Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 The Celtics rugged center, Neemias Queta , is starting to prove that this Portuguese Man O' War will never be described as a jellyfish ( per Wikipedia ): "The Portuguese man o' war is a conspicuous member of the  neuston , It has numerous venomous microscopic  nematocysts  which deliver a painful  sting  powerful enough to kill fish, and has been known to occasionally kill humans. Although it superficially resembles a  jellyfish , the Portuguese man o' war is in fact a  siphonophore ."  Queta is an absolute handful for opponents under the rim . He uses his 7-foot, 250-lb. frame to roughhouse his way to the hoop for layups and battle repeatedly for missed shots , particularly off the offensive glass. In the two road games versus the Warriors and Kings, he took down a total of 16 rebounds in limited minutes. Ten-of-the-16 were offensive boards. He is also a combined (2 games) 8-of-16 from the field for 50% accuracy. Queta's career stats show ...

 I am far from saying the Celtics Neemias Queta is the second-coming of the great Moses Malone , but he has some of Malone's game in him - primarily as a relentless rebounder  (particularly on the offensive glass ) and a tough matchup on offense close to the hoop. In last night's loss to the Warriors, Queta had a double-double consisting of 10 points (5-of-8 FG) and 10 boards - six of which were of the offensive variety. Like Moses, the Portuguese center is a bull under the basket. And he works hard. Malone's NBA career ended with him averaging 20.6 PPG and 12.2 RPG - with 5.1 of his boards off the offensive glass. No one seemed to sweat as much as Moses, and "relentless" defined his game. I just love the way this Portuguese import shows us hints of Moses Malone. https://t.co/ZBEwh7oX0D — Tom Lane (@CelticsSentinel) December 20, 2023 Boston lost to Golden State, in part because they once again relied too much on the three-ball , missing 41 of their 58 attempts...