Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 My followers know that I don't write many "What if" articles , particularly ones that speculate about possible additions to the Celtics roster. But this is different . Jimmy Butler's season-ending injury could possibly result in the Warriors tossing the season aside as far as any aspirations of winning another Title. And that could result in a buyout of old friend, Al Horford . Horford may by 39 years old but he is far from taking to the rocking chair. His skills and savvy remain , and the Boston Celtics could use both this post-season. I often refer to Al as the "Dominican Gentleman" , and he is of high character . And he knows the Celtics and their systems. Nemias Queta has done a fine job in the middle for Boston, and Luka Garza has been better than expected. But a veteran inside/outside, 2-way addition - namely Al Horford - could prove invaluable to the Celtics cause this season, particularly with the potential return of Jayson Tatum . Stay tuned!

 At least to me, the Boston Celtics have the only true dynasty in the NBA's history . They won 11 Titles from 1957 to 1969 , and not incredibly, Bill Russell owns all of those rings. Thinga have changed in the League. No team has even won back-to-back Championships since the Golden State Warriors did it in 2017 and 2018 . And the last six Titles have been won by different teams every season.  Sports Dynasty (definition): A team or individual that dominates their sport or league for an extended length of time. Sure, the Lakers, Warriors and Bulls had their runs as imitators of the Celtics, but none of them had the 8-in-a-row Titles (1959-1966) that Russell and his team had. But that is all in the rear view mirror now. A repeat of Boston's record will never be achieved again . And I believe that is a good thing. Salary caps, payroll aprons, injuries and players with wanderlust (read: Lebron, Durant, etc.) have ensured that. The Russell-led Celtics of the 60s were so dominan...

 What's going on here? First the Golden State Warriors get destroyed by the Boston Celtics, 140-88 , on Sunday. Than on Tuesday, Boston loses a contest they should have won versus the Cavaliers - described by Jaylen Brown as a "mentality loss" . And on Wednesday, the Warriors decimated the surging Milwaukee Bucks, 125-90. Call it mental fatigue or physical fatigue (or both) , but the 82-game NBA regular-season schedule may just be too long . There is no logical reason for a team to get skunked badly and then a few days down the road dominate a League power. But that is what Golden State did. The NBA has become "Big Business", and that means money - lots of it. It is doubtful if the League will reduce the number of games anytime soon, but it is obvious that by the final-quarter of the regular season many players have had it. And it shows in the three games mentioned above. 

Guest article by "The Sports Machine with Slim" If you are like me, you are a hard core, long time Celtics fan who is incredibly optimistic that this season is going to end in a NBA championship. We are definitely the most talented team in the league. Jayson Tatum is playing at an MVP level. Jaylen Brown has been incredible since the all-star break. Derrick White does everything great. Jrue competes on the defensive end and doesn’t turn the ball over. Porzingis is one of the best post up players in all of basketball. Heck, we even have Al Horford fresh, hungry, and happily coming off the bench. But yet I still worry. If you are like me, you worry too. The Celtics have let us down in recent years when the times got tough. *In 2018 (Tatum’s rookie year), the Celtics scored 79 points in a Game 7 Eastern Conference Finals loss vs Cleveland. *In 2020, the Miami Heat beat us in an Eastern Conference Finals (in the bubble) in which we were definitely the better team. *In 2022, we bl...

 After winning 11 games in a row - and destroying a Warriors team that was on a roll - Celtics fans may have seen the last of that "bad day at work" mindset we heard about after l osses versus weaker teams. During the winning streak, Jayson Tatum and company not only have not taken a single game off - they have appeared to not even have taken a single play off. The final score of 140-88 doesn't tell the whole story from Sunday's dissection of Steph Curry's Warriors. It started with the Celtics relentless defense . Golden State shot 39.1% from the field and 17.1% on 3-pointers. The Green gave "no quarter" to Steph and his crew. Conversely, Boston shot 55.2% on field goals and 51.0% from the hinterlands . The Green have shooters galore and defense that looks like it was programmed with a computer.   This is not the team we saw fall to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Finals last year - nor the Boston crew we saw lose in the 2022 Finals to the Warri...

 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...

 The NBA is losing patience with the Golden State Warriors, Draymond Green . He has been suspended indefinitely following his 18th career ejection for a Flagrant-2 foul against Jusuf Nurkic .  Green has been a mainstay for Golden State over the years. His stats have never been explosive, but his temper has . This this season, he ranks 5th on the team at 25.1 minutes per game, while averaging 9.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 5.8 APG. His game goes beyond roughness, and the NBA may have become tired of his on-court thuggery. Golden State is struggling a bit this season - standing 11th in the West with a n10-13 record. Despite Dray's four Championship rings and four All-Star appearances, he will be 34 years old before the end of this season, and it may be time for that indefinite suspension to put him out for most (or all) of the remaining season - and for the Warriors to move on from him. The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/MUyW5ygJsb — NBA Communications (@NBAPR) Dece...