Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

NBC Sports' Chris Forsberg wrote it . " The Celtics don’t win Tuesday night without Pritchard’s game-changing energy". Payton Pritchard came away with 10 points, five boards and five assists in the Celtics 116-111 win over the Pacers last night, ending Indiana's 3-game win streak. This young man simply injects energy into a team that often desperately needs it. It is rare for coach Brad Stevens to be confident enough to keep a rookie on the floor this long ( per NBC Sports' Chris Forsberg ): "Four games into his NBA career, Pritchard, the No. 26 pick in November’s draft, is fifth on the team in total minutes played (88). He’s logged more floor time than two of Boston’s key rotation players during their bubble run in Grant Williams (61 minutes) and Daniel Theis (86). He’s just ahead of veteran offseason acquisition Jeff Teague, who he was supposed to be ahead of him on the point guard depth chart entering the season." Payton Pritchard continues to shine f...

This had to happen. The Celtics All-NBA star, Jayson Tatum, disparately needed to alter his style of play if he ever had visions of hoisting Banner #18 in Boston. The necessary changes were evident last night when The Green gave Indiana its first loss of the season. Jayson took it into the paint Nothing revealed Tatum's unwillingness to take it to the hole as much as his mere four(4) free throw attempts in the first three games of the season. Well, versus Indiana last night, he went to the free throw line 10 times, making eight of them. See Exhibit A in the above photo. Tatum backed off on his 3-point shooting  Coming into last night's game, Jayson had attempted 28 treys over the 3-game span. He only took three (3) 3-point attempts in the win, making one of them. The Celtics as a team only took 22 3-point attempts, making nine of them (40.9%). Conversely, the Pacers attempted 33 shots from beyond the arc,  JT's stat line for the game is a winning formula Jayson poured in 27...

As a Celtics writer, many of my articles are based on ideas from my readers. In an earlier article I alerted Celtics fans that the major question relative to the present roster concerns the center spot. One of my readers, Pat Ram, proposed a Jaylen Brown-for-Domantas Sabonis trade: Main points are probably: - Awkward fit in Indiana in more PF mins beside Turner at C & his next contract should pay him more than Myles - Perfect fit in Brad’s system playing 80% of mins at C - Brown better fit as Indiana’s 2nd option than Celtics 3rd-4th Potential win-win — Pat Ram (@Celtics_PRam) October 7, 2019 Like Brown, Sabonis is in the fourth year of his rookie contract and will earn $3.5 million this season. The 6'11", 240-pound center/forward was chosen 11th-overall in the 2016 NBA draft, eight spots after Jaylen's selection at #3. Last season with the Pacers, Domantas averaged 14.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 2.9 APG in only 24.8 minutes per game. His per-36-minute numbers projec...

Danny Ainge didn't bring in Kemba Walker with the intent of merely getting to the Eastern Semifinals. With Kawhi Leonard moving to the Western Division and the Warriors Kevin Durant (now with Brooklyn) and Klay Thompson probably out for the entire 2019-20 season, Danny smells blood. The adage, "Get into the playoffs, and anything can happen" , came true in 2019 when the Kawhi Leonard-led Raptors took the Title, aided by injuries to Durant and Thompson.. My feeling is that Ainge wants to get out of the East in the post-season and hope for the bit of good luck that was missing last year. But that may require yet another significant move. Sportsline.com currently has the Boston Celtics in 9th place with 25-1 odds of taking the 2020 Championship. The Clippers come in first with 3-1 odds, followed by the Bucks at 9-2 and the Lakers at 5-1. Pre-season odds don't determine the Champs, but we agree that Boston is not yet of Champion caliber. Summer League is proving tha...