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...

 Remember this? Here is Warrior's Coach (and now Team USA Coach) Steve Kerr "apologizing" for lying to the media about his starters for Game-4 of the 2015 NBA Finals: "Sorry, but I don't think they hand you the trophy based on morality," Kerr said. "They give it to you if you win. So sorry about that." Prior to Game-4, Kerr had clearly stated there would be no changes in his starting lineup - and then p roceeded to inject Andre Iguodala into the starting-5 in place of Andrew Bogut . His response to the change (post-game) was: "I lied," he said to the media a few hours after he had, well, lied about who would be in the  Golden State Warriors ' starting lineup for Game 4 of the NBA Finals. After Team USA's win over Serbia - in which 2024 NBA Champion Jayson Tatum never saw the floor (in addition to Tyrese Haliburton) - Kerr blames his own "idiocy" for keeping Tatum out of the game - possibly suggesting it was a misstep ...

 As of today, January 4, 2024, five writers for NBA.com unanimously picked the Celtics Jayson Tatum as a frontcourt starter in the upcoming 2024 NBA All-Star contest.    Other locks by NBA.com were Tyrese Haliburton in the backcourt, along with Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the frontcourt . Tyrese Maxey, (twice)  Jalen Brunson, Trae Young and Donovan Mitchell also received votes to possibly join Haliburton at the guard position.

 The "Cinderella" Pacers move on to the In-Season Tournament Semis, while the favored Celtics are out. The 122-112 loss by Boston was disappointing, but the real losers are the lower-salaried players for The Green. That octet includes Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, Oshae Brissett, Svi Mikhailuk, Lamar Stevens, Dalano Banton, Sam Hauser and Jordan Walsh . That group earns from a high of $4.0 million (Pritchard) to $1.1 million (Walsh). Every member of the Celtics will receive $50,000.00 for making the quarter-finals , but the prize for the Finals Champ is half-a-million dollars ($500,000.00) . That half-a-million is cheap change for the higher-paid members of the team - not so for the others. Both Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet did their best in the loss to keep their team in the running. Luke may have had his best game as a Celtic with six points, four boards, two assists, one steal and four blocks. Sam was on fire - with 15 points on 5-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 on tre...

 The NBA In-Season Tournament is underway, and the Boston Celtics face the Indiana Pacers (in Indiana) tonight in the one-loss-and-gone Quarter Finals. Two stars - one from each team - are listed as "OUT" The Celtics Kristaps Porzingis will not play due to a strained calf muscle. The Pacers Tyrese Haliburton is out (or "questionable") with either a knee issue or illness.  Haliburton does everything for Indiana , and his loss for this contest is huge. This season, he is averaging 27.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 11.8 APG and 1.1 SPG . Did I mention he does everything? The game would normally be considered defense (Celtics with 2nd place in Defensive Rating) versus offense (Pacers 1st in Offensive Rating) , but Haliburton's near-12-assists per game will be missed. Boston holds first place in Net Rating, while Indiana is in 10th place . The odds are in Boston's favor, but The Green often get complacent against "inferior" teams. At least one NBA analyst has tagg...