It’s not just a great movie…it’s a concept, bro. (Put that in your pipe!) I only mention it since after a blazing start (Blazers never do this, so I can’t use it, paiiiiinnnn), the Celtics have gone very mid on us. Sure, there are some losses the past month that don’t really make you concerned, like against the Thunder. Losing to the Kings, Sixers and Magic is not great, but I can make the case. However, losing to the Bulls, Pacers and Raptors (110-97 last night) is not a good look. Are the Celtics biding their time? Perhaps this is a northeastern hibernation effect…
Yeah yeah, I would love to be hibernating at the two seed as well, but I think we can safely say that elite teams like this will go through a general malaise period, especially after a title-run and having a few Olympic players, so none of this is too concerning. Especially when considering my natural hatred for all Boston sports teams, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on as we soon pass the midway point of the season.
I think the Clippers played a basketball game last night? I’m pretty sure the Nets didn’t, so that led to one of the most lopsided scores I’ve seen in a while… 126-67. Look, besides that being the top-10 largest discrepancy in points in leagues history, just seeing Mamba and Kai Jones running on the floor at the same time was definitely fine entertainment.
By the way, Kawhi Leonard continues with his minutes restriction regiment, and it looks to be roughly 22-25 minutes right now, and he’s not in the closing lineup quite yet. I think you’ll start seeing a ramp-up after the next couple of weeks where they play like 20 games in the span of two days. He did check out last night with 23 points on 81.7 TS% and a steal.
Nets take on the Lakers next (who won last night against the Heat), a team that actually doesn’t play defense all too well, so perhaps a closer match-up. Or maybe not, I’m just saying, you have to lose constantly to tank, not win some here and there and then get 100 scored on you before you get to 50, but I appreciate the effort here.
We’ll discuss more tomorrow, I’m eager to type something up about the Pistons this year, and we’re getting a re-match between the two hottest teams in the NBA, Thunder and Cavs. Also an interesting Rockets/Kings game. See y’all then!
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
