Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

  Youth, enthusiasm, riveting defense, non-stop movement . Those are only pieces of what last-season's Celtics rookie brings to the Boston Celtics. Could he prove to be a bust? Yes, but I certainly doubt that will happen. Hugo Gonzalez is already a fan favorite in Beantown. I personally love this kid. Brad Stevens' plan right now is development of a youngster I call "The Spaniard". K C Jones, Sam Jones, John Havlicek. All three spent their entire careers with "The Green", and the "Jones Boys" particularly spent their early seasons as understuddies for Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman.   "Hondo" came to Boston primarily as a defensive whiz , and that - along with his tireless on-court motion - got him on the court right away. But the offensive clout came alive and "Jarrin John" still remains the Celtics all time scoring leader . I envision Hugo Gonzalez' ceiling resting somewhere between valuable rotation guy and eventual ...

 Larry Bird did it in the Celtics Championship 85-86 season. John Havlicek did it in the 69-70 "transition" season. Both stars led their teams in average points, rebounds and assists . In the 1969-70 season, following the retirement of Bill Russell and Sam Jones , Hondo averaged 41.6 MPG, 24.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 6.8 APG - to lead his team in all four categories. Bird did the same in the 1985-86 season, averaging 38.0 MPG, 25.8 PPG, 9.8 RPG and 6.8 APG . Now to Jayson Tatum . In six post-season games played in 2026, coming back from a torn Achilles tendon, he averaged 23.3 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 6.8 APG in 36.3 minutes per game . It is ironic that all three Boston superstars had the identical number of assists per game {6.8 APG), and that shows the versatility of the famed trio. We all knew that Tatum would be a scorer in the NBA, but he has also become an ace rebounder and adept facilitator . I expect a solid season for Jayson in 2026-27, probably leading "The Green" i...

 Start your day with a little "make-believe" . How would superstars who played 40-plus years ago fare against the stars of today? This is totally objective fantasy, so I expect differing views. My choices assume all players are at their peak. Old School Stars Honestly, I went with the 40+ year cutoff to get Larry Bird and Magic Johnson into the mix as starters. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain are there also. Michael Jordan is obviously the 5th starter.  The bench consists of Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Dirk Nowitsky .  Today's Elite Eight Four of the starters are non-USA players , and a two more are in as backups . That says a lot about the modern NBA. Starters are Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum . The bench consists of Joel Embiid, Victor Wembanyama and Steph Curry. In a given era, any NBA team has the ability to win a contest against another - as evidenced by Philly's win over the favored Celtics i...

 Former Celtics star center, Robert Parish , was recently asked which team would win in a clash between the 2024 Champion "Green" and the 1986 roster . "The Chief" answered that the 1986 crew would prevail because nobody had an answer for Bill Walton . I love the present Celtics team, but the 85-86 group may be the best NBA crew ever assembled . The 80s group were at their peak, and Bill Walton had an injury-free season, walking away with the 6th-Man-of-the-Year award. Bill was a luxury for a team so stacked. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Parish, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge were generally the starters, and Walton, Scott Wedman and Jerry Sichting came off the bench. Before coming to Boston, Walton had won many awards, including MVP and Finals MVP . Wedman had been a two-time All-Star prior to becoming a Celtic. That was quite a bench. The 80s Celtics had it all - no weaknesses . It started with size. They were long in the front court, and when Coach K C Jones wa...

      Cs have been playing relatively well especially on offense tonight. I've seen some excellent passing from everyone. The way this team finds each other is a beautiful thing to watch.  Defensively we need to buckle down, 61 points in a half is a bit much. I really need to see the Cs get dirty in the second half. Derrick White is having himself quite a great first half. He's been on fire and yet left points out there. JB has made some incredible shots off the dribble. To the point that I'm in awe of what I'm seeing from him. It'd going to take a lot more of those plays to get this W.      JT has been solid out there and his ability to pass is a thing of beauty. The fact that we get to see him ball is a gift. He's rounding into form and if I'm the NBA I'm afraid. The Cs are honoring a very special team tonight. As you can see from the photo above those three were incredibly special. Hondo, JoJo and Big Red exemplified being Celtics. Hondo was a walki...

  Remember Larry Siegfried? He was a star on the Ohio State team with John Havlicek - played in the ABA, until it folded - and then was brought on board by the Celtics Red Auerbach at the suggestion of Havlicek. "Siggy" became an important fixture with Boston, winning five Title rings with the Celtics. Now comes Chris Boucher to Beantown, formerly a team mate of Payton Pritchard at Oregon. Boucher was in the starting lineup (with his buddy, Payton) in Boston's exhibition win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. In less than 11 minutes, he hit 2-of-3 on his 3-point attempts - took down two rebounds - and made one steal. At 6'9" and 200 pounds , he may struggle against larger opponents at the center spot, but time at the PF slot would be another option. I doubt he will have the same impact that Larry had in his time in Boston, but the 32-year-old Boucher may be a keeper for a coach (Joe Mazzulla) that adores tough defense - and the ability to stretch the floor on...

 Back in 1973, the players chose the NBA MVP , not the sports writers and broadcasters that do the voting today. And the players chose Celtics center, Dave Cowens , as their Most Valuable Player . And remember, in 1973, players could not vote for a member of their own team. But the 1973 choice of "Big Red" brought some criticism from many NBA followers. Here are a few of the arguments: "Kareem deserved the award." "John Havlicek had a better season" "Tiny Archibald led the League in scoring and assists. He should have won." J abbar finished second in the MVP voting, while Tiny ended up third - and "Jarrin' John" was fifth. Personally, MVP to me means - take the specific player out of action, and how would the team have fared. In the 1972-73 season, Boston finished the regular season with a 68-14 record - tops in the League. So it was no surprise to see two Celtics players in the top-5 . Havlicek was high man for Boston in mi...

 I am talking maximum playoff minutes per game in their Celtics careers. Here are their average floor time per contest - followed by the year it was accomplished. Bill Russell: 48.0 MPG (1962) John Havlicek: 47.2 MPG (1969) Bob Cousy: 46.0 MPG (1952) - tie Dave Cowens: 46.0 MPG (1973) - tie Larry Bird: 44.9 MPG (1988)\ Jayson Tatum: 41.0 MPG (2022) So, it appears that in 1962, Russ never left the court during the post season. He either played the entire game for each contest, or there were a few overtime situations and some less-than-48-MPGs battles. He was THAT good. No surprise Hondo was next. The year, 1969, was Big Bill's last season before retirement, and The Green were getting older. Havlicek was badly needed, particularly versus the rival Lakers. The Cooz and Big Red tied for third place . Larry came in fourth. No big surprises there, either. Frankly, I was a bit surprised that Tatum (5th place) was that far behind the other Celtics stars in playoff floor time. I may ha...

      Founding Fathers... Episode 1       The Celtics have been in the forefront of social justice and of course winning. Red Auerbach was the leader of all of that. A man who was unafraid of what anyone would say. Bob Cousy was ahead of his time the way that man could handle the rock and distribute it! He was a magician on the floor! I personally remember meeting Couz as a young man. He was doing a game at the old Springfield Civic Center. Amazing that despite all the undertones of racism in Boston, the Celtics were the first team to draft a black player in Chuck Cooper. Something to be said for Cooper and Cousy who built a friendship despite looking different. As it should be!      When the Celtics drafted Bill Russell everything in the course of NBA history was set afire. Red knew he could be the most dominant player on defense, I mean let's be real on both ends of thr floor. Pairing Russell and Cousy was one of the most genius sports move...

  Jayson Tatum may not be Superman on the court, but he certainly is the Celtics "Iron Man" . He rarely misses games and leads his team in five key statistical categories.   Is he "soft"? I think not. Here are my -eight tough Celtics players from the past as compiled by my readers when I wrote for another blog. Bill Russell . Few in the NBA at the time could handle Russ in the middle. He rebounded and defended like no other. He averaged 42.3 minutes per game in the regular season over the course of his career - and 45.4 MPG in the post-season. He backed down to no one - including Wilt Chamberlain. Larry Bird : Larry could play either way - as a finesse guy or a hard-working warrior. He was tough - both mentally and physically. Never forget his head bouncing off the floor in that crucial playoff game versus the Pacers - and his triumphant return to the court to the surprise of everyone watching the game.  Isaiah Thomas : I am not talking "toughness-per-inch...

  I loved the Celtics teams of the 1970s! Tickets to the games at "The Garden" were cheap (see photo) - the action was fast - the Celtics players were undersized and overachievers - and "The Jewish Architect", Red Auerbach , used to send personal Christmas cards to me since I filled many of the empty seats by sponsoring bus trips to the games. The 70s Celtics players were generally undersized . Dave Cowens , at 6'8.5", had to combat the likes of 7-foot-plus Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. John Havlicek , at 6'5", often manned the forward position - as did 6'6" Don Nelson. Paul Silas had one inch over "Nellie" and played the power forward slot. JoJo White did have average size (6'3") as the point guard. Only Don Chaney had a bit of an edge at 6'5", covering the shooting guard slot. It was the same for Charlie Scott , also 6'5", manning one of the guard spots. My point is that basketball f...

In the past,, I have broached Jayson Tatum as potentially having a career ceiling somewhere between Paul Pierce and Larry Bird in Celtics history. But hey, let's take a look at Jaylen Brown in that discussion. I am leaving past point guards ( read: Cousy, JoJo, Rondo ) and centers ( read: Russell, Cowens, Parish ) out of this analysis - and sticking with wings only. Take a look below. Here are the 9th-season stats for Brown (12 games thus far in 2024-25) and Pierce (2006-07 season). Brown: 25.3 PPG - 7.1 RPG - 4.4 APG - 1.0 SPG - 2.5 TOPG - .426 FG - .284 3s - .772 FT Pierce: 25.0 PPG - 5.9 RPG - 4.1 APG - 1.0 SPG - 3.2 TOPG - .439 FG - .389 3s - .796 FT Looks like "The Truth" gets the nod on shooting accuracy in all three categories - while Jaylen wins on rebounds, assists (nice job on those) and turnovers (ditto) . In today's NBA, both players are classified as wings - with both occupying the SG and SF positions. My take is that Jayson Tatum has already passed ...

  Poise: definition Merriam/Webster: :  easy self-possessed assurance of manner  : gracious tact in coping or handling. also : the pleasantly tranquil interaction between persons of poise. no angry outbursts marred the poise of the meeting. b. : a particular way of carrying oneself : bearing, carriage "Easy self-possessed assurance of manner". "Gracious tact in coping or handling". "No angry outbursts". That describes the Jayson Tatum fans have seen and heard throughout the 2024 playoffs. I started noticing the change in the 26-year-old superstar when he took a hard foul by Miami's Caleb Martin . Tatum hit the deck hard, but bounced right back up with no verbal explosions or physical reaction, He simply walked away. #Celtics brothers and sisters all we heard for the last couple of weeks was how Tatum was underperforming. Check out the graphic below. ESPN showed this last night on Sportscenter, but you won't here achievement coming out of the mo...

 Quick question! What Celtics team holds the team's record for most wins in the regular season? The answer is - the 1972-73 crew led by John Havlicek, Dave Cowens and JoJo White. The Green won 68 games in that campaign. But that team did not win the Title that year. Why? Primarily because Hondo Havlicek suffered a severe right arm injury in Game-3 of the Eastern Finals versus the New York Knicks . He sat for Game-4 and returned for games five and six - both wins for Boston. John played the role of one-armed man for the final three games of the series, with the Knicks moving on to the Finals and winning the 1973 Championship. Now to the present. The Celtics have a 57-16 record with nine games to play . Their nearest competitor is the Minnesota Timberwolves at 51-22. Home court is likely for the entire playoffs, but what does that mean? "Very little" is the correct answer. Injuries - illness - poor game or series by a key Celtics player - an MVP-type performance by an...

 Here I go with my whimsy at full tilt once again. If each NBA team could clone a member from the past and team him with the present squad - who would that be for the Boston Celtics? Every NBA team should be allowed to clone one all time franchise great like in Foundation — jason concepcion (@netw3rk) December 20, 2023   Of course, for Boston, Bill Russell and Larry Bird come immediately to mind. Russ playing alongside Tatum and Brown would be hard to beat. His superb athleticism, quickness, rim protection and rebounding would offset his lack of an outside shot. Bird was a super-skilled, non-athletic, somewhat-slow white star before the overseas invasion by the likes of Nikola Jokic, Luke Doncic and Domantas Sabonis . He is the type of player that would fit anywhere. Bob Cousy would have his advocates, but I would not be into that. But Kevin Garnett, Dave Cowens and Kevin McHale are another matter. They would need special consideration. Paul Pierce and John Havlicek co...

  Yes, I know it's too early in the process , but this kid is going to end up on my All-Time Celtics Top-10. Jayson Tatum, if he maintains his present production and play all season, he can't be left off. Let me make this clear (I sound like Joe Biden) , this is my team that would t ake on opponents from the past and present in TODAY's GAME . To start, here are the 7th-season stats for Larry Bird, Jayson Tatum (10 games) and Paul Pierce: BIRD: 25.8 PPG - 9.8 RPG - 6.8 APG - 2.0 SPG - .496 FG - .423 3s TATUM: 28.4 PPG - 8.9 RPG - 3.9 APG - 1.2 SPG - .526 FG - .398 3s PIERCE: 21.6 PPG - 6.6 RPG - 4.2 APG - 1.6 SPG - .455 FG - .370 3s Here's my Top-4 since I remain torn on the 5th starter: Bill Russell (C) Larry Bird (SF) Dennis Johnson (PG) John Havlicek (SG) All three of the following are in the Top-7 . Pick one as a starter. Dave Cowens (PF, C)) Kevin Garnett (PF) Kevin McHale (PF, C) So I need three more . Here they are: JoJo White (PG) Jayson Tatum (SG, SF, PF) Paul...

 A quick answer to my title question is, "Yes, they are now." I compared Jaylen Brown's assist numbers with former, Celtics star shooting guards and small forwards, The past crew of nine is shown below - with their career assist averages: Bill Sharman - 3.0 APG Sam Jones - 2.5 John Havlicek - 4.8 Larry Bird - 6.3 Paul Pierce - 3.5 Ray Allen - 3.4 Danny Ainge - 4.0 Dennis Johnson - 5.0 ______________________________________ Average - 3.7 assists per game Jaylen's average over seven seasons is 2.2 APG, but he has raised that number to 3.5 APG in his last two seasons . So what does this mean? Turnovers come into play , and Brown has been known to throw the ball away somewhat often. His assist-to-turnover ratio for last season was 1.2 assists for every turnover committed. A s hooting guard or small forward tries to have at least a ratio of 2.0 assists/turnover.  Both Brown and his fellow Jay Team member, Jayson Tatum tied for most turnovers committed in 2022-23 (2.9 p...

 Some have called it "the greatest NBA game ever played" - but at very least, Game-5 of the 1976 Finals between the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns should be a "must-see" for any League fan.  Boston won Game-5, 128-126, in triple-overtime , and there were thrills galore. John Havlicek started the game for the first time in the series, and the result was immediate. The Celtics built a big lead by the end of the first quarter. The pace was super-fast with both teams fast-breaking on every opportunity, often initiated by a defensive board and a long outlet pass. Here's some irony. The Celtics JoJo White covered the Suns' Paul Westphal , a former teammate of White in Boston. In the backcourt with JoJo for Boston was Charlie Scott , the guy brought over from Phoenix for Westphal. JoJo had a team-high 33 points, six boards and nine assists in the win - playing 60 minutes in the thjriller  and was named Finals MVP after Boston won the Title in Game-6 in Phoenix...

 Just watched a replay of Game-6 of the 1963 NBA  Finals - Celtics versus Lakers. Brings back a lot. Celtics took the game (112=109) and the 1963 Championship. The game was close. This was Bob Cousy's last game as a Boston Celtic. He had 18 points and seven assists, even hampered by an ankile injury sustained late in the game. Tom Heinsohn was the hero - sealing the win with a key offensive rebound, put-back - all while getting fouled. He was high scorer for Boston with 22 points, while taking down nine boards. Ferocious is what describes Bill Russell's rebounding prowess. He had 24 rebounds in this one, but I had forgotten his passing skills from the low post. He too game honors in both rebounding AND assists (9 of them). I had also (somewhat) forgotten Elgin Baylor's overall superb talent and his "head-shake" habit as he brought the ball over half court. he had a line of 28/8/8 in this contest.  Jerry West had a line of 32P/7R/9A - just a routine night for...

 This is not the first time I have strongly advocated that Payton Pritchard either needs more floor time in Boston - or needs to be traded. My comparisons to 5-time All-Star, Gail Goodrich, have gone missing. Goodrich played at a time most NBA fans don't recall. I am not basing my argument on only today's win over the Hawks and the triple-double by the short, not-particularly-athletic white guy Boston fans know as Payton Pritchard. His 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists were no fluke ( per NBA.Coms Ken Powtak ): "He (Payton Pritchard) became just the third player in team history to reach 30 points, with 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a game, joining Hall of Famers Larry Bird and John Havlicek." Hey Celtics fans, do you remember Bird and Hondo? As I remember, they were pretty good. Sorry to get so cynical.  Let me explain my bias on this issue.   Pritchard is the guy many of us, including me, can relate to. He is undersized by NBA standards and is not particularly...