Such a shame to see things go poorly for James Harden in Philadelphia. He had a few chances to be the hero for the 76ers on Sunday, but he did what he always does in tough games. As a result, the Celtics are one step closer to pulling off the unthinkable.
Between the way the season started in Boston and how well the 76ers were playing for so long, it seemed inconceivable for the Celtics to be right on Philly’s heels for the Atlantic Division lead — forget about being on the precipice of becoming the East’s No. 2 seed. But while Harden is doing his best to hand Boston those honors on a silver platter, the Celtics have had to do a lot on their own to get to this point.
And as much as Philly’s deflating loss against Toronto may be the focus of the NBA going into Monday, the Celtics made an emphatic statement Sunday.
Sure, the Nuggets are fighting with the Timberwolves and Mavericks to stay out of the Western Conference play-in tournament, but Denver has one more win than the East’s No. 5 and 6 teams. The Nuggets would be a different team with Jamal Murray, but Nikola Jokic still makes them a tough team to beat on any night.
The thing is, the Celtics didn’t just win in Denver. They became just the third team to beat Denver by at least 20 points this season. Furthermore, the Jazz (Jan. 16) are the only other team to beat the Nuggets by such a margin in a 2021-22 game that featured Jokic. On top of all that, Boston is the first team to prevent a Jokic double-double in 24 games (last one happened Jan. 23 vs. Detroit).
“He was comfortable early — I think he had 12 in the first quarter. After that, only four in the second and seven the rest of the way,” Ime Udoka said about Boston’s handling of the reigning NBA MVP. “He was too comfortable early. Gave him too much airspace on the perimeter, and in the post, stood behind him a few times and got rolled. But, it’s just mixed up the looks, keeping him off-balance. Switching matchups, as well — giving him different bodies. … Credit to our guys, even when he did have that 12 early, he was shooting a poor percentage. And we didn’t allow him to get other guys going, which (is when they become) that much more difficult to beat.”
Of course, Boston’s play on the offensive end was also impressive. Payton Prichard was perfect from deep again, finishing with five 3-pointers and 17 points. Grant Williams also had 13, but it was Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown who once again shared carrying the load, finishing with 30 apiece on a combined 23-for-36 shooting (9-for-16 from three).
“No satisfaction whatsoever, and I mean that,” Brown said when asked if he gets something extra from combining with Tatum for 60-plus again. “To be honest, I think I could still play a lot better in spots. I just want to get to the playoffs and be healthy. We still have a lot of good basketball to go, so I’m excited about our future. But no satisfaction whatsoever, and I’m not just saying it to say it.
“We got to just take it one game at a time. Just because we won some games doesn’t mean anything. We still got a lot to do. We haven’t proven ourselves. We’re ready to get to the playoffs stage and turn things up. So, no satisfaction from us, and there shouldn’t be any satisfaction from our fanbase. It feels great to win games, absolutely, so I don’t want to discredit that — especially with all the things that were going on earlier in the season. But, still got a lot of legroom to go, so I’m looking forward to the future.”
Can’t put it much better than Brown did.