There are still 25 matches left to play in the Celtics in the regular season, and Joe Mazzulla's men are not far from having already validated first place in the Eastern Conference.
With 45 victories for only 12 defeats, Jayson Tatum and his troops thus made the gap compared to Cleveland (36-19) and their pursuers. There is more of a gap between the Celtics and the Cavaliers than between the Cavaliers and the Heat (31-25), currently in 8th place in the conference…
Leading the West, the Wolves (40-17) are less far away, but the gap is also quite wide.
“That’s just how the season is going.” puts Al Horford into perspective on this escape. “We kind of held on, kept working on some things. Obviously the Sixers have injuries, the teams have different problems, so all that comes into play.”
The wise man in the locker room explains that Joe Mazzulla is constantly trying to push his players, to find ways to improve. And it's time “to really move to another level”. But which one?
” It's a good question “ smiled Al Horford. “But I have the feeling that we are not yet where we could be. And it's a good thing. »
A “Net Rating” that exceeds +10!
That this group still has room for improvement is enough to worry the competition, while the Celtics have the best attack (121.2 points scored per 100 possessions) and the 3rd defense (110.7 points conceded per 100 possessions). And therefore very logically the best “Net Rating” with +10.5 points over 100 possessions.
If they keep this pace, they will become the 13th team in history to post a Net Rating greater than +10, after the Bucks of 1971 and 1972, the Lakers of 1972, the Bulls of 1992, 1996, 1997, the 2008 Celtics, the 2009 Cavaliers, the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Warriors as well as the 2016 Spurs.
This is logically synonymous with success, since 8 of the 12 teams having posted such a “Net Rating” in the regular season won the title straight away. But it's not automatic, the 1972 Bucks, the 2009 Cavaliers, the 2016 Warriors and the 2016 Spurs having bitten the dust in the playoffs.
“When it comes to the playoffs, none of that really matters.”assures Jaylen Brown. “I have the impression that it’s all going to come down to matchups, playing hard. Obviously, home field advantage is key, but when you get down to it, you have to win matches regardless of your ranking. In fact, the pressure is even greater (as first seed). But we are an experienced team. We've been through this kind of situation before and I think we're ready. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Jayson Tatum | 53 | 35.8 | 47.5 | 36.6 | 82.1 | 0.9 | 7.7 | 8.5 | 4.8 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 27.1 |
| Jaylen Brown | 51 | 33.4 | 49.4 | 34.6 | 71.6 | 1.1 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 22.0 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 41 | 29.5 | 52.5 | 36.2 | 84.6 | 1.5 | 5.3 | 6.9 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 20.1 |
| Derrick White | 52 | 32.3 | 46.6 | 39.9 | 89.5 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 15.8 |
| Jrue Holiday | 51 | 33.2 | 47.5 | 44.3 | 82.4 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 4.8 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 13.0 |
| Payton Pritchard | 56 | 20.7 | 43.6 | 38.3 | 81.1 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 8.1 |
| Sam Hauser | 55 | 21.4 | 44.8 | 41.6 | 88.2 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 8.1 |
| Al Horford | 46 | 27.1 | 48.2 | 40.9 | 85.0 | 1.2 | 5.4 | 6.7 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 7.8 |
| Luke Kornett | 40 | 14.9 | 69.6 | 0.0 | 87.9 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 5.1 |
| Neemias Queta | 23 | 12.3 | 61.3 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 4.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 4.9 |
| Oshae Brissett | 37 | 10.8 | 46.0 | 29.3 | 67.3 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Drew Peterson | 1 | 2.6 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Lamar Stevens | 19 | 6.4 | 46.7 | 37.5 | 72.7 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 |
| Svi Mykhailiuk | 24 | 7.6 | 34.8 | 32.1 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.8 |
| Dalano Banton | 24 | 7.1 | 37.3 | 12.5 | 80.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 2.3 |
| Xavier Tillman, Sr. | 1 | 2.6 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Jd Davison | 2 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Jordan Walsh | 4 | 8.3 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.5 |
| Jaden Springer | 1 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
