Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

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...

Air Tatum takes on the master Chef Curry. C's may need this win more than any other this regular season. Happy Birthday JT! My late Uncle would have been 70 today. He was a big C's fan! 1Q ☘️ JB opens us up from three! He follows that by posting up Curry who is a liability on D. JB should be primed for a big game! Thompson travels as he hits the three. He took two steps with the ball and no dribble. DWhite with a three and we are off to what looks like a lot of scoring today. DWhite with another three, he's going to have a big game today. C's look locked in early on today, keep it going fellas. C's D has been decent, and I hope they can lock down Curry. C's fans need to boo Curry like they do Kyrie. JB is lighting Green up! Talk about a heck of a quarter, JB is BALLING! These Warriors ain't got nothing on this year's C's! Let's GO! C's are playing better than I expected today. Love seeing PP push the pace in transition! Love this kid! C's...

  Xavier Tillman logged 15 minutes as the fourth man off the bench in Boston's win over the Dallas Mavericks last night . He produced six points on a perfect 3-of-3 from the field - and also picked up one rebound, two assists and one block in Boston's victory. Tillman may be a blast from the past as a rebounding, rim-protecting, defensive center that doesn't shoot from distance, but he keeps improving out there with limited floor time. So don't cancel out the X-Man for the upcoming playoffs . Count me as one of the Celtics fans that loves his game. Joe Mazzulla may also be on the same mind track.

 After 59 games, the 2023-24 Celtics hold the 8th-best NBA point differential (PD) all-time . The 71-72 Lakers own the top number at 12.28 , while this version of the Celtics lies at 10.73. At #11 in the list are the 07-08 Celtics (10.26) and the 85-86 Boston crew sit at #14 (9.41) . Both of those Boston teams were Champions . So, does this bode well for Banner 18 this season? Maybe! We know regular season dominance gets you home court - but little else . The post season in the NBA is a whole other deal. But particularly lately, this season's Celtics have been d ominant, confident - and they are playing the right way at the right time in the season . They are well-poised to bring Banner 18 to TD Garden. But how about a little luck and storing Kristaps Porzingis in a plastic bubble for the rest of the regular season. 

Luka and the flat earther visit the TD Garden. C's are looking for their 10th victory in a row . Watching this team this year, they are doing what's needed to win. They play exceptional D and on those switches they are seamless. Offensively they have been very productive and move that rock beautifully. C US RISE ... 1Q🏀 Luka just walks into an easy deuce. C's will need to lock him up at best they can tonight. KP opens us up and nails a three! C's are running in transition and scoring early on. These Mavericks play absolutely no defense at all. C's should continue to score at will tonight! C's offense is on fire tonight! Once again these Mavs play NO DEFENSE! I personally feel JT should win the MVP this season. Jrue Holiday just read Luka like a book and the C's are moving in transition at lights speed! C's lead after one... 2Q🏀🏀 Jrue Holiday is LETHAL from the corners! Talk about a huge weapon come post season! He's just incredible from those corn...

The C's are back home and once again on National TV. Which means we won't start on time. Friday we will be on ESPN and Sunday we are the primetime ABC game. Tonight we welcome the Sixers to the Garden and I expect them to play above their heads. Even if they do that the C's still have enough to beat them.  1Q ☘️ C's must protect the parquet tonight vs the Sixers. C's win the tip and we are off! JT posts up Maxey and makes him pay. JT should own the paint tonight, sixers have no answer out there. C's are missing too many easy shots early on. Obre is such a tool... Flopping and making noises early on. C's are attacking the paint tonight, and should be able to all game. There's no lumbering Embid out there clogging the paint. Did anyone see the aggression in which JB took playing D on Heild, it forced him to pass the rock. Which turned into a very poor shot. When the C's amp up there D these Sixers have no answers. Offensively the C's have been movi...