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Celtics Wrap: Boston’s Stars Shine Bright In Win Over Nuggets
The Celtics keep on winning


NESN by Greg Dudek

The Boston Celtics stayed on a roll, cruising to their fifth straight game Friday night by taking down the Denver Nuggets, 131-112, at TD Garden.

Boston’s winning streak has propelled it to a 9-3 record, while the Nuggets fall to 8-4.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
With the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic in town, it was a star battle and Boston’s best players outperformed that of Denver.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown teamed up once again to pick apart an opposing defense, really getting any shot they wanted as they combined for 59 points. Jokic put forth his usual effort, but with Jamal Murray (14 points) not providing enough scoring, Denver’s duo couldn’t match Tatum and Brown.

Denver really shouldn’t feel bad about that. Tatum and Brown have played so well off each other this season and are elite scoring options in a Celtics offense that is a well-oiled machine to start the campaign.

It all obviously starts with Tatum and Brown as they not only continue to score in high volume, but keep making the right plays to take advantage of whoever the Celtics play on a given night.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Brown didn’t miss many shots, putting together a strong and efficient performance to net 25 points. Brown knocked down the first 10 shots he took. He also added eight rebounds and eight assists.

— Tatum continues to be a scoring machine as he poured in a game-high 34 points on 11-for-21 shooting. It was his seventh game this season in which he scored at least 30 points. Tatum added eight rebounds and five assists to help lead the way.

— Jokic, the two-time reigning MVP, played mostly as advertised despite battling foul trouble. Jokic put up 29 points, eight rebounds and three assists in the loss.

WAGER WATCH
With Malcolm Brogdon out, Derrick White stepped up off the bench. DraftKings Sportsbook set White’s over/under for made 3-pointers at 1.5, which White surpassed. White connected on two 3-pointers as part of a 10-point effort. With +165 odds, a $100 wager on this prop bet would have netted a total payout of $265.

UP NEXT
There’s no rest for the Celtics as they hit the road Saturday for the second leg of a back-to-back against the Detroit Pistons, who lost to Boston, 128-112, at TD Garden on Wednesday. Tipoff from Little Caesars Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.

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I thought this was a tremendous game by the Celtics. Their offense is so impressive, they space the floor, move the ball, take the right shot it is great to watch.

The J's keep getting better, each game I see things they couldn't or didn't do last year. Tatum is truly an MVP candidate if he continues to perform at this level, and if Jaylen doesn't make the all star team something is very wrong with the people choosing the team. The other thing I love is they play both ends of the floor.

I thought Grant played well last night and I like him starting. He's getting a feel for when to shoot and he did a solid job on Jokic. He is also an instigator, and every team needs one or two of those.

I have to say Kornet played a helleva game last night. I will be more than happy to admit I was wrong about him if he continues to play at this level. He shot the ball when he should, hit his shots, passed the ball well, set solid screens and played good d.

I just love Prichard, he hustles and makes plays. He was ready when we needed him. His role is important because Brogdon and Smart will miss games.

Speaking of Smart, what can you say, he continues to make winning plays everytime he's out there.

The defense was also solid last night. Denver hit some tough shots and Jokic can only be contained. He's a tremendous player. This was a good team we beat, they have a talented team.

When Brogdon comes back and timelord is ready, we are just going to get better. They are must see TV for us celtics fans.

We are rolling, love the offense, all the easy looks off ball movement and back cuts. I know defense was our calling card last year, but this offense has no 1 ranking for a reason. Coach Joe has this offense performing much better than last year, this offense is putting on a clinic every night it seems. I didn’t think Tatum was going to take a leap as a 30 point plus scorer this year, but he has and is doing it in an unselfish team oriented manner. Great game by Jaylen too, he doesn’t have to get beat up going into multiple defenders, that mid range game is so efficient and lethal too. I see no reason his mid range game can’t be as lethal as DeRozen’s as he’s already the better athlete that can get that shot off on anybody.

Didn’t need a big game from Hauser, as other’s stepped up. Marcus’s defense is going strong again and what can you say about Al? He has found the fountain of youth and Kornet is starting to contribute too. Offense be rolling.

Forgot to mention GWill, I like him starting, he sets mean picks and makes us a more imposing physical team from the get go. With him starting, that makes the 2 J’s even more a match up nightmare as very few 2-3’s can match up with the J’s. Still like Whites steady contributions both ends, he’s a heady player and great players need those kind of good supporting players around them.

This DOG has no quit!!!!



Nice camera angle for this sequence.  White, Pritchard, Kornet and (I think) Houser were out there with Tatum and I imagine no one would have predicted success with that lineup.

Big Al says, "Age is just a number . . . like 6/8 from DEEP!"





(Career regular season high)

No less impressive from this angle!



This angle confirms that Sam Ka-Bam was on the floor in the "Bench plus Tatum" group.

The other Big Brother gets his digs in. (LOL)



For reference:

Woh, where'd that come from!!



Woh, when one word is almost enough!!

Once again the Celtics' schedule collided with my Friday Happy Hour.  I'm going to have to work this out, somehow.  Unfortunately it's a post-work get-together for a bunch of old farts who don't want to start @ 7 or 8 because it's past their bedtime (or, at least, they're thinking about it).

A nice 19 point blow out of a team that had an identical record to ours coming in, a good test, especially without Brogdon and, of course, RWill.   This was not an easy game on the schedule.  Our total fgas were comparable to theirs, as were ftas, rebounds, turnovers and 3pt fg%.  The differences were 3pt fgas and fast break points.

Denver's defense isn't anything to write home about but they have the #5 offense in the league and that's after only scoring 112 last night.  We are, of course, the #1 offense.  After digging in my heels for so many decades on the importance of having an elite defense, and I haven't abandoned that, it's weird to me to accept that our success is due to Joe's offense.

Denver's #5 offense is #1 in fg% and #1 in 3pt fg%.  We are 2nd in both, right behind them.  Last night we took 37 3pt fgas vs 29 for them.  37 3pt fgas out of a total of 90 is very low for us.  We also had 18 fast break points vs 11 for them.  3s and speed, that's Joe's offense.  If you told me this last month I'd shake my head but "you are your record" and our 9-3 record ties us with Portland with the 3rd best record in the NBA.  It's hard to argue with that.  Milwaukee lost their 2nd game last night, they're 10-2, and are still just 1 game ahead of us.  In the west former Boston Celtic assistant coach, and now Utah head coach, Will Hardy has his no-superstar team at 10-3, just 1/2 game ahead of us.

And we're waiting for the return of DPOY candidate The Time Lord.  Oh boy, this could get really, really good.

Pritchard with minutes in Brogdon's absence.  I really enjoyed watching his highlight film, especially those two offensive rebounds (go figure).  Smart went crazy on the bench to those plays by PP, as he should.  4 offensive rebounds for the shortest guy on the floor.  Be still my racing heart.




https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468331


Bob


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Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 10 hours ago
NBA - MOST POINTS JAYSON TATUM 377 Kevin Durant 370 Luka Doncic 370 Steph Curry 366 Donovan Mitchell 348



Sean Grande
Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 10 hours ago
With his 6-for-8 Friday night, Al Horford moved into the NBA's top-10 in 3-point shooting. He joins Grant Williams (5th) and Sam Hauser (9th). Boston is 2nd in the NBA (to Denver) in 3-point shooting (.391) and FG% (.489). 1st in True Shooting 1st Effective FG% 1st in Offense


Bob


.

Rosalie, I think he heard you on that first play!!!



Luke D leads to Tatum O!!!

Mike said, "Kornet (again) there to block it".

Here's what I saw from the DEN game last night.

1. Selective, effective, pin-point defense is in and is enough for us now until RWIII gets back. We're not at lockdown defense every opposing possession but when RWIII returns...look out!! This team is trying to get to that point without him. Good for CJ.

2. Payton Pritchard sighting - Dang!! He played one heck of a game off the bench! That's what I was imagining for him before all our personnel wheels came off in the summer leading up to this season. Glad to see him all over the place making it happen ala Dave Cowens.

3. Ball movement leads to wide-open practice shots and very high shot percentages for 2- & 3-pointers. Nuf said here. Check the box scores of the last few games.

4. Low TO's and won the battle of the boards. Nice even with Jokic out there. Still don't know how we are doing it being undersized and half-assing it on defense only when convenient. We must be watching old Dennis Rodman film to get us up to par.

5. We're winning and everyone around us is losing again. MIL, CLE. And gratuitously and seredipitously the Lakers lost again. This is the second time and B2B this has happened. We're in 2nd by ourselves and one game back of MIL.. Here we come.

6. 80's Celtics? Anyone? Bueller? Seriously, am I the only one seeing this? Please prove or disprove. The ball movement and easy buckets definitely. The firing from everywhere uncontested maybe not but the results are the same.

7. Grant Williams looked good. Doogie? Didn't need him last night. Neither did we need Malcolm.

That's a good start. A little lapse in the 3rd but that was more Denver than us, IMHBAO.

Overall, Wow!!...Again! Denver is no Joke(ic). Paging ESPN. Time to change the MIL/BKN/LAL narrative.

OKC up next. After that come Wednesday, BOS @ ATL should be a very interesting test.

db

White wanted this!



Not shown in this clip, but his reaction after the play was to pound on the floor and laugh.

I wonder, , is anyone else noticing the way they are calling Marcus's game as far as the ref's are concerned. ThiIngs he got credit for last year are being called as fouls this year. I find it a bit discouraging. Last night when Aaron Gordon commited that foul in the backcourt, all I could think to myself was that if that was Smart he would have been thrown out. Gordon knew exactly what he was doing. I know the joker is a two time MVP, but he used his arms to push guys off so much last night it was ridiculous. He got the respect of the ref's, period. Why is it Marcus cannot get that kind of respect. I know, complaining about ref's is a no no but it just boggles my mind that a guy like Smart cannot get the respect he deserves. Defense is not what the NBA wants, they want scoring, high scoring games. period. just venting over my aggrivation last night. It was an awesome game by the entire team, loving every minute of watching this team show the world they have grown up