Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

  Three NBA stars suffered season-ending Achilles injuries this post-season. Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton were the casualties. Why? "Overuse" seems to be the major culprit. And today's game involves a faster pace than fans witnessed in past decades, and the moves can be explosive . Existing calf injuries can also make a player more susceptible to tearing his Achilles tendon. It is no surprise that Jayson Tatum was high man for Boston in minutes per game at 40.2 MPG this post-season.   "Big deal", some may say. Hell, Bill Russell logged 42.7 minutes/game in the 1968-69 season. But the present game, as already indicated, is not the same now. Here's more on the Achilles tendon ( per ESPN's Maria Dawson): "The stresses that go through the Achilles tendon are probably the highest in the body, many times body weight, [just from] walking," he said. "... When you're talking about a professional athlete who's big...

 The heat endured by Jaylen Brown after his less-than-spectacular performance on Boston/s win over the Knicks in the season opener will fade. Many Celtics fans are wondering, "Is this what we can expect after JB getting that massive contract"? The reality is that Brown is trying to fit into a new system with new teammates. It has to be tough for him to watch the younger Jayson Tatum (with one season less with Boston) become the "Alpha" Celtic. And now comes newly-acquired Kristaps Porzingis who performed brilliantly in his debut in Beantown, even sealing the win after a few botches by the "temporarily erratic" Brown. Can it be possible that the "Long Latvian" could overtake Jaylen as the number-2 option on the team? It could happen. But it doesn't matter . All that does matter is a successful season for the team, and hopefully Banner 18. Brown's team-high five assists versus New York tells me he is trying to alter his game for the ...

 I have not been a Rick Barry fan since I watched him belittle the great Bill Russell on National TV. But he recently spoke of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum as suffering from the Russell Westbrook Syndrome. Was he right? ( per SI's Eric Jay Santos ): Barry:  “Both (Jaylen) Brown and (Jayson) Tatum, who are two talented players, suffer from what I call (Russell) Westbrook syndrome. Westbrook is an incredible talent. I love how hard he plays, but he tries to force things. In the game of basketball, you should always be taking what the defense gives you… Both Jaylen and Jayson, they have a tendency to force things and end up getting a lot of turnovers.” Barry is known as one of the top passing forwards in the history of the NBA, and I do tend to agree with his assessment. I checked the numbers for the 2023 post-season via NBA.com, and sure-enough - Westbrook averaged the third-most turnovers (4.0 per game). Brown comes in at number-15 for turnovers in the playoffs. He has al...

 Here's a chance to win a copy of Mark C. Bodanza's excellent bio of 10-Time Champion, Sam Jones - signed by Sam & Mark . It starts today with the Boston Celtics contest against the Golden State Warriors. How does it work? It's quite simple. 1.) Look for any of our future CelticsSentinel articles containing the words "BANNER 18" in the title, including this article. 2.) It's all about Jayson Tatum's points, rebounds & assists in the next Celtics game - Warriors in  this case. 3.) Give us your estimate of the sum of Jayson's points, rebounds & assists in that one, specific game. 4.) Example: Tatum with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. The total amounts to 48 in this case. 5.) Put that estimate (48) in the comment section of the article. We just need the total number, not necessarily the specific number of each category (points, rebounds, assists). 6.) Closest estimate, above or below , gets one point. 7.) In case of a tie, both get ...