The Clover Report: Week Seventeen

With the Patriots’ season officially over, the Celtics are about to take center stage in Boston sports. They had 3 games this week so let’s get into it. The first one came at home against the lowly Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics were retiled with injuries as Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, and Marcus Morris were all out due to injuries. So the role players had to step up and step up they did. Both Terry Rozier and Jayson Tatum scored career highs in points as the Celtics won 119—110. Rozier finished with 31 points and while Tatum finished with 27. It was a solid win from the shorthanded C’s.

Next up, the Celtics played host to the Portland Trailblazers on Super Bowl Sunday. Once again, they were without Irving, Smart, and Morris. Like the Atlanta game, this was a grid it out affair. Down by one with under 10 seconds to go, the ball was inbounded to Al Horford. He faded away and hit the game winning shot as the Celtics won 97—96. Horford led the way for Boston with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Tatum had another solid game as the finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds. It was a solid way to end the home stand and the Celtics were ready to head out on the road.

To finish out the week, the Celtics had a monster matchup as they faced division rival and likely playoff opponent Toronto Raptors. The Celtics were able to get healthier for this game as Kyrie and Marcus Morris both returned. But the way the Celtics played, it didn’t matter at all. The Raptors kicked the Celtics’ ass as they won 111—91. Kyrie looked rusty as he only scored 17 points and Horford struggled mightily with only 2 points total. The Raptors bench was a big factor in the game as they combined to score 59 points. The Raptors are a team the Celtics are going to have to worry about down the line; that was the main thing to take away from Tuesday.

Written By: Steven Santoro (SVS_1993)