8 Wins In A Row Feels Pretty Good
Let me start this blog off making myself crystal clear because with every game during this streak I’m seeing the same thing. Nobody is overreacting to beating the Atlanta Hawks. Everyone, myself included, knows that the teams the Celtics have been beating over these 8 games have mostly been dogshit. You get CLE, NYK, ATL, CHI a team of this caliber should win those games. There will be no parade because they blew out the Hawks I can assure you of that. So please, try and separate being happy about a team that is playing the best basketball in the NBA right now and thinking just because they beat the Hawks that this team can beat GS. That is not what is happening here.
But here are the facts. The Celtics have the longest active winning streak in the league right now. It’s the second longest streak since the start of the 2011 season. Over the course of these 8 games the Celts are averaging a RIDICULOUS 125.4 points a night. I don’t care who is on your schedule, that is impressive as hell. There’s been no off night, every single game they are coming out and destroying teams offensively. That’s a big deal for Celtics fans because we remember how pathetic this offense was through those first 20 games. Now it won’t always be this good mostly because you’re never as good as you are at your best the same way you’re never as bad as you are at your worst, but I think we’d all take somewhere in the middle when it comes to this team. No other team in the league this season has had a longer winning streak, both GS and TOR both had 8 and we hear people talk about them as a potential Finals matchup all the time.
Once again, beating the Hawks = no big deal. Winning 8 in a row and climbing right back into things in the East = bigger deal
We have a lot to get to, so let’s get started.
The Good
– A lot of worthy candidates to choose for this prestigious spot, but after a long deliberation I feel like we have to reward the man that has put this team on his back from the very start. The continued dominance of Marcus Morris makes no sense, but I’m certainly not going to question it. A team best +30 in this game, Morris was once again fantastic
He finished with 20/6, made 6 3PM, and shot 7-12 from the field in just 24 minutes. Talk about making an impact. I think we’ve all been waiting for him to sort of crash back down to earth, and that hasn’t really happened. He instead has maintained his consistent level of play and it’s not just on the offensive end. Last night Morris was matched up with John Collins, who for the most part is a big time mismatch. Morris guarded him on 30 possessions, and gave up 4 points on just 1-5 shooting while causing 3 TOs. Opponents overall shot just 4-11 on the night. I don’t know what’s happened with Mook, but he’s been incredible.
– But of course, we can’t just ignore the level of play Kyrie Irving has been at over the course of this streak
Just a little 24/5/5/4 on 8-15 shooting which is pretty much in line with what we’ve seen over these 8 games. He’s shooting 50/48% with 3.6 3PM, and last night was another 50% night with 4 3PM. Kyrie was locked in from the start and was a huge part of why the Celts got off to that great start in the first quarter where he had 12 points on 5-6 shooting, and again I have to stress his commitment to defense. I know the offense is awesome, but we know Kyrie can score. I care about how defensive effort against a dogshit team, just to see if his focus and energy would be there. The numbers don’t lie, he held Trae Young to just 3 points, and he had the second lowest Drtg among the starters at 94.7. He has been leading by example on both ends, and that is a huge reason the Celtics offense and team overall has looked so much better.
Kyrie wanted to be the leader, well now we’re seeing what a leader does.
– MOTHERFUCKING TIMELORD BABY
It’s starting to get a little crazy at this point. It took 10 seconds of Robert Williams being on the court for him to register his first block, and he finished with 5 on the night and averages a ridiculous 6.5 blocks per 36. He is a type of rim protector this team has never had in the Brad Stevens era, and even though it’s a small sample how could anyone suggest that he doesn’t deserve real minutes? The man literally blocks everything, and they are emphatic dunks on top of it. We haven’t seen him make too many mental mistakes which is surprising considering he basically never plays and for me that’s the most encouraging sign. We all know the secret to getting on the floor as a rookie for Brad is if you defend and if you do not make mental mistakes.
Watch those blocks and try to tell me you aren’t feeling things in your private parts. It’s impossible.
– So let’s talk about the offensive because things are starting to get out of hand. For a team that couldn’t throw a pea in the ocean to start the season, what we are seeing right now doesn’t really make sense. Last night the Celtics once again made 19 3PM, something they’ve done 7 times in their HISTORY. Five of those performances have come in the first 28 games of the season. They have now scored 120+ points in 6 of their last 8 games after doing it just 5 times ALL YEAR last season. After just 19 assists in the win against WSH, the ball was back to moving last night as they had 28 assists on 46 baskets. Four players had at least 5 assists which tells you that the unselfish play was coming from everyone.
Yes it helps to be playing horrific defenses, but that does not take away from how well this team is playing offensively. With their improved shot selection and unselfish style of play, that’s what you should care most about. The numbers will come back down to earth eventually, but the approach is something they can maintain.
– Ho hum, another 50%+ with multiple 3PM effort from Jayson Tatum
So far this month Tatum is averaging 18/6 on 55/40% splits with 2.2 3PM a night. Ever since his benching in PHX he’s been a completely different player, so that tells me that he got Brad’s message loud and clear. As always, the thing to pay attention to with Tatum is his approach, and last night I have few complaints
What do we saw we want from Tatum, we want him to attack the rim or shoot threes and eliminate those contested long twos. Well isn’t that what the picture above shows? I do not find that to be a coincidence.
– Defense and rebounding, the key to life. Celts held ATL to 41/42%, caused 24 TOs, and won the rebounding battle 47-44. It’s not rocket science, it’s an effort thing
– Hard to be much happier with the bench production, and a large part of that is because with Gordon Hayward back and at 100%, he’s a game changer
The biggest difference we’re seeing with Hayward at this point of the season is his confidence is so much better. He’s no longer as passive as he was before, whether it’s to drive into the paint or to let it fly when he’s open. He finished with 19/5 on 7-10 shooting in JUST 17 minutes which is huge because that means he should be fine on the B2B tonight in DET. What I liked about Hayward’s night aside from his playmaking, was that his shot chart was all over the place. He had some takes inside, he was legit from behind the arc, the midrange was there, I would say it’s fair to think that he is getting closer and closer to his original form which at the end of the day we all expected.
Then you add in the play of Daniel Theis, who has been a legit godsend in the absence of Al Horford
and it’s easy to see why Brad has his hands full with minutes distribution. Daniel Theis might be one of the best offensive rebounders I’ve ever seen on this team, he probably averages like three tap out a game and his 10.7% OREB% tells that story. To think he’s also a 38% shooter from deep this season just look at what he’s done over these last 5 games
you wouldn’t take that from a reserve big? I certainly would and it’s a big reason why this team has been able to get by with different players on the shelf. Role players are coming in and playing in at a very high level.
– Terry successfully threw a lob. I have the video proof
– Name another player that can score a total of 0 points and control the game like Marcus Smart did last night? He took just 2 shots, but finished with 7 assists and 4 steals in his 27 minutes. You felt his presence in this game all while he didn’t score a single point. If that doesn’t sum up what Marcus Smart is as a player I don’t know what will.
The Bad
– Of course it wasn’t all good. Like that time in the second quarter they allowed ATL to go on a 19-0 run. How is that even possible? Where are the timeouts from Brad to calm everyone down and run a good ATO or something? That’s what blew their giant lead and thankfully it was just the Hawks and not someone with actual talent. To anyone that watches this team it wasn’t all that surprising that in a second quarter the Celtics struggled and shot just 32/27% with 6 TOs, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.
– Speaking of TOs, 21 is way too many I think we all agree there. For a team that averages like 13 a night, having that many against a bad defense like ATL is inexcusable. This team gets sloppy with the ball and they’ll get their ass beat more often than not. Having 8 combined TOs from Tatum/Kyrie was not ideal.
– He’s looked so much better over his last 6 or so games, but last night was not one of those nights for Jaylen. He struggled from the floor going just 2-12 and it wasn’t the same sort of aggressive Jaylen we’ve seen over this stretch. It felt like he was settling too much which is his kiss of death, and his shot chart reflects that
too much away from the rim and even in the instances he got there, he had trouble finishing. The good news is defensively it’s not like he got torced, he gave up a total of 5 points on the night with opponents going just 1-4, but offensively we need Jaylen to look more like he has over the last 6 than what he gave us last night. Starting outside/in never really works for him, so I’ll be curious to see how that is adjusted today.
– How about you defend the three point line a little better and not give up 16 3PM. Just an idea.
The Ugly
– You know the rules, this section can go fuck itself until we see a loss!
There’s no denying this team is playing so much better, and while part of that is their schedule, the other part is simple they are not playing like dickheads. They say winning cures all and that has to be true because the most drama surrounding this team right now is a goddamn nickname. Think of how different that is than just a few weeks ago. We all hoped they would right the ship during this stretch and that’s exactly what they’ve done, and if they want to show that it’s not just because they are playing poopoo teams, well let’s see you beat a decent DET team on a back to back. In the meantime I’m going to enjoy this win streak, and I encourage you to say it with me
18 down 44 to go.