CelticsWeek: holiday catch-up spectacular - CelticsBlog

The vacation season is over, gone seemingly as rapidly because it arrived, and the Boston Celtics have entered 2024 as one of the best staff within the NBA with a bullet. With a document of 28-7, the Celtics put collectively an 8-2 courting again to our final version of CelticsWeek, they usually at present have three extra wins than some other staff within the league. Now we have lots to compensate for right here as we return to motion from our brief trip, so let’s dive proper in with a lightning spherical the place we contact on all of the video games we’re discussing at the moment.

NBA: Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Clippers

Boston Celtics, Week 9: 2-1 document, +56 differential

L @ Golden State, 132-126 (OT)

W @ Sacramento, 144-119

W @ LA Clippers, 145-108

After the 2022 NBA Finals, it’s honest to say that each common season matchup in opposition to Golden State has carried just a little extra weight within the minds of most Celtics followers. These video games don’t really imply one thing, however they definitely really feel like they do; there’s some measure of payback that comes with beating Steph Curry and the Warriors, even when the stakes are considerably decrease. The Celtics weren’t in a position to accomplish that this time round, although, and as an alternative all of us needed to watch as, as soon as once more, Curry KO’d a Boston staff that simply regarded out of kinds.

The unhealthy style from the loss went away fairly quickly, although. Consecutive blowout wins scoring 144 and 145 factors in opposition to groups firmly within the contender combine within the Western Convention will try this. The Celtics made the Kings and Clippers look completely foolish, regardless that they lacked the providers of Jayson Tatum for the previous sport and Kristaps Porzingis for the latter.

NBA: Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers

Boston Celtics, Week 10: 4-0, +52 differential

W @ LA Lakers, 126-115

W vs Detroit, 128-122 (OT)

W vs Toronto, 120-118

W @ San Antonio, 134-101

It’s onerous to ask for a greater Christmas current than win over the Lakers, isn’t it? The Celtics toppled their historic rivals on Christmas Day as a part of a six-game win streak, capping off an almost good west coast highway journey.

Returning dwelling introduced with it a few unlikely nail-biters. It took an additional interval for the Celtics to keep away from falling to the lowly Detroit Pistons — and, within the course of, change into the staff to snap Detroit’s historic dropping streak — after a late Pistons rally pushed the sport into time beyond regulation. Entice sport averted, they proceeded to Toronto and went right down to the wire in opposition to the Raptors, fumbling a 13-point lead within the fourth quarter earlier than profitable on the final minute on a bucket from Luke Kornet. A highway journey in opposition to San Antonio offered barely greater than a speedbump.

NBA: Boston Celtics at Oklahoma City Thunder

Boston Celtics, Week 11: 2-1, +42 differential

L @ Oklahoma Metropolis, 127-123

W vs Utah, 126-97

W @ Indiana, 118-101

The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder are beginning to not far away — we’ll speak about them extra in a second. They performed host to the Celtics on Tuesday evening and, in a sport with a playoff-type environment about it, handed them a uncommon loss. The Thunder dropped 40 factors on the Celtics protection within the third quarter, and although the Celtics clawed again from a deficit that obtained as giant as 18, Oklahoma Metropolis held on. That’s an enormous win for a younger staff.

The opposite two video games this week have been workmanlike wins. The Celtics raced out to a quick begin in opposition to the rebuilding Utah Jazz and by no means regarded again en path to a blowout win, and adopted it up with a highway win over Indiana that noticed star performances from each Jays and a robust fourth quarter effort to place the Pacers away. These are wins that nice groups ought to have.

Gamers of the Vacation: Derrick White and Jayson Tatum

White: 10 GP, 31.1 MPG, 19.1 PPG (51% FG, 42% 3PT), 4.3 REB, 5.2 AST, 0.8 STL, 1.8 BLK, +141

Tatum: 8 GP, 35.8 MPG, 28 PPG (47% FG, 42% 3PT), 8.5 REB, 5.9 AST, 1.4 STL, +115

We’re handing this one out as a common, all-holiday-inclusive award this time round, and we’ve got two clear favorites. Although Jrue Vacation and Kristaps Porzingis had some stellar video games on this stretch — the latter would in all probability be in right here if not for what amounted to 4 missed video games — and Al Horford continues to play invaluable basketball off the bench, the gamers who balled out the toughest these three weeks have been Derrick White and Jayson Tatum.

What extra can I say about Derrick White that I haven’t already on this area? He’s already recorded three Participant of the Week wins this season, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to cease any time quickly. He scored 30 factors within the Warriors loss and cashed in on seven threes (although on 18 makes an attempt — a bit extreme), and adopted it up with 28 the subsequent evening to assist beat the Kings whereas shorthanded. White was a optimistic in plus-minus in each sport save Golden State, the place he was only a minus-one. He recorded two or extra blocks in seven consecutive video games, and within the wins over the Kings and Clippers, he turned the one participant in NBA historical past to document 6+ threes and three+ blocks in consecutive video games

White bucks expectations at each part of the sport. He’s reworked from a helpful bench piece to an on a regular basis starter, and now he’s elevated his sport to an All-Star degree. He deserves a spot on the Japanese Convention roster for All-Star Weekend.

After a dispiriting dud of a efficiency in opposition to the Warriors, Tatum has regarded like a brand new man because the calendar has flipped to the brand new 12 months. He shot simply 5-of-17 in opposition to the Warriors and sat out the subsequent evening in opposition to Sacramento, however since that time, he’s performed in seven video games, scoring at the least 25 factors in all of them and eclipsing 30 in 5. Although his shot wasn’t fairly there within the Pistons win, he complemented his 30 factors with 10 assists, the seventh double-digit help sport of his profession. He’s capturing 72% on the rim on the season and attending to the free throw line at will.

His 38 factors in opposition to Pacers is the crown jewel of the run. This was the famous person Tatum that performed his method into MVP chatter early final season, and the Celtics might want to see this model of him far more persistently in 2024.

The Parquet Performs: Spotlight reel

It’s been some time since we’ve revealed one in every of these, so let’s choose a number of performs to spotlight as our vacation favorites. We’ll begin with a Christmas Day deal with from Derrick White. That is simply your common defensive possession: a 6-foot-4 guard in isolation on Anthony Davis, forcing Davis to cross out of the paint contact, after which assembly Austin Reeves on the rim for the rejection. Typical stuff, actually. Fully regular.

The Celtics in all probability have the doubtful honor of ending the Pistons’ dropping streak if not for Kristaps Porzingis. You might choose a lot of performs down the stretch within the fourth quarter and time beyond regulation that may be worthy of recognition right here, however I’m keen on the play that basically sealed the deal. Porzingis contests Bogdanovic’s pull-up three-pointer after which leaks out in transition, catching the landing cross from Tatum and ending on the basket to finish the five-point swing.

Lastly, we’ve got a pair totally different angles of a extremely satisfying quick break bucket in opposition to the Pacers. Even at 37 years previous, Al Horford continues to showcase the mixture of savvy protection and playmaking that has made him so invaluable to the Celtics for therefore lengthy. That’s Tyrese Haliburton, the NBA’s main help man, that Horford is heisting right here. The quick break oop to Brown is simply the icing on the cake.

Across the League: The Raptors lastly hit the self-destruct button, and are the Thunder able to make some noise?

Maybe a 12 months later than they need to have, the Toronto Raptors are lastly blowing it up. After dropping to the Celtics and dropping their document to only 12-19, GM Masai Ujiri determined to make a transfer. Out went All-Protection candidate ahead OG Anunoby, shipped off to the New York Knicks in change for guards Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett. The subsequent shoe already appears able to fall: All-Star Pascal Siakam seems prone to be the crown jewel of the NBA commerce deadline, accessible as a rental to any staff prepared to roll the cube forward of his unrestricted free company this offseason.

Possibly we are able to consider a staff who ought to think about it. The Celtics dropped their first sport in over per week to Oklahoma Metropolis final Tuesday, placing a highlight on a Thunder staff that seems to be on the finish stage of its rebuild. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is within the MVP dialog. Chet Holmgren is the favourite for Rookie of the Yr, holding a stable benefit over wunderkind Victor Wembanyama. Jalen Williams seems to be like a future All-Star, and the staff rolls deep with helpful position gamers like Lu Dort and Isaiah Joe.

The Thunder dropped their subsequent two video games after the assertion win over Boston, however as of this writing, they continue to be tied with the Denver Nuggets (67.6% win share) for the second seed within the West. Common Supervisor Sam Presti has a veritable mountain of draft picks at his disposal, greater than the staff may even roster — is it time to push the chips onto the desk for an All-Star caliber expertise to make it to the subsequent degree? Siakam can be attainable, together with others like Utah’s Lauri Markkanen. Does Presti make the decision? Ought to he?

Up Subsequent: Heavyweights on deck

With the vacation season within the rear-view and 2024 underway, we’re again to frequently scheduled programming shifting ahead. This week, we’ve got 4 video games on the docket. The Celtics begin the week on Monday with their second consecutive highway matchup in opposition to the Indiana Pacers — the groups’ fourth assembly of the season — earlier than returning dwelling Wednesday to host the Minnesota Timberwolves, who stay the shock staff on the high of the Western Convention standings. The subsequent day, they journey to Milwaukee for a high-profile tilt with the Bucks, after which spherical out the

This can be a robust week of video games. 4 groups with profitable data, two of which rank among the many cream of the crop of their respective conferences. The Bucks sit 3.5 video games behind Boston within the standings and have already misplaced to the Celtics as soon as this season, making this a probably very consequential win for playoff seeding functions. We’ll be again subsequent week to interrupt all of it down.

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