Celtics’ Roaring Start ‘Unique,’ Leaving Early Opponents Stunned
Boston is rolling
It’s not easy trying to relax after suffering a historic defeat, but the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards might want to try taking recent blowout losses with a grain of salt.
Those results aren’t necessarily their fault. The Boston Celtics are going to be doing this to teams all year.
The C’s put together a pair of good old-fashioned butt whuppings this week, following up a 19-point win against the Wizards on Monday with a 51-point victory over the Pacers on Wednesday. In those wins, Boston saw eight different players score in double figures, with stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combining for 115 total points.
It’s (obviously) been enough to influence a pretty negative viewpoint from their opponents.
“Ugly, ugly game,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said Wednesday, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “They played great, but we allowed them to play as great as they played. I take the blame for this. This is on me. I didn’t have our guys ready to compete and the level they needed to compete at. That’s on me, but this is an embarrassing result and not acceptable for what we’re trying to do here.”
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It’s an understandable reaction from the veteran coach, but even he knew to acknowledge that Boston’s talent is to a level that makes them nearly impossible to stop.
“They’re a very unique team, a very talented team,” Carlisle said, per Washburn. “They shoot an awful lot of threes and a lot of them are just rising up in your face, but they were comfortable early and we just didn’t do enough. Just very disappointing. They’ve got a great roster and they’ll be a team in the conversation for the championship, obviously, but we’ve got to do better.”
The Celtics’ standing as one of the most talented teams in the NBA is going to influence how opponents prepare for and ultimately play them. The Wizards, for example, believe it was a factor in Monday’s matchup at Capital One Arena.
“Obviously, those guys are amazing talents, but I think we gave them too much respect,” Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma said following the game, per Ava Wallace of The Washington Post.
Boston is not going to win every game. That just doesn’t happen. It does seem like the Celtics will continue to put together performances like this, however, as even though things are firing on all cylinders, there’s still room for improvement, which is scary because the Celtics already have the best odds at FanDuel Sportsbook to win the NBA Finals at +370.
We could be looking at a team that pushes the boundaries of some NBA records, and if you don’t believe us, just keep listening to what their opponents have to say.
