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That Was A Very Fun West Coast Trip

Boston Celtics v Utah Jazz

When the Celtics first went out west for this trip, I think we all would have been over the moon if they came back 2-2. If they managed to pull out a 3-1 trip I’d say we all would be walking around with giant Celtics boners (lady boners count!). But now that they return to Boston after completing a 4-0 trip, to quote one of the great thinkers of our time…

CUM EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

Look, any way you want to slice what the Celtics just pulled off, it’s impressive. The Maine Red Claws just completed a 4 game sweep including wins in Portland and UTA. Over the last 9 days the Celtics have wins over the West’s 3 seed, the 4 seed, and a UTA team that is one of the hottest teams in the league. All with guys who were either rookies, waived at one point, or Aron Baynes and Terry Rozier. Then Jaylen came back and look what happened. We all went to bed with the stickiest underwear you’ve ever seen. The facts are this team has won 12 of 16 since the AS Break, and 3 of those 4 losses were by 3 points or less. Somehow, some way, this Celtics team is figuring it out and my God it is beautiful to watch.

We have a lot to talk about after this roller coaster of a game, so we may as well get started

The Good

– Who the fuck do you think?

What was not to love about Jaylen’s 21/5/3 on 6-10 (3-3) performance? He gave us everything. There were drives to the basket, there was midrange jumpers, there were dagger threes and most importantly, there were made free throws! I know a lot of people love to obsess over the new shiny toy in Tatum, but let’s not forget how freaking good of a season Jaylen is having. I always hear people so quick to give Jaylen up in any sort of trade, and honestly I think we need to relax a little bit. Players like Jaylen and Tatum are the future of this league, we’ve already seen that shift to athletic wings be the formula.

You want to know something funny about that Jaylen game winner? It was his only FG in the fourth quarter in 9 minutes of action. We all know that heading into the draft the biggest knock on Jaylen was that he couldn’t shoot. Well, how does that form look to you?

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Shoulders square as fuck, great balance, and the hand placement, look at that hand placement!!!!

The truth is maybe Jaylen couldn’t shoot then, but he sure as shit can shoot now. What I loved most about his game winner was there was absolutely no hesitation whatsoever. Granted that probably had something to do with the time on the clock, but last year maybe Jaylen tries to make a move off the dribble because he isn’t as confident in his jumper. The Year 3 Jaylen leap is going to be so fucking great I can’t wait.

– It feels right that after talking about Jaylen, we move to his partner in crime Jayson Tatum. I personally was very excited to see two of the best rookies this season face off, both currently playing great basketball. We’ve seen Tatum rise to the occasion on this trip, but the UTA defense is something different. Play well against those beasts on the defensive end and you’ll really impress me. How did he do?

A respectable 16/6/3/2/2 on 6-15 shooting. What I liked about Tatum’s night was his engagement on both ends. The sequence where he made the three, contested Jerebko into a miss, and then finished at the rim in traffic at the other end brought my house the most joy. I liked how he tied Terry for the team lead in shots with 15 FGA, that shows me he was aggressive, and on the defensive end I’ll take his 101.2 rating every day of the week.

There was a time when people said that Tatum’s legit shooting from the outside would fade. Well, at the most important time of the season he’s currently 9-15 over his last 5 games from deep. Perhaps his shooting actually is legit just like everyone thought.

– I am going to really enjoy typing this next sentence. The Celtics do not win this game without the performance of Shane Larkin

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The best way I can describe the performance you just watched is last night Larkin was Marcus Smart. He shot like a dickhead (4-11), but was incredible down the stretch making big play after big play, finished with a line of 10/9/4, and was a RIDICULOUS +25 in his 33 minutes. Tell me that isn’t a Marcus Smart night? You want to talk defense? Sure I’d love to. Shane Larkin had the best defensive rating on the team last night at 75.2, while also leading the team in overall net rating at 36.6. The next highest was Jaylen at 12.8.

To say Ainge nailed this acquisition would be a massive understatement. I bet if I went back this would be something like the 7th game Larkin has won basically by himself. The amount of trust I have in Shane Larkin in big time moments is almost insane. But you know what Brad clearly does to because if you heard them talk after the game, the final play was originally for Shane Larkin: Closer A.

– What more can you say about Brad at this point. Nobody, and I mean nobody turns desperation into wine quite like he does. You think Brad is too proud to try a 2-3 zone? Think again. The guy is going to do whatever it takes and find a way to change the game and the momentum in his favor. With the zone and his lineup choices down the stretch, to his ATOs, Brad outcoached Quinn Snyder in this game, which is really really hard to do. Brad has this team playing defense like it’s November, and it is beautiful to watch

Look at the larger sample. Look at this entire win streak, what looks familiar

OKC – 99 pts

POR – 100 pts

SAC – 93 pts

PHX – 94 pts

UTA – 94 pts

Somehow, without Marcus and at times even without Jaylen, this team is defending at a high level. When the Celtics do that and you then add it with the offensive development of Terry/Jayson/Jaylen, it’s like we’re seeing the future unfold right before our eyes.

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– Make it 24 straight for Terry. Things sure as hell looked dicey here for a while as Terry missed his first 7 shots. But, as has been known to do, when the stakes got high and the Celtics needed some big time threes, there he was looking all Kyrie-Lite and shit

Here’s to hoping Playoff Terry is an even better version of this.

– Aron Baynes > Rudy Gobert. I’m not using stats for this, just the eye test that everyone tells me is so legit

– At this point you can’t leave out the fact that once again the Celtics came back from a double digit deficit to win. On the road. Against a really good fully healthy team. It’s honestly a situation where my body does not even flinch no matter how much they are down at any point. Take last night, down a considerable amount even deep into the third quarter and there was not one bead of sweat on my brow. This team just can’t be killed and it did it last night without their two best players.

– I also want to give credit to this team and how they executed down the stretch. Late game execution has plagued this team all year, even when fully healthy. For some reason they just never seem to stop shooting themselves in the foot. But think back to how they closed this out and it’s hard to complain.

There was the Rozier layup with 2:43 left, then after a massive tip by Larkin got Monroe to the line. The very next possession with 1:09 left you had Tatum’s dunk, a product of great defense. Then the game winner. The Celitcs didn’t turn it over, they attacked the basket, and they played great defense. That’s exactly how you need to close a team out if you want to win on the road.

– Whatever, Yabu still made a three

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– I would say that last night was probably Semi’s best night as a pro. His offense came out of nowhere, his defense was solid and he showed he wasn’t afraid. Year 2 Semi is going to be verrrrrrry interesting.

The Bad

– This now makes the third game in a row Monroe has really struggled shooting the ball. Rudy Gobert gave him all sorts of problems on a way to a 2-10 night, and really for like 95% of this game Monrow/Larkin/Rozier couldn’t buy a goddamn basket. Monroe was missing wide open layups, Terry too, and Larkin’s jumper was no working. Safe to say moving foward, the bench can’t have shooting nights like this from their main guys. If not for Semi and Nader (eye roll), things would have been pretty gross from that unit.

– Speaking of Nader, don’t be a Nader and pass the ball to your open teammates on the fast break. What exactly did he think was going to be the outcome here? That he was going to finish over three guys?

– How about that effort in the third quarter. Talk about being thrown a curveball. I expected a 15-0 run by someone and it sure wasn’t the Jazz. The offense in both that quarter and the first quarter struggled because this team could not stop turning it over. They finished with 16 on the night but had 10 at halftime. Jaylen and Tatum again combined for nearly half. It’s getting to the time of year where taking care of the ball becomes extremely important so I hope this gets sorted out.

– I guess we can’t be too mad the Celtics blew a 12 point lead of their own right? We can just sort of give them a pass for this given how everything worked out? Good.

– Someone is going to have to explain to me why this team can’t inbound the basketball. It’s no longer a fluke, it’s a real concern. Something so easy yet this team has the yips with it. Makes no sense.

The Ugly

– You know the rules! This section gets the day off once the win streak hits 5 until they lose again. For it to happen after a game winner is what it makes it all the more sweet.

We now take the next few days to recover from the trip and set our sights to Saturday night at the Garden against TOR. One of the biggest games of the year. Pretty awesome how I’m the best man in my brothers wedding on that exact date. I’m not upset about that at all, why would you think I would be? The Celts sit 3 games back of TOR and have 2 H2H to go, so this is fairly important. If they can defend like they have been over this stretch I give them every chance in the world. If the Celtics want to catch TOR they can’t even afford a split, they have to win them both, and I think for their own psyche, Saturday night would be a big one to snag. But in the meantime, enjoy the highlights of that game winner, refill your glass with Kool Aid, and say it with me

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