The Celtics are cruising to the NBA’s greatest document – and towards a postseason of questions

ALL STEPHEN CURRY may do was shrug.

It was Sunday contained in the TD Backyard visiting locker room, and the NBA-leading Boston Celtics had simply handed the Golden State Warriors their worst defeat ever with the two-time MVP within the lineup. The 140-88 drubbing featured 10 3-pointers within the first quarter and a 61-17 run over an 18-minute span that sealed the Warriors’ destiny by halftime.

“That is what we used to do to groups,” Curry, the maestro of comparable scoring runs throughout Golden State’s march to 4 championships in eight seasons, stated from his locker after the sport.

“It is form of demoralizing.”

Boston’s victory Sunday gave it three wins of not less than 50 factors this season, already essentially the most in NBA historical past with over a month remaining within the common season. In the meantime, the Celtics’ level differential of plus-243 throughout their 11-game win streak additionally set a league document.

Boston leads the league in offensive effectivity, is second within the league in protection and is placing up historic level differentials.

However Boston enters Thursday’s highway assembly with the Denver Nuggets — a showdown of the highest title favorites — having performed arguably its worst quarter of the season, significantly highlighted by the late-game struggles of celebrity ahead Jayson Tatum.

On Wednesday, simply two days after that 52-point win over Curry’s Warriors, the Celtics let a 22-point lead slip away within the last 9 minutes in opposition to the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers, a collapse capped by Tatum’s failed game-winning contested fadeaway within the last second.

“Only a bizarre method to finish the sport,” Tatum stated of the 105-104 loss. “However they all the time say the sport is not gained or misplaced on the final play.”

Boston’s standing as a juggernaut is simple. Since 2016-17, Jaylen Brown’s rookie season, the Celtics have the NBA’s greatest regular-season successful proportion, and solely the Warriors have gained extra playoff video games.

However till this group wins that elusive 18th banner, this group of Celtics gamers will likely be judged by how they end issues off — whether or not it is defending a fourth-quarter lead in March or efficiently closing out a playoff sequence in Might and June.

“Your habits are every thing,” Brown stated of the Celtics’ job forward as they put together for the postseason. “Your mentality is every thing. And each recreation, you possibly can’t waste no possessions, you possibly can’t waste no time on the market on the ground.”

THE NBA HASN’T seen many regular-season runs just like the 2023-24 Celtics.

Regardless of Tuesday’s loss, the Celtics’ point-per-game differential this season (11.2) is the fifth largest in league historical past behind a quartet of iconic championship groups: the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (12.3), the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (12.3), the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (12.2) and the 2016-17 Warriors (11.6).

The Celtics, on tempo for 66 wins, would turn into the 18th group in league historical past to succeed in that mark. Of the 17 earlier 66-win groups, 12 went on to win the championship that season. In brief: It has been a dominant exhibiting by means of the primary three quarters of the common season.

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Celtics rout Warriors for eleventh straight win

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown lead the Celtics to the third-biggest win in franchise historical past with a 140-88 victory over the Warriors.

For Celtics massive man Kristaps Porzingis, who joined a lineup that additionally added former champion guard Jrue Vacation this summer season, the group’s ceiling was seen straight away.

“We now have to present plenty of credit score to our entrance workplace for placing this sort of group collectively,” Porzingis stated on Feb. 24 after a win over the New York Knicks. “When the chance [to join Boston] was introduced, for me not less than, I stated that is going to work, 100%.”

And in at the moment’s NBA, essentially the most versatile and malleable lineups are sometimes essentially the most profitable. No group embodies that higher than these Celtics.

Boston’s prime eight rotation gamers — Tatum, Brown, Vacation, White, Porzingis, Al Horford, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard — are every making an attempt not less than 5 3-pointers per 36 minutes, and all however Brown (35.4%) are capturing 37% or higher from deep.

Not surprisingly, the Celtics are main the league in 3-point makes (16.3) and makes an attempt (42.3) per recreation, whereas sitting fourth within the league by making 38.6% of their seems from deep. And having so many capturing threats throughout the board means groups pays the worth for making an attempt to focus their consideration on Boston’s two most important offensive engines, Tatum and Brown.

Or, they will should attempt one thing like Golden State did Sunday, primarily deciding it was price daring Brown to shoot and residing with the outcomes — just for him to right away bury 5 3s to place the sport out of attain.

“If you wish to dare me to shoot, we will try this,” Brown stated after Sunday’s win.

The group’s defensive versatility has additionally given opposing groups complications.

Take into account Tuesday’s recreation in Cleveland. Boston caught Vacation on Cavaliers ahead Isaac Okoro, a defensive wing, for big stretches, permitting Vacation to roam and play assist protection. That was as a result of Boston may put both Brown or White on Darius Garland, Cleveland’s elite perimeter ball handler.

With Vacation and White, two of the league’s greatest particular person on-ball defenders, within the beginning backcourt, Boston can assault groups in methods few others can defensively. Total, the Celtics have blitzed a complete of simply 47 ball screens this season, per Second Spectrum’s monitoring information (1.1% of time, the second-lowest whole within the league). When the beginning 5 is on the market, they’ve blitzed solely 5 ball screens all season (0.66%).

“The quantity of confidence that they play with, and the way each single man on their group has purchased into their function,” Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff stated earlier than Tuesday’s recreation of what has impressed him in regards to the Celtics.

“They know who they’re. They know the way gifted they’re, however they permit one another to achieve success in their very own areas.”

THE END-OF-GAME SEQUENCE on Wednesday confirmed similarities to a different one-possession recreation that Boston didn’t safe six weeks in the past. At dwelling in opposition to the Nuggets on Jan. 19, Boston missed eight of its last 9 pictures, however — like in opposition to Cleveland — nonetheless had an opportunity to tie or win the sport with 4.9 seconds remaining.

Like in Cleveland, the ball was in Tatum’s arms as Boston settled for an uneven possession — a fallaway jumper that he later admitted was rushed.

“Behind my thoughts, I wasn’t certain in the event that they had been going to foul,” Tatum stated then. “That they had a foul to present. However I had extra time than I gave myself, so I ought to have taken some extra time.

“However, cannot return. One thing I can be taught from.”

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Tatum’s miss on the buzzer sends Celtics to 1st dwelling lack of the season

Jayson Tatum misses a game-tying jumper, because the Nuggets win and snap the Celtics’ dwelling unbeaten streak to start out the season.

Tatum’s clutch-time stats aren’t fairly. This season, he has shot 15-for-46 (32.6%) in clutch time this season, together with 0-for-2 on Tuesday. Among the many 27 gamers who’ve taken not less than 45 clutch-time pictures this season, Tatum ranks final in area aim proportion.

And Tatum’s clutch-time woes aren’t remoted to this season. His clutch area aim proportion over the previous three seasons ranks within the backside 10 amongst greater than 70 gamers with not less than 100 makes an attempt.

The Celtics will nonetheless doubtlessly should get by means of superstars similar to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler to make it again to the Finals. And Boston’s depth could possibly be challenged, significantly at heart if Porzingis misses any time.

But, the Celtics stay in an enviable place, eight video games forward of the second-place Bucks, with home-court benefit primarily assured as they dwelling in on the playoffs — the place, lastly, they will hope to lift the franchise’s 18th championship banner in June.

That is why the messaging coming from this group hasn’t wavered by means of the highs of successful streaks and 50-point blowouts and the lows of late-game collapses similar to Tuesday in Cleveland: All that issues, after years of regular-season success adopted by postseason heartbreak, is how the Celtics end.

“Fairly assured in our group the entire yr,” White informed ESPN after Tuesday’s loss, when requested if the group’s current win streak modified his opinion about its ceiling.

“We’re simply enjoying good basketball. We simply wish to proceed it and simply attempt to play our greatest basketball by the tip of the yr.”

ESPN’s Kendra Andrews and ESPN Stats & Data contributed to this report.