The Clover Report: Week Four
As the Celtics continued to take the NBA by storm as they road into OKC to take on the Thunder. While their 6 game win streak has been impressive, they haven’t beaten anyone of significance. That changed Friday against the Thunder. The Thunder dominated Boston in the 1st half and it looked like they were going to pull away. But the Celtics stormed back in the 2nd half to win 101—94. They outscored the Thunder 64—39 in that second half and they we’re led by their leaders Kyrie Irving and Al Horford. The two of them dominated in the 4th as Kyrie finished with 25 and Horford finished with 20 while shooting 8-10 from the floor. Marcus Morris also made his debut for the team and scored 9 points. This was the most impressive win of the year by far as the win streak got pushed to 7 games.
Next up, the Celtics traveled to Orlando to take on the up and coming Magic. The Celtics continued to remain red hot as they won their 8th straight in the 104—88 victory. They we’re in control for most of the game and didn’t look back. It was a very balanced attack as 6 players were in double figures for scoring. Jaylen Brown led the way with 18 points and Al Horford finished with another double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds). The Celtics then finished out the road trip by heading down to Atlanta. This game should have been a walkover against the 2-8 Hawks but it wasn’t. It was a nail-bitter all the way but the Celtics were able to pull it out in the end in the 110—107 victory for their 9th straight win. Irving scored 35 points (a season high) and had a few clutch shots to close out the game. Jayson Tatum and Horford also had solid games as well as Horford was an assist away from a triple-double and Tatum finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds.
In the final game of the week, the Celtics were back at home against their arch rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. Going into this game, the Celtics were the clear favorite but whenever these two teams get together, it’s special. As for the game itself, Al Horford missed the game due a concussion and Jayson Tatum missed the 2nd half due to a bum ankle. But it didn’t matter as the Celtics once again beat the Lakers 107—96 to win their 10th straight game. This game wasn’t pretty and the Celtics had to dig deep to win this game. The standouts were surprisingly Aron Baynes and Marcus Morris as Baynes led the team in scoring (not a typo) with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Morris added 18 points. Like I said earlier, this game wasn’t pretty but that’s what made this win even more impressive. The Celtics have one 10 in a row and they’re the best team in basketball. Life is good!
Written By: Steven Santoro (SVS_1993)
