Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

This wasn't supposed to happen. The Celtics are on a 3-game losing streak and take on a Cavaliers crew that has won three games in a row. The Cavs sit in sixth place in the East with an 8-7 record, while Boston holds the fourth spot with an 8-6 record. The Cavaliers Collin Sexton, Larry Nance, Taurean Prince and Jarret Allen are all in Cleveland, at least in part, as a result of the Kyrie Irving-to-Boston trade. Sexton was drafted eighth-overall by Cleveland in the 2018 NBA draft using the Nets' first-round pick owned by the Celtics. Nance, Prince and Allen arrived directly, and indirectly, via the Cavs later trade of Isaiah Thomas to the Lakers. The Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto answered a few questions on the Irving deal between the Celtics and Cavs: Q: How can you say you’d rather have Sexton over Irving? A: Irving has had three knee surgeries. He’s had shoulder surgery. Over the last three seasons, he missed an average of 30 games per year. He’s missed 8-of-17 games this

Celtics guard, Payton Pritchard , has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 medial collateral ligament injury (MCL) and is expected to miss two weeks. Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has a Grade 1 MCL sprain in right knee and expected to return to on-court activities in two weeks. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 23, 2021 Pritchard suffered the injury in Boston's loss to the Philadelphia 76'ers on Friday night. The injury should heal on its own without surgery.  Types of MCL injuries MCL injuries can be grades 1, 2, or 3: A grade 1 MCL injury is the least severe. It means that your ligament has been stretched but not torn. A grade 2 MCL injury means that your ligament has been partially torn. This usually causes some instability in your knee joint. A grade 3 MCL injury is the most severe type of ligament injury. It occurs when your ligament has been completely torn. Joint instability is common in a grade 3 MCL sprain. Payton and the Celtics dodged a bullet on this one. Witho

If the NBA was looking to establish balance in the League, it seems to have found it, at least in the Eastern Conference. One month into the 2020-21 season, the Philadelphia 76'ers sit in first place in the East with a 12-5 record, followed by 12 teams with a .400 record-or-better.  Only the Washington Wizards (3-8) and Detroit Pistons (3-13) sit below the .400 mark. Here are the rankings for the top-10 Eastern Conference teams. TEAM W L WIN% GB CONF DIV HOME ROAD OT LAST 10 STREAK 1 Philadelphia 76ers 12 5 0.706 -- 12-3 4-1 9-1 3-4 1-0 6-4 W 3 2 Indiana Pacers 9 6 0.600 2 5-2 2-0 5-4 4-2 2-0 5-5 W 1 3 Milwaukee Bucks 9 6 0.600 2 7-4 5-0 6-2 3-4 0-0 7-3 L 2 4 Boston Celtics 8 6 0.571 2.5 7-6 1-4 4-2 4-4 0-0 6-4 L 3 5 Brooklyn Nets 10 8 0.556 2.5 7-5 3-0 8-4 2-4 0-2 6-4 W 1 6 Cleveland Cavaliers 8 7 0.533 3 7-5 1-2 5-3 3-4 2-0 5-5 W 3 7 Atlanta Hawks 8 7 0.533 3 5-5 0-2 4-3 4-4 1-0 4-6 W 3 8 New York Knicks 8 9 0.471 4 6-6 1-3 3-4 5-5 0-0 4-6 L 1 9 Chicago Bulls 7 9 0.438 4.5 3-3 0-