After their strong performance against the Golden State Warriors, their 14th birthday, they are now back in the game. In the third consecutive victory, the Boston Celtics have finally reached the top of the NBA. The question is: How long can Boston keep the current top form? Perhaps this season’s great success for Kyrie Irving and Co. in it?
For a perfect playoff atmosphere, the local time at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday evening was really not missing much. The euphoria of 13 successes in series had fully captured the Celtics fans and now the reigning champion was also a guest. The best conditions for an atmospheric evening.
For the first time it was really loud even before the actual tip-off – and that had nothing to do with what was going on on the floor. Rather with a face on the Jumbotron. Frenetic applause burned up when Gordon Hayward appeared on the screens. After his horror injury in the first game of the new season and the resulting season outbreak, the 27-year-old was back in the arena for the first time to support his team personally.
The warm welcome was certainly good for Hayward, for the Celtics fans it was a perfect start to the evening, where the best teams of the NBA met each other. When the Celts later caught up a double 17-point gap and finally finished in 14th place, the Celts were able to keep up with the rest of the group. The Bostonians had to wait for the second consecutive victory, but there was no stopping them.
Jaylen Brown became the hero of the evening. Only a few hours before the match, the 21-year-old learned of the death of his best friend, Trevin Steele. Nevertheless, Brown was on the floor. And yet he led Celtics to victory with his energetic performance – both in the offense and the defense.
14 victories in series – the Celts achieved this last in the 2010/11 season. The franchise record is 19 victories in a row. Considering the current form, the Kyrie Irving and Co. Evening after night, it seems quite feasible that Celtics can at least attack this magical number.
In any case, the success against the Warriors underscored the team’s ambitions for this season, despite Hayward’s loss and the major personnel changes last summer. Boston is at the top of the NBA after the first month of the season with the best record: Irving plays like the superstar he himself believes to be (although there was only a limited amount of it in the game against Golden State).
Thanks to the strong bank around Daniel Theis, the necessary depth seems to be present in the squad. And the Defense is one of the best the Association has to offer at the moment. The latter is proven by looking at the straightforward statistics. The Cs held their opponent under 90 points six times, best score in the NBA.
The defensive rating of 95.4 is also by far the best rating. And another fresh proof of Boston’s defensive power: the Dubs scored 88 points on Thursday night. Their previous average for the season was 119.6 points per game.
“There’s a reason why they haven’t played too many close games so far,”coach Brad Stevens warned of the clash,”they’re just damn good!” According to the laws of human logic, last night’s result should mean that Boston is also damn good.
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Warriors coach Steve Kerr has already made that clear in the media a few days ago:”It looks like Boston is the team of the future in the East, with all the assets they have, the young talent and coaching, and the outstanding Kyrie Irving,”the 52-year-old told ESPN.
“This looks like a team that’s gonna be way up east for a long time. Whether their time has already come or whether it will come in the future remains to be seen. But it looks like it’s time for them to start now.”
Kerr is not alone in this assessment. In view of the duel with the Warriors, a preview of the NBA finals in 2018 has already been mentioned in various media. Whether he would be back in Boston in June for the finals, Golden State’s superstar Stephen Curry was asked after the match:”It looks very, very much like it,”he replied.
Of course, it’s much too early to say that. Especially since not all that glitters is gold in Celtics. For example, Rookie Jayson Tatum already has a lot of appetite for Rookie Jayson Tatum; there is no question that the No. 3 pick has so far far far exceeded the high expectations of him. But it should come as no surprise to anyone if the 19-year-old makes acquaintance with the infamous Rookie Wall sooner or later.
Brown, too, at the age of 21, is still quite inexperienced and was rather rudely flushed into his prominent role. Can he or she show consistently good performances over a full season and in the playoffs, as well as the up to now convincing reserve players?
In addition, the competition in the Eastern Conference (Hello, Cavaliers!) will undoubtedly increase in the course of the season and will have a say in the fight for the finals.
Nevertheless, Boston can of course look to the future with an extremely positive feeling. After having been written off after the Hayward violation by some experts and especially fans of opposing teams, the Celtics show with their winning streak that they can already be expected this season.
In addition, the first few weeks confirm the assumptions of many experts before the start of the season:”The squad is enormously talented because of the bank. Accordingly, the potential is enormous. The future belongs to the young Stevens team. And maybe even the present.