CelticsWeek #12: Scheduling shenanigans – CelticsBlog

The NFL Playoffs could also be hogging the highlight, however the NBA stays as lively as ever. It’s Week 12 of Boston Celtics basketball, and as we close to the midway level of the 2023-24 season, we’ve loads of hoops to debate. Let’s zero in on one other week of Celtics basketball.

Picture by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe through Getty Pictures

Boston Celtics, Week 12: 2-2 file, +4 differential

L @ Indiana, 133-131

W vs Minnesota, 127-120 (OT)

L @ Milwaukee, 135-102

W vs Houston, 145-113

Reader, we look like in a hunch.

Or not less than, as a lot of a hunch as a group can have after they’re 30-9 in an NBA season. It’s uncommon that we’ve posted one in every of these columns and not using a successful file for the week, and maybe even rarer to see a differential this low. Certainly, the Celtics had been simply 2-2 this previous week with a degree differential that ought to have been fairly a bit worse than it was. A troublesome week, although not a disastrous one.

The elephant within the room: the Milwaukee loss. It’s the worst lack of the season up to now, and it’s definitely one which hurts given the chance that the Celtics find yourself in competitors with the Bucks for playoff seeding. Sealing up the collection tie for the 12 months would have been a pleasant accomplishment. As an alternative, the Celtics fell behind early and by no means caught up, with Mazzulla opting to depart the core rotation on the bench because the groups took the court docket within the second half. A radical, wall-to-wall butt-kicking. It stings a bit.

On the identical time, it additionally feels comprehensible, not less than a bit. This was as a lot of a schedule loss as you will notice within the NBA. It doesn’t let the Celtics off the hook for a win they might have used, however this was brutal timing for a back-to-back. After the additional time win over the Western Convention-leading Timberwolves on their residence court docket — a thriller! — the Celtics had been instantly tasked with hopping on a aircraft to Milwaukee to face the second-best group within the East the following evening. Higher groups than this one have struggled in the identical circumstances.

This 12 months has featured some genuinely… quirky scheduling. Maybe its as a result of integration of the In-Season Event, but it surely feels as if outlier scheduling eventualities have arisen extra continuously. Again-to-backs really feel fairly poorly deliberate — try the Sixers within the midst of a four-games-in-five-nights stretch this coming week — and enjoying consecutive video games in opposition to the identical opponent in the identical place has turn into surprisingly frequent. Neither of those are straightforward circumstances; an imbalance in relaxation can create some very unusual outcomes, and it’s not straightforward to beat any NBA twice in a row. Each got here into play this week, with Monday’s loss to the Pacers being their second consecutive recreation on Indiana’s residence court docket. It’s unlucky, however you play the schedule you’re given. Upward and onward.

Saturday’s tilt with the Rockets got here with its personal intrigue, as effectively. It was former Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s return to TD Backyard, the primary time he has confronted Boston since his dismissal from the group. Some cryptic feedback in pregame interviews didn’t create a lot of a distraction, although, as the sport itself was little greater than a speedbump. The Celtics thumped the Rockets by 32.

Picture by Maddie Meyer/Getty Pictures

Participant of the Week: Jaylen Brown

4 GP, 32 MPG, 29.3 PPG (58% FG, 61% 3PT), 6.5 REB, 2.5 AST, 1 STL, +11

One distinguished stinker of a recreation has sometimes been sufficient to disqualify a participant from successful this award. There have simply been too many standout performers this season — there’s at all times been one other man who didn’t stumble. In all honesty, although, the Bucks recreation hardly even components into this calculus. If we took a participant out of the operating as a result of they struggled in Milwaukee on Thursday, there simply wouldn’t be anyone left. Who performed effectively in opposition to the Bucks? Sam Hauser and Oshae Brissett?

That line of considering is what leads us to Brown, who was absolute nails this week outdoors of the 10-point, 5-of-14 evening in opposition to the Bucks that noticed him benched at halftime. Take away the blowout loss from the equation, and his numbers had been stellar: 35.6 factors per recreation on a 65% share each from the sector and from deep. He torched Indiana to the tune of 40 factors, and each one in every of his 35 in opposition to the Timberwolves had been instrumental within the Celtics’ comeback to safe that win. In opposition to the Rockets, he had a career-high 21 factors within the third quarter.

This has been an understated season for Brown. Each participant on the roster has needed to settle for a discount in quantity to accommodate the bevy of top-end expertise on this group, however aside from Jrue Vacation, no person’s needed to cut back greater than Brown has. His utilization fee is at its lowest for the reason that COVID-shortened Bubble season, and though he’s made significant strides as a playmaker, he’s not the sort of participant who will essentially stand out if the scoring isn’t popping.

That’s to not say he’s been dangerous. Fairly the alternative, the truth is. Brown has been terrific on this position. He’s compensated for the lowered quantity with a rise in effectivity — his 55.7% efficient subject purpose share is flirting with a profession excessive — and together with the aforementioned playmaking enhancements, his much-maligned deal with has regarded extra secure. A second consecutive All-NBA season may be a more durable promote for voters this time round, due to the ridiculous depth of the league, however this has been a few of Jaylen Brown’s greatest NBA basketball.

The Parquet Play: Rejected!

Let’s maintain the Jaylen Brown love going, what do you suppose? Rise up, JB!

What a ridiculous rejection. It’s not the strongest end from Jabari Smith Jr., who isn’t precisely the strongest participant within the league, however nonetheless — the elevation! Brown might not dunk fairly as continuously or audaciously as he did earlier in his profession, however he stays a 99th percentile athlete on this league. He’s been getting after it defensively this 12 months, too. Massive week for #7.

Across the League: How actual are the Wolves?

Wednesday’s thrilling additional time win offers us a possibility to speak about one of many extra stunning subplots within the league this season: the Minnesota Timberwolves have spent many of the season in first place within the Western Convention.

We knew the West can be in a bizarre place this 12 months. The Denver Nuggets had been a secure wager to proceed enjoying wonderful ball — and so they have — however outdoors of Colorado, no person within the convention felt utterly secure to depend on. In that void, the Wolves have stepped into the highlight and held on tight. They’ve remained in first place for practically the complete season. This isn’t acquainted territory for this franchise — previous to this season, they’d held first place within the West for a complete of 16 days throughout everything of their existence (hat-tip to consumer paul_f on Reddit for the information).

Is that this actual? We’re practically on the midway level of the season, and the Timberwolves haven’t faltered, which is quickly forcing us to contemplate that it may be. Anthony Edwards is making the famous person leap proper in entrance of our eyes, averaging a career-best every little thing and assuming the mantle of alpha canine on this roster. Karl-Anthony Cities, lastly wholesome, has turn into an effectivity god and is flirting with a 50-40-90 season. Behind the efforts of Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves sport one of the best defensive score in basketball. Naz Reid is among the many league’s greatest backup bigs, and the ever-reliable Mike Conley Jr. is stirring the drink as at all times.

Their internet score (+5.6) sags behind the league’s elite, and so they’ve slowed considerably in current weeks, simply 4-3 of their final seven video games because the Thunder have snuck up on them. Can this group overcome their postseason demons and make an actual splash? We gained’t know till they get there. However up to now, this season has far surpassed even essentially the most favorable of expectations, and breathed some life right into a franchise that sorely wanted it.

Subsequent up: Bouncing again

The brand new week started for the Celtics final evening, as they confronted the Toronto Raptors on the street on Monday and walked away with a largely comfy 105-96 win. From there, the reigning #1 general decide involves city for the primary time in his profession, because the Celtics host the San Antonio Spurs and 19-year-old Victor Wenbanyama on Wednesday evening. Friday, they’ll play host to the reigning champs — Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets — earlier than touring to Houston for a rematch with the Rockets on Sunday.

The Celtics are nonetheless ready on that straightforward schedule, and so they gained’t discover it simply but. That is one other robust slate, with the rebuilding Raptors the one “straightforward” matchup on paper. We’ll be again subsequent week to debate how the Celtics fared in opposition to one other slate consisting of largely playoff-hopeful groups.