SOUND OFF: Another Blowout Win for Celtics While Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford All Rest

Published Mar 19, 2024, 3:52 AM

Another night, another blowout win for the Boston Celtics, who won their sixth consecutive game by double-digits with a 119-94 win over the Detroit Pistons. Boston played without stars Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Al Horford yet still dominated and pulled ahead by as many as 29 points behind Jaylen Brown’s 31-point game and Derrick White’s first career triple-double. Tonight, we discuss how special this team’s mental approach is to continue dominating no matter who plays and who doesn’t, and then we take comments from Celtics Nation on the Celtics not playing many close games, the value of playing some close ones down the stretch, and tonight’s all-women broadcast on NBC Sports Boston.

Now pop will be folks on the Boston Celtics being an absolute machine. Yet again, they were missing three of their top six players. That's the second time in as many nights, and yet again they win by at least twenty five points. They just continue to be a machine that continues churning on no matter who's in, no matter who's out, and no matter who is on the other sideline. Tonight, the Boston Celtics were missing Drew Holliday, Al Horford, Jason Tatum had a rare game off, and all they did was take care of business with a one, nineteen to ninety four win over the visiting Detroit Pistons. This game was tight during the quarter, although Boston came out shooting the ball well. During the second quarter, though the tide began to turn. The Celtics put the clamps down on defense, held Detroit to only eighteen points during that second quarter on thirty two percent shooting, all while the Celtics continued to have their groove offensively and pulled ahead by as many as fifteen points. Now during the third quarter, that is when the Celtics threw and landed their knockout punch. Jalen Brown was at the center of it. During the final five minutes of that third quarter, Jalen Brown scored eleven of Boston's nineteen points during a nineteen to four run that changed the game. Boston blew its lead open to twenty plus points, and they cruised from there. Jalen had fourteen of his game high thirty one points during that third quarter, and everyone across the board performed. Another night when people get an opportunity because their teammates were not able to take the court. Tonight, Derek White, the ball was in his hands even more so than normal, winds up with his first career triple double twenty two points, ten rebounds, and ten assists. Slide over to the other guard position. Peyton Pritchard gets a spot start. What does he do twenty three points in another seven assists one night after he dished out thirteen one night ago in the win down in Washington. By the way, those guys combined seventeen assists in only five turnovers. An incredible performance from both of those guys. Peyton Pritchard winds up as a plus nineteen in the plus minus category, Derek a plus seventeen. As I said, Jalen Brown also finished with thirty one points to lead the game. And then Christas porzingis back in the lineup for the first time after missing a handful of games nursing that hamstring stain. He comes back looks pretty darn good. Only played twenty one minutes, but during that time scored twenty points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked a shot. So the wheels just keep on turning. This team just keeps on churnin again, no matter who's in or who's out. It doesn't matter who's on the other sideline. The Celtics just continue to take care of business every single night. We all need to sit back and understand how rare this is of what we are watching, of a team that can perform at this high of a level every night, regardless of how healthy they are. There have been many teams in the past who were great when fully healthy. There have been few who could be great even when they weren't healthy. And that's exactly what this Celtics team has been able to do all season long. It's unbelievably impressive and we all need to just sip back and recognize the greatness that we are watching from this team, from this coaching staff from this organization, everyone is pulling in the same direction and that is why this team just continues to lay it on opponents. And we're going to talk about that when we take a few comments here from our fans. One comment is talking about the Celtics feels like they haven't played a close game in a while. Yeah, we'll talk about that. Another comment about how the Celtics not playing down to competition. That is a great trait that the Celtics have displayed all season long. And then we'll wrap up with one comment coming in about the Celtics all female broadcast team tonight in celebration of Women's History Month. It was a great night on NBC Sports Boston, not only for the broadcast team, but also for the team on the court. If the Boston Celtics with yet another win, that's six straight. Let's dive into our comments from Celtics Nation. All right, Our first comment coming in from Jordan saying it feels like the Celtics haven't played a close game in weeks. Let's hope the Milwaukee game is the same. That Milwaukee game that Jordan is referencing is coming up Wednesday night. That's gonna be on NBC Sports Boston for those of you who can watch there. For everyone who can't, it's gonna be on ESPN. This is a prime time matchup. Everyone's gonna have their eyes on it. And you know why. It's because the two best teams in the East, the teams that almost everyone for c meeting in the Eastern Conference Finals. They are gonna collide for the first time in a long time. It's been a while, and Doc Rivers has gotten that Milwaukee Bucks team playing pretty darn good basketball right now. So Wednesday is gonna be a showdown. But let's go back to the first part of your comment here, Jordan, it feels like the Celtics haven't played a close game in weeks. Well, if you feel that way, Jordan, it's probably because it's true. The Celtics have won six straight games in every single one of those wins has been by double digits. The only games that have been close in the month of March, and really since February first, the only games that have been close have been their losses. As we all know, almost a couple weeks ago now, the Celtics fell by one point at the end of the game to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then a couple nights later they go to Denver fall by six. Couple close games. Those are the only close games, the ones that they lost. Okay, because since February first, the Celtics have won every single other game that they've played than those two. That is nineteen total games. They are seventeen and two during those games in almost every single one of those wins was by double digits. Just an incredible stretch of dominant basketball. Again, as we talked about at the start, regardless of who is in, who is out, and who's on the other side of the ball. The crazy thing about this is that it's not like the Celtics have had a cake walk here. They played some really good teams during the stretch. Miami in Miami back on February eleventh, win New York in New York February twenty fourth, a win Philadelphia February twenty seventh, here in Boston, A win Dallas here on March first, a win Golden State here in Boston March third, a win Phoenix twice in a span of five or so days, both wins. The Celtics are beating really good teams during the stretch and they're beating them badly. Now. The Pistons ran into a buzzsaw. They were missing a couple guys as well, but they just didn't have what it took to be able to take down this machine that just keeps on churnin. The Celtics team playing unbelievable basketball at both ends of the court, not playing close games, and you know why, because they're crushing teams right now. They are laying it on every night they take the court. It's been fun to watch, and as you said, Jordan, let's keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully that happens again Wednesday night when those Bucks come to town. All right, Next up, we got Francisco saying, happy they don't play down to the competition, but we need some close games to be on playoffs mentality. All right, let's start out with that first point. Happy they don't play down to competition. The Celtics, I believe the number is now twenty six and one on the season against teams that are under five hundred. Do you understand how incredible that is? Can you please take a moment to appreciate how incredible that is? And here's why this team's mental approach is not only unique to the Celtics and their history over the last four or five six years, it is unique to the NBA. Very rarely do you find a team that can head into every matchup with the same mental approach, the same mental concentration, the attention to detail, the level of execution, the ability to not let your mind think that your skill is simply going to win you a game against a team that's not quite as talented. Because in the past few years, I don't think it's been a conscious decision. I think it's been subconscious that that has happened with the Boston Celtics. They have had nights again teams that were not as good and teams that were missing some of their best players, and the Celtics have gone in and not played well. And again I don't think it was conscious. I think it was subconscious. But that does not exist this season. None of that subconscious exists. This team, with these players, with this coaching staff, goes into every game with the exact same approach. They want to play their brand of basketball, no matter who is playing, if it's a Shaber set, if it's Peyton Pritchard, Luke Cornett, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum. It doesn't matter who it is, you are expected to play at a certain standard. You are expected to play hard every possession, both ends of the court. That is the expectation. In anything less than that is not going to be tolerated. Not this year. This team is different, as I said, not only unique to the Celtics, this is unique to the NBA because sometimes your mind can play tricks on you, folks. Sometimes you can go into games and just have a mental lapse. That does not happen with this team. It truly is incredible. It is incredible that we've seen this team have so few mental lapses throughout an entire season. I mean, at this point, we're fourteen games games remaining and the Celtics have barely had any slip ups in that category. It is incredible. It's impressive. It is truly a positive sign for maybe what's to come down the road in the postseason, because when you are this mentally strong throughout an entire regular season, the evidence is overwhelming that that's who you're gonna be during the postseason. Now to your other point here, Francisco, would be nice, you're saying to play some close games to be in playoffs, mentality. I'm just gonna say I would be okay with plenty more blowout wins. You know why, because that means that the Celtics are going to continue to play at an extremely high level that their opponents simply cannot keep up with. But I will give you this, if they just so happen to play a handful of close games that go down to the final couple minutes, maybe go down to the final possession, no matter what the result of those games is, I'm okay with it. And that's because all of that experience in those situations, no matter again what the result, that experience is mental and physical knowledge that this team will then be able to lean on when those moments come during the postseason, because trust me, mark my words, they will come during the postseason. There's no NBA team that just marches through the playoffs, especially when there's plenty of really good teams around the NBA. This is not a week NBA that we have right now. There's plenty of teams that could win the championship this year. So the Celtics will play close games no matter how they go. So if they have close games that they can look back on again, maybe it's subconsciously, but that knowledge, that experience, it matters. That game in Cleveland where the Celtics lost by one and Jason Tatum missed the shot at the buzzer, yeah they lost, but that's experienced, that's knowledge owing through. That matters. Same thing in Denver a couple nights later, game comes down to the final couple minutes. Celtics don't make the plays that they needed to make to win it. That's okay. They learn from that. That is information that they can lean on in the future. So if this happens again during these final fourteen games and the Celtics have a few close ones, at this point, they they have the East wrapped up, they are the number one seed, home court advantage through the East no matter what. They're pretty darn close to wrapping it up for the whole league as well. So at this point, with fourteen games left and the Celtics having a comfortable lead over the whole NBA, and we're talking about home court advantage through the NBA Finals, should they get there, they lose a couple of games that are closed, that's fine, Francisco, I'm with you. If that happens, let's take that knowledge, whether it be good or bad, wrap it up, stick it in the back of their minds, and have that as information that they can lean on down the road, because they're going to need to during what we hope is a lengthy playoff run. Appreciate the comments, Francisco, all right, our last comment coming in from dah underscore yep. That's daaa underscore YEP, saying I thought the ladies did a really nice job on the broadcast tonight, especially Abby. It's not easy to go from the sideline to the play by play, and let me correct you there. She didn't go to the play by play. She went to the analyst seat. That is Brian Scalabrini's seat, which used to be Tommy Hinsen's seat. That's a big chair to slide into. And Abby Chin, one of my partners on the View from the Rafters podcast, incredibly talented. She did a great job. Really everyone across the board on this broadcast. If you don't know, I'll fill you in. On NBC Sports Boston tonight, in celebration of Women's History Month, we had an all female broadcast. Tons of talent just dripping across this entire broadcast. From the pre half, in postgame shows, to the play by play, to the analyst roles, to the sidelines, I mean talent everywhere. These women brought the goods. I actually had an opportunity to put my headphones on for a while in this game and listen to the broadcast on TV as I was watching it with my own eyes in person. A ton of fun. Abby clearly was enjoying herself. Just a great opportunity for these women to slide into some roles that they don't usually get to sit in. That includes Dejane Carrington from the Connecticut Sun getting to be an analyst during this game, Jen Rizzotti from the Connecticut Sun being an analyst in the studio for the Celtics, Ashley Battle from the Celtics front office doing the same. Really awesome to hear these women be I mean, we all know that they have to be great at what their full time jobs are to have those jobs. How in the world do you just slide into a role like this for the most historic franchise in the history of the sport and just keep going like this is your full time job. Was impressive. I'm gonna read off all the names just so everyone has them. Zora Stevenson was on the play by play call, did a great job. Dja Carrington with the analyst role with Abby Chin. Caleb Burton was on the sidelines, did a great job. At the end of the night, if you all don't have NBC Sports Boss, and you might see it on social media, she was grabbing Derek White for the walkoff interview and Luke Cornett and Drew Holliday come up and try to pour water on Derek White, and Kayla's like, I should have known this was gonna happen. I should have known, and then goes right into the interview with Derek White. Awesome transition. She just had a ton of fun. And then as always the great Amina Smith, who we're gonna miss. She's heading over to ESPN to be a host on SportsCenter. She was great hosting the pre halftime in postgame shows. And then as I said, Ashley Battle from our Celtics front office in gen Rizzotti from the Connecticut Sun front office, both sliding into analyst roles in the studio. Unbelievable night. It was a ton of fun to watch. But now Wednesday night, we're going back to the norm. Folks. We've got Mike Gorman back on the call on the sidelines with the play by play. He'll be joined back again by Brian Scalabrini in the analyst seat. Abby Chin's gonna be on the sideline, and then Amina will be in the pre half and postgame shows for NBC Sports Boston. Now, this is a huge game, and as we know with some of these games, they are not only broadcast on NBC Sports Boston. For those local who are able to watch on NBC Sports Boston, that's great, watch it there. For those who are around the country and have to watch somewhere else, this game against the Milky Bucks will be at seven point thirty on esp N. It is a big game. Everyone thinks it might be a preview of what we bite see just a couple months down the road in the Eastern Conference Finals. It's the Milwaukee Bucks, Gianna Santet Tokupo, Damian Lillard, Rivers coming to town against the Celtics team that surely might be looking at full health on Wednesday night. Until then, folks, I appreciate you sounding off with me. I hope you do it again with me Wednesday night. We're looking forward to it. Celtics Bucks coming up at seven thirty Wednesday, until that great neck