss from the equation, and his numbers had been stellar: 35.6 factors per sport on a 65% proportion each from the sphere and from deep. He torched Indiana to the tune of 40 factors, and each considered one of his 35 towards the Timberwolves had been instrumental within the Celtics’ comeback to safe that win. In opposition to the Rockets, he had a career-high 21 factors within the third quarter.

This has been an understated season for Brown. Each participant on the roster has needed to settle for a discount in quantity to accommodate the bevy of top-end expertise on this crew, however aside from Jrue Vacation, no person’s needed to cut back greater than Brown has. His utilization charge is at its lowest because the COVID-shortened Bubble season, and though he’s made significant strides as a playmaker, he’s not the sort of participant who will essentially stand out if the scoring isn’t popping.

That’s to not say he’s been dangerous. Fairly the alternative, in reality. Brown has been terrific on this position. He’s compensated for the lowered quantity with a rise in effectivity — his 55.7% efficient area aim proportion is flirting with a profession excessive — and together with the aforementioned playmaking enhancements, his much-maligned deal with has appeared extra secure. A second consecutive All-NBA season is perhaps a more durable promote for voters this time round, because of the ridiculous depth of the league, however this has been a few of Jaylen Brown’s finest NBA basketball.

The Parquet Play: Rejected!

Let’s preserve the Jaylen Brown love going, what do you assume? Stand up, JB!

What a ridiculous rejection. It’s not the strongest end from Jabari Smith Jr., who isn’t precisely the strongest participant within the league, however nonetheless — the elevation! Brown could not dunk fairly as often or audaciously as he did earlier in his profession, however he stays a 99th percentile athlete on this league. He’s been getting after it defensively this 12 months, too. Large week for #7.

Across the League: How actual are the Wolves?

Wednesday’s thrilling time beyond regulation win offers us a chance to speak about one of many extra stunning subplots within the league this season: the Minnesota Timberwolves have spent many of the season in first place within the Western Convention.

We knew the West can be in a bizarre place this 12 months. The Denver Nuggets had been a secure guess to proceed enjoying glorious ball — they usually have — however outdoors of Colorado, no person within the convention felt fully secure to depend on. In that void, the Wolves have stepped into the highlight and held on tight. They’ve remained in first place for almost the complete season. This isn’t acquainted territory for this franchise — previous to this season, they’d held first place within the West for a complete of 16 days across the entirety of their existence (hat-tip to consumer paul_f on Reddit for the info).

Is that this actual? We’re almost on the midway level of the season, and the Timberwolves haven’t faltered, which is quickly forcing us to contemplate that it is perhaps. Anthony Edwards is making the famous person leap proper in entrance of our eyes, averaging a career-best all the pieces and assuming the mantle of alpha canine on this roster. Karl-Anthony Cities, lastly wholesome, has grow to be an effectivity god and is flirting with a 50-40-90 season. Behind the efforts of Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves sport the most effective defensive score in basketball. Naz Reid is among the many league’s finest backup bigs, and the ever-reliable Mike Conley Jr. is stirring the drink as at all times.

Their web score (+5.6) sags behind the league’s elite, they usually’ve slowed considerably in current weeks, simply 4-3 of their final seven video games because the Thunder have snuck up on them. Can this crew overcome their postseason demons and make an actual splash? We gained’t know till they get there. However to date, this season has far surpassed even probably the most favorable of expectations, and breathed some life right into a franchise that sorely wanted it.

Subsequent up: Bouncing again

The brand new week started for the Celtics final night time, as they confronted the Toronto Raptors on the highway on Monday and walked away with a largely comfy 105-96 win. From there, the reigning #1 general choose involves city for the primary time in his profession, because the Celtics host the San Antonio Spurs and 19-year-old Victor Wenbanyama on Wednesday night time. Friday, they’ll play host to the reigning champs — Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets — earlier than touring to Houston for a rematch with the Rockets on Sunday.

The Celtics are nonetheless ready on that simple schedule, they usually gained’t discover it simply but. That is one other robust slate, with the rebuilding Raptors the one “simple” matchup on paper. We’ll be again subsequent week to debate how the Celtics fared towards one other slate consisting of largely playoff-hopeful groups.