The Celtics Should NOT Be THIS Good

The Celtics Should NOT Be THIS Good

Yo, what’s going on y’all? It’s Con and the Boston Celtics should not be this good. We’re talking about a team that doesn’t have Jason Tatum, a top five to seven player in the sport when he’s healthy. Elite defender, incredible offensive player, the face of the franchise, multiple AllNBA first teams. He’s one of the best Celtics ever. Has not played this year because of his torn Achilles against the Knicks in the playoffs last season. They got rid of Drew Holiday this summer. They got rid of Chris Sporzingis. Two integral pieces to their success the past couple of years. It really felt like we were coming into a season that was complete flux where either A they are like kind of a playoff team and maybe Jason Tatum comes back but ultimately they’re you know not going to actually compete for the Eastern Conference crown or anything or B we’re talking about a team that really really struggles with all these missing pieces. They fall down pretty far. They end up sitting like Jaylen Brown and Derrick White and these guys by the end of the season and they’re trying to go for a top pick to maybe add one more piece of cheap talent next to Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum going to next season when JT ultimately does return. Those felt like the two paths, but there is a little bit of a third one right now. Uh what if the Celtics just win the Eastern Conference? Ever thought about that? Because it doesn’t feel out of the realm of possibility today. The Celtics blew out the Lakers 126 to 105. There was no LeBron James, no Luca Donic. So, it’s not like super unexpected, but I mean, even still with just Austin Reeves as the one option, this has been a really capable and competent Lakers squad. They just didn’t stand a chance. Jaylen Brown 38 and8 on 45% shooting. Jordan Walsh was incredible. 17 points on six of seven from the field. 19 points for Derek White, 15 from Pton Pritchard, 12 from Sam Hower. They shot 53% from three as a team that’s 24 threes and 55% from the field while holding the Lakers to 43% from the field themselves. And this now makes nine out of the last 12 games that the Celtics have won. And they’ve pushed themselves to right there towards the top of the Eastern Conference standings. They are currently tied with the Orlando Magic at the four five spots, half a game back of the three-seated Raptors and one and a half back of the New York Knicks. They’re only four back of the topseated Pistons who have been dominant so far this year at 18 and five. The Celtics are 14-9 themselves. They’re tied with Miami as well ahead of the Sixers, the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics have been better so far. It’s crazy. And it’s mostly coming from this offense. They are an offensive juggernaut. They have the third best offense in the sport with 121.9 offensive rating just below the Knicks and not that far back of the Denver Nuggets. They’ve been better than the Rockets, the Thunder, even the Lakers who everybody’s talking about, oh my god, this offense on offense so far this season. It’s crazy. And Jaylen Brown has been the head of the snake. And after, you know, a couple years ago they lost in the playoffs to the Miami Heat and the Eastern Conference Finals. And it’s like, oh, Jaylen Brown doesn’t have a left hand and this and that. I cannot believe the player that he’s become on the offensive end because right now he’s out there dropping 29 a night on just below 50% from the field, about 35% from three while giving them six boards, five dimes a game, and 1.1 steals. He’s still been very effective as a defender. Jaylen Brown is the number one option, one of the best offenses in the sport. That is a sentence I could not see myself saying a few years back, but he has evolved in such a tremendous way. He’s been like clearly one of the best, if not the best, mid-range shooters in all of basketball this year. He’s self-creating a lot better. He’s setting up his teammates. He’s doing everything. He has evolved tremendously to the point now where I just can’t help but think about what the Celtics are going to look like offensively. If Jason Tatum comes back this season and looks anything like himself, like even if JT returns, there is a good chance he’s not going to look like Jason Tatum of old for quite some time. But also, he’s making ridiculous progress it looks like on his Achilles injury. The fact that he might even come back this season speaks to the work ethic and how well he’s progressing. I mean, maybe he he won’t come back. Maybe it’s just, you know, false hope for Celtics fans or Jason Tatum’s trying to push it, but they won’t let him. But if he does, he looks like even 50 to 80% more so like that 80% of Jason Tatum. Like this is one of the best offensive wing duels we’ve ever seen. Like like Tatum himself is ridiculous. Never mind this new and improved version of Jaylen Brown who is averaging, you know, a career-high 3.6 six turnovers, but that’s with vastly increased usage. And this team as a whole just doesn’t turn the ball over. They have the least turnovers per game out of anybody in the NBA. Imagine me telling you that was the case for a Jaylen Brown le offense. It’s really impressive. And it goes, you know, a lot of credit has to go to like Derek White who’s really been struggling to shoot so far this season. Just about 39% from the field, 33% from three, but that’s because he started extremely rough and now he’s really starting to find his footing. like I said in this game had a really solid outing with 19 points, five rebounds, six assists, hit five of 10 from three, seven to 14. He’s been way better as of late and also he’s, you know, one of their lead ball handlers. He really takes care of it. And as Daryl White continues to get back to his usual ridiculously efficient self, this offense is only going to start to peak even more. You’ve got like Pton Pritchard who hasn’t been quite as efficient. And some of this is also probably because of increased usage, bigger roles, but Pritchard’s just continuously been one of the most efficient players in the sport. and he’s starting to kind of find it a little bit more. You’re getting big contributions from like Anthony Simons who, you know, it was like, hey, what’s he going to look like this season? Turns out he’s a 40% three-point shooter and has been a big help in this team having the offensive ceiling that they do. Nimas Kada has held up really well as a play finishing big and a guy helping them around the rim. They’ve not been great defensively. They’ve been bottom half of the league, but it’s enough to stay afloat and win a lot of games with this offense. And again, I want to talk about how I think they can address the defense in a little bit, but Jason Tatum coming back would definitely help that. Josh Mina has been an efficient, really solid defender. Sam Hower’s continued to be a big threat on the perimeter for this team. And Jordan Walsh is one of the top guys I want to talk about because he his his ceiling is pretty high. I think it’s higher than people realize. Like, we’re talking about a guy who’s getting his first real opportunity. And one of the big things that has, you know, kind of helped the Celtics find this new level is that Jordan Walsh has started to start basketball games. And his numbers don’t look insane. You know, seven points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.1 steals. Uh but he’s shooting 58.8% from the field and 45% from three. And over his last four games, uh 14 and 11 on four of seven, 8 and six on four of four. Against the Wizards, he hit 2273, two-1 on eight of eight perfect shooting. Today against the Lakers, it was 1741 with two blocks on six of seven shooting four five from three. He is really good. He is an exceptional defender out there and offensively he’s hitting this stride. He’s becoming very very effective and you know you talk about a lineup with Derek White, Jaylen Brown, Jordan Walsh if he’s playing anything like this. Jason Tatum and maybe you find a new solution at the five spot which again I think there are some very interesting options out there to address it that I want to talk about in a moment. But you make a bit of an upgrade at the big spot and we’re talking about one of the best starting fives, maybe the best starting five in all of the Eastern Conference right now. It’s definitely in that conversation and suddenly I’m thinking, you know, there are some really good teams in this East. The Pistons have been unbelievable. I still think there’s a lot there for the Cavaliers. The Knicks are really starting to pick it up and find their stride as well. Like Orlando’s been, you know, 9 and three in their last 12 games. The Atlanta Hawks feel like they’ve still got a big time runway. Even though Toronto is slipping, I still think they’re good. Like there are a number of good teams in this Eastern Conference. But I mean, we’re talking about the Boston Celtics here who have really good experience. And Jason Tatum coming back. I mean, outside of Giannis, he’s the best player in the Eastern Conference, I believe, when healthy. Again, is he going to look like himself? I wouldn’t really, you know, anticipate it. I’m not saying Tatum comes back and the Celtics are like guaranteed going to win the East. But I’m starting to think a little bit more. Is there a world where they maintain and they’re a top four to five seed and he comes back in like late February or March and suddenly he gets into the playoffs and this Celtics team could probably beat almost anybody, especially if they do make additions. And the one that I love the most is Ubots. If the Clippers do decide to blow it up, and that would require them deciding to do that, I don’t know if they will, but if they do, the Celtics should be all over Zubots. I mean, he is such a great fit for this team as a screener, as a rebounder, as a rim protector. Last year, he was an alldefensive caliber player, and he’s been, you know, having a little bit of a down season comparatively this year with the Clippers. I don’t think his impact has been as good. Uh, but he’s still putting up, you know, amazing numbers, 16 and 12 a night on 60% shooting. Like, that that’s incredible. If the Celtics could get that and move Kada to a bench role as a big like I think he’s a serviceable starter, a really solid backup guy. You had Zubots that lineup that is such a crazy talented team under Joe Mazoula who should probably in be in the conversation for coach of the year right now with what he’s doing to a Celtics team that again didn’t feel like it was going to be very good. I think I had them as like the eight seed, the nine seed around that range cuz I was like there there’s just a world they bought them out. But instead they’re one of the best teams in the NBA right now. I mean, their net rating is the fifth best in the NBA at a 7.2. And that’s with them really struggling to open the year. Like, the only teams they’re behind are OKC, Houston, the Nuggets, and the Knicks. The top four teams that people probably talk about as championship contenders. It’s then the Boston Celtics without Jason Tatum and room to go ahead and upgrade. That should be scary to the rest Eastern Conference. They shouldn’t be this good, but they are. And over the last seven games, they’ve been beating like legitimately really good teams. They beat Orlando. They beat the Detroit Pistons. They just barely lost the Timberwolves, but put up a hell of a fight against a really good team on the road. They beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland. They beat the Knicks. They beat the Wizards, but they beat them by 45 points. Like, that’s what you should do if you’re a really good team. And then being this Lakers team, even again with just Austin Reeves, they’ve held up great. And it’s a 21-point win. Like, they blew them out as they probably should. Every sign to me shows the Celtics are a really good team. I’m just saying I’m starting to think the Celtics are going to grab a top four to five seed and Tatum is going to push his way back and this is going to be one of the most formidable squads in the entire NBA when he returns. Just just a thought. Uh but like it’s it’s crazy. They they shouldn’t be this good. They really should not, but they are. Shout out to Jaylen Brown, Joe Mazoula, all these role players. is a guy stepping up like Mina. Hugo Gonzalez I didn’t even really talk about a little bit but Hugo has been someone who’s been really solid knocking down threes 44% of them not a lot of you know minutes and only 1.13 point attempts per game but he’s been playing a little bit more recently he’s been really solid defensively too like Joe Mazuli kind of just gets the most out of his guys I have become such a big believer and fan of his as a coach over the last few years I I just think he’s one of the best in the business like if the Celtics maintain and stay within a few games of that top like top spot in the Eastern Conference I think we really have to like thoroughly consider Joe Mazula as coach of the year. I think he deserves that type of consideration. But yeah, I think those are my thoughts on the Celtics. Just keep an eye out for them and if they go on a crazy run in this wide openen Eastern Conference and win it, you heard it here first that it was possible. Okay, let’s talk about the rest of the NBA. Uh let’s start off by talking about Orlando Magic beating the Miami Heat 106 to 105. They’re also now 14 to9 like the Heat are. Uh it’s been a really fun rise for Orlando. Palibancero did play in this game. 9.6 six boards, two assists, uh, three of eight shooting in 20 minutes. Didn’t play a lot, but it was pretty effective. I like the minutes that he showed. A Fran had it a really solid 32. Again, Desmond Bane really struggled in this one. Just five points, but Jaylen Suggs picked up the slack with 22, 13 from Anthony Black, eight from Goa Bat. It was kind of a defensive grinded out type of game. It felt like kind of the Orlando games we’ve seen over the past couple of years. uh because it was you know 106 105 Miami 28 from Norman Pal who continues to make an all-star case and 16 from Haime Hakez and 24 1532 and two from Pame Deio he’s so good uh 13 from Wiggins but kind of some of the role players who step up otherwise like Khlo Wear didn’t really do a ton was solid like 10.7 assists they just didn’t really get the offensive uh explosion that we typically see from the Heat and I think this Magic defense is really again finding their footing and they’re starting to look more and more like the team that I thought had a chance to make a in this Eastern Conference. Uh, speaking of teams that I thought had the chance, the Atlanta Hawks lose to the Denver Nuggets 134 to 133. And this was a game where it looked like Denver was probably going to lose. They were down by, I think, as much as 20. The biggest lead was 23 for the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter. But in the third quarter and especially going into the fourth, the Nuggets just completely erased it. Joic went ballistic down the stretch of the game, it was like, “Oh, Joic isn’t playing very well.” And then he turned around and finished with 49 and8 on 50% shooting. He is unbelievable. You also got 23 from Jamal Murray with 12 dimes. I think we might be talking about first time all-star Jamal Murray this season. Uh and yeah, they couldn’t really guard anything and it came down to the final possessions which the final possession was a disaster for the Hawks. They couldn’t get a three off. They were hunting it. The Nuggets knew they were hunting it and Nikil Alexander Walker just ends up going for a two because he’s like, “We got to get some shot off.” And then they throw the ball way down the court and the Hawks can’t get to the guy in time. I think it was Jamal Murray to foul him and they go ahead and lose. It was a tough execution. I think Nikil also kind of had V cr if I remember right open in the corner but he missed him. But overall I mean ridiculous game. He had 30 points. 25 from Porzingis who was really good in this one as well. Uh V cr had 15 with five threes. He’s been a revelation for them. 13 from Okong Woo. Jaylen Johnson first half triple double. Finished with 211862. We’re talking about one of the best point forwards in all of the sport and a lot to beat. not just an all-star, but he’s really creeping into like how is he not going to make AllNBA this season, but the Nuggets just ended up being too much. But this was an amazing game. Like if you want to go back and watch the highlights of one, that’s the one I probably recommend. The Pistons grab another win over the Portland Trailblazers. Uh 29 with nine dimes from Kate Cunningham, 18 from Duran, 14 from Duncan Robinson, 15 from Assar Thompson, 17 from Ron Holland. Uh Pittson are just really good. And for the Blazers, I continue to be disappointed, especially on the defensive end. Like this was supposed to be a team that lived and died by defense. Like that was their identity. They’ve just not been anywhere near that. Like actually the team stats pulled up. Where are they ranking defensively at this point? Uh they are number 19. Like it’s just not good enough. It’s not good enough. Denny Odia has continued to be ridiculous offensively. I had 35 points, nine rebounds, seven assists. Also insane just ability to draw fouls. He had 15 free throws and it feels like that’s a nightly occurrence. Uh 29 from Jeremy Grant, 28 from Shaden Sharp. Like they got their offense going. They’ve been a lot more offensively inclined, I guess, than I thought they were going to be this season. I mean, they’re not that great. Like, they’re 17th offensively, but I just really thought we’d get a lot more defense from this team. And I do think missing Drew Holidayiday has played a big factor into that. Of course, you know, we talk about what Drew uh brings to the table for this team. The Cavaliers beat the Spurs, blow it open in the third quarter. It was close. The Spurs were leading for almost the entire first half and then it’s just over in a flash. Donovan Mitchell continues to put together an allNBA first team type of season. We’ll see if he gets there. 28 points, eight dimes, 24 from Jaylen Tyson, 11 to 15 shooting. Uh, just has been ridiculously good. I want to make a video coming up here soon like the most improved or most impressive player from every team so far. And Jaylen Tyson is definitely the pick for the Cavaliers. Moy 17, 10 and five, decent game from him. And on the Spurs side of things, like 28 from Deon Vel, 25 from De’Aren Fox, but everybody else, you know, not a ton going on. Not that the guys were bad. I mean, they scored a bunch. They just really did not provide a lot defensively. And of course that’s going to come when instead of Victor Webbyama, it’s Bismac Bybo down low and no Luke Cornett either who got a game- saving block the other night. Okay, we’re going to rapid fire the rest of these. The Knicks beat the Jazz 146 to 112. They were up 23 to nothing to start this game. It’s about all you need to know. 33 from Jaylen Brunson. The Hornets destroy the Raptors, which Toronto’s really starting to struggle a little bit. Have had a lot of issues creating shots. Brandon Ingram’s not really looked like himself since he hit that game winner. Manuel quickly had 31 points, but another big Kandipple game, 21 and seven dimes from him. uh 111 to86 is crazy. The Pacers grab another win over the Chicago Bulls 120 to 105. Seakum 36-10. And Chicago is playing legitimately some of the worst basketball in all of the NBA right now. But hey, 19 and 12 for Modoselis. Other Rockets beat up on the Suns. Shout out to Kevin Durant who reached 31,000 points and finished with 284 and 8 in this one. 23 4-4 from Dylan Brooks. Uh but just not enough against this Rockets team that has been rolling and they definitely are way overdue a video. The Grizzlies beat the Clippers 107 to 98. Cedric Howard at 2314 and five outdueling Kawhi Leonard who we kind of looked like in this game 248 and4 from the claw. Cedric is one of those guys that I definitely need to talk about more if I make that affforementioned video about the most impressive players. Uh he will absolutely be on that list for the Grizzlies. The Sixers beat the Bucks 116 to 101. 224 and five from Quinton Grimes. Uh just yeah the Giannis Bucks. I mean there’s not a lot that they can uh really do. There is a down game for Tyres Maxi. Paul George 20 points, five rebounds, five assists. Has been pretty solid this season since coming back from injury. And finally, the Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 132 to 111. Another insane Shay game 335 and six on 83% shooting perfect from three. Uh he just continues to do best in the world MVP type stuff. Chad Homegrrim with 15-8. Jub with another really solid game 158 and five, 11 from Aaron Wiggins, 10 from Kenri Williams. Solid game from AJ Mitchell. On the Mav side, Anthony Davis played his first 23 minutes without scoring a single point. uh the most minutes he’s ever played without scoring in his NBA career. Uh just got completely shut down by the Thunder missing multiple defenders. Just looked really afraid of contact and passive out there. Cooper Flagstar really rough but picked it up. Finished with 16. Naji Marshall had 18. Jay Hardy went crazy. The game was kind of already out of reach but he was trying to pull them back. Had 23 points. Gave them a bit of an offensive punch but again by that time it was too little too late. So those are my thoughts on the NBA games. Oh, also the Thunder are now 22 and1 by the way. Got to mention that for my favorite squad. But those are my thoughts on the NBA tonight. Let me know what your takeaways were, specifically about the Boston Celtics. How do you feel about them? Do you think they could win the East? Do you think Jason Tatum comes back from the Achilles injury this season? All that type of stuff. Leave a like, subscribe if you enjoyed. Hit the notification bell so you don’t miss out on future videos. Hype the video, all of that. And as always, I appreciate you all watching. I’ll see you all later. Real back.

The Boston Celtics were a mystery coming into this NBA season after Jayson Tatum tore his achilles against the New York Knicks and they lost Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Jrue Holiday in the offseason. But they’re one of the best teams in the East behind Jaylen Brown playing career basketball, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons, and great role players being elevated by Joe Mazzulla. And, surprisingly, the Celtics feel like they have a real shot in the East if Jayson Tatum returns even though squads like the Knicks, Pistons, Magic, Raptors, and others are hooping.

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0:00 – Intro