The Clover Report: Week Six
Despite winning 13 games in a row, people weren’t buying into the Celtics’ hype because of lack of competition. That changed Thursday when the Celtics welcomed the defending champions to the TD Garden in prime time. It wasn’t a good start for Boston as the Golden State Warriors came out on fire and led 28—18 after the 1st quarter. The Warriors extended that lead to 17 and it looked like Golden State was going to run away with this game. But thanks to Jaylen Brown, he singlehandedly brought the Celtics back on a 19-0 and they took the lead in the 3rd quarter. In the final quarter, it was a defensive battle that felt like a boxing match. But the Celtics defense came up huge and they took down the champs 92—88. It was a balanced attack from Boston but the star of this game was clearly Jaylen Brown. Not only did he lead the Celtics in scoring with 22 points, he was playing with a heavy heart. Jaylen said after the game that his best friend had died the night before and he still decided to play. By doing that, Jaylen Brown instantly became my favorite player on the Celtics. This was a great night for the Celtics and they showed themselves to the basketball world that they are legit and they are the best team in the NBA.
After taking down Golden State, the Celtics went on the road to take on Atlanta. Similar to the Golden State game, the Celtics got off to a slow start as the Hawks jumped out to a 35—20 lead after the first. But the Celtics came roaring back and won going away 110—99. Jaylen Brown and Kyrie Irving both played out of their mind as they combined for 57 points and shot 20—25 from the floor. The team as a hole shot great from 3 as they hit 16 total at nearly 50%. Next up, the Celtics traveled to Dallas to take on the Mavericks. Despite having one of the worst records in the NBA, Dallas took a double digits lead during the 4th quarter. But then Kyrie Irving took over and the Celtics prevailed in overtime to win 110—102. Irving had his best game as a Boston Celtic as he finished with 47 points and shot an incredible 16—22 from the floor. It was another impressive comeback win as the streak was now at 16 games.
Finally to finish out the week and the road trip, the Celtics traveled to Miami to take on the Heat. Once again, the Celtics got off to a slow start again as they trailed 27—16 after the 1st. It finally came back to bite them in the ass as the Heat ended the Celtics’ win streak in the 104—98. Kyrie led the way for the Celtics won again as he scored 23 and Tatum chipped in 18 points. The Celtics looked tired in this game as they missed a lot of free throws (8 missed total) collectively and that may have been the deciding factor. But hey, the streak had to end at some point and I couldn’t be happier where the Celtics are right now. We’re 16-3 and still the top team in the East. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Written By: Steven Santoro (SVS_1993)
