With three defeats at the start of the league season, the Boston Celtics caused some relief among their rivals in the East: with Jayson Tatum on the sidelines and many changes in preseason, the Greens seemed out of the running to fight for the conference title. Two months later, that relief has turned to fear and almost terror as they realize that Boston is, in its own right, as much a contender in the East as the Knicks or the Pistons
Mazzula’s team won its fourth consecutive game, in a back-to-back against the Indiana Pacers and again with an extraordinary comeback. They had to wipe out 20 points at the Garden three days earlier and another 15 in Indiana on Saturday to continue their winning streak while proving that they are one of the most in-form teams in the current championship.
There is a maxim in the NBA: if the Celtics hit their three-pointers, you’re dead. Against Indiana they nailed 20 of 39 and, of course, they won, 122-140, leaving the Pacers sunk in the standings. The team that came close to the title last year also lost its star, Tyrese Haliburton, and had changes, like the Celtics, but in their case all this caused the destruction of the project.
Jaylen Brown was once again the best. The player who every year appeared in trade rumors and who has been underestimated even by his own team, is a leader in capital letters who is approaching averages of 30 points per night, a limit in which only a few chosen ones move (Doncic, Shai, Maxey and Mitchell).
Brown is at 29.4 and against the Pacers he reached 30 points with 13 of 20 from the field. It is the eighth game in a row in which he achieves 30 points, something that only Larry Bird had achieved before in the Celtics.
Payton Pritchard helped with 29 points, three triples and nine rebounds, and Sam Hauser made seven of eight triples coming off the bench for 23 points in total.
The Spaniard Hugo Gonzalez was less prominent than on other days, as he was only on the court for 12 minutes to contribute an assist and a rebound in the game and made only one shot, which he missed.
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