Celtics Regular Season News

[Sophomore]

looking forward to another Brooklyn beat down -- everyone healthy and Brooklyn holding an empty bag ==> Durant out, Simmons out, Kyrie not allowed to play in NY and Harden gone.

One would hope but teams, even bad ones, have a habit of playing way up after a loss (never mind a beat down).  Not sure who's playing but expect a much closer game.

Not truly a must-win game, but they really need to take care of business. Got to have Brooklyn lose a bunch of games before Durant gets back, try to climb out of the play-in.

[Goldstar88]

Little Q and A with Brad from early today..

MassLive: How pleased are you with the fit of Derrick White and Daniel Theis so far in the first four games after the trade deadline? Brad Stevens: I think the least of our concerns is fit. The (fit) was pretty obvious. Daniel has been here so that kind of speaks for itself so you know exactly what he brings to the table and how he can help others. Derrick, I think that one of his great qualities is he’s a really good player and he can impact the game with and without the ball. He doesn’t need the ball, he’s super unselfish and is all about winning, all the stuff that adds up. Fitwise, you thought it would look good. Thus far, it’s been good but we are only four games in, we’ll see how it looks in the next 22 and hopefully beyond that.

Brad Stevens: (White’s) a guy that everybody wants on their team for a lot of the right reasons. When we got closer to the trade deadline, that heated up as we looked at our options. A few days before the (deadline) is when it really started getting a little bit more significant and you thought it may be a chance. There’s a lot of discussions like that that fall through for whatever reason. That was one we had targeted a guy that made our best players better and who also impact us on both ends of the floor at a really good rate. It was a guy who the numbers love but when you watch it, it makes a lot of sense. You see it in the last four games. That was a little bit before the trade deadline but not a ton before. It certainly wasn’t last second.

What are you looking for in the buyout market as you look to fill out the roster? Brad Stevens: I think the No. 1 thing when you look at our team is we have pretty good depth down the line with ballhandlers. We have pretty good depth with the addition of Kornet and Theis with our bigs. We want to make sure we are as fortified in the wing area and specifically in versatile wings that can guard a number of positions and can be 3-and-D type plug-in players. I think that’s really important. I’m excited to learn more about Malik (Fitts) and Kenan (Martin). There’s a natural connection that could be made to Kenan but I never coached him (at Butler). I followed him closely and his improvement has been really good and I thought he had a good stint with the Pacers. Both of those guys are big, strong guys that can guard a number of positions and that are hungry.  – via Brian Robb @ Booth Newspapers

[Ed Monix]

On January 29th at New Orleans, Jaylen Brown hit a three 49 seconds into the game that put the Celtics up 3-2.

They haven't trailed on the road since.

5.98 games, 287 minutes and 11 seconds.

Thursday was their 5th consecutive wire-to-wire road win.

Source: Sean Grande

[Ed Monix]

BOSTON CELTICS
(Last 14 games)

12-2

+19.6 scoring differential (Phoenix 2nd - 9.6)

20.4 Net Rating (Phoenix 2nd - 9.6)

96.5 Defensive Rating (OKC 2nd - 106.7)

38.6 Opponent FG% (Cleveland 2nd - .442)

29.9 Opponent 3FG% (OKC 2nd - 30.7)

6 wire-to-wire wins

[Ed Monix]

NBA +/- LEADERS
(Since Jan. 7)

TATUM, BOS            +326
SMART, BOS            +246
WILLIAMS III, BOS   +234
BROWN, BOS           +206
HORFORD, BOS        +203
Paul, PHX                 +198
Doncic, DAL              +186
Jokic, DEN                +175

[colincb]

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 43 minutes ago

On January 29th at New Orleans, Jaylen Brown hit a three 49 seconds into the game that put the Celtics up 3-2. They haven't trailed on the road since. 5.98 games, 287 minutes and 11 seconds. Thursday was their 5th consecutive wire-to-wire road win.

I'm not sold on them as being a contender (nor do I deny the possibility), but this is mind-boggling.

[gouki88]

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 43 minutes ago

On January 29th at New Orleans, Jaylen Brown hit a three 49 seconds into the game that put the Celtics up 3-2. They haven't trailed on the road since. 5.98 games, 287 minutes and 11 seconds. Thursday was their 5th consecutive wire-to-wire road win.

I'm not sold on them as being a contender (nor do I deny the possibility), but this is mind-boggling.

That’s the kind of stat that sounds fake, it’s so hard to believe.

[slamtheking]

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 43 minutes ago

On January 29th at New Orleans, Jaylen Brown hit a three 49 seconds into the game that put the Celtics up 3-2. They haven't trailed on the road since. 5.98 games, 287 minutes and 11 seconds. Thursday was their 5th consecutive wire-to-wire road win.

I'm not sold on them as being a contender (nor do I deny the possibility), but this is mind-boggling.

That’s the kind of stat that sounds fake, it’s so hard to believe.

they had something like that stat brought up in the broadcast last night.  found it incredible but a testament to their new mental approach to not get behind early in games.

[Goldstar88]

NBA +/- LEADERS
(Since Jan. 7)

TATUM, BOS            +326
SMART, BOS            +246
WILLIAMS III, BOS   +234
BROWN, BOS           +206
HORFORD, BOS        +203
Paul, PHX                 +198
Doncic, DAL              +186
Jokic, DEN                +175

If that’s accurate, wow...Go JT!

[Goldstar88]

StatMuse: The Celtics: — Best defense since December 1 — Best point differential in 2022 — 12-2 in last 14 games — Only East team with winning record vs .500 teams pic.twitter.com/dM7QgtFKtq – via Twitter statmuse



Keith Smith: Nets coach Steve Nash on the Celtics: “They’re far and away the best defensive team of 2022.”  – via Twitter KeithSmithNBA

[Ed Monix]

The Celtics in their last six road games:

W 107-97
W 102-93
W 116-83
W 126-91
W 135-87
W 129-106

It's the highest point differential in NBA history over a six-game road span (+158).

They are the first team in NBA history to win four straight road games by 23 or more points.

[Ed Monix]

The Celtics are (14-1, .933) in their last 15 games when Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Rob Williams all play in a game, with a total differential of +255.

But…when at least 1 of the 4 doesn't play they are (14-17, .452).


Source: Boston Sports Info

[gouki88]

Maybe this is the 08 team reincarnated...

[Vermont Green]

It appears that what was underestimated was the time it would take for the new coaching schemes to take hold.  Especially when at the beginning of the season, we had so many injuries and illnesses so the starters did not get that many games to be on the court together.  Is is amazing that now that the starters are playing and have apparently had time to get used to Ime's schemes, just how well they have been playing.

Van Gundy said that he didn't think Brown and Tatum would be able to provide enough scoring in the playoffs to carry them very far.  That could be true, we shall see, but at least, based on the recent win streak, we don't have to listen to the "Brown and Tatum can't play together" narrative.  Or the Marcus Smart can't play PG mantra?

People are still going to be shouting "we need more shooters" as the go to arm chair criticism.  I don't see a "shooter" taking the place of Smart, Brown, Tatum, or RWill though.  Maybe a big that can shoot better Horford or a wing off the bench that can shoot better than Nesmith, but is is hard to say that our "big 4" need more anything right now.

[Ed Monix]

Source: Sean Grande