The Clover Report: Week Twenty-Four
Before I get into the recap of the 4 games the Celtics played this week, I wanted to give my two cents on the Kyrie Irving situation. He had surgery on Saturday to take out a wire in his knee and he will be out 3 to 6 weeks. So best case situation, he’s out for the regular season and will be back during the first round of the playoffs. Worst case, he’s out for the rest of the year. The good news is that it’s not a long term issue. But this puts the entire Celtics season into question. If Kyrie is healthy, I do believe the Celtics have a real shot of getting to the Finals. So if I were Danny Ainge, I bring Irving back. With that out of the way, let’s recap the games.
First off, the Celtics headed out to start their West Coast trip. They started off in Portland to take on the Trailblazers and Damian Lillard. With the Celtics extremely undermanned, it was expected that the Celtics would be blown out. But these goddamn Celtics refuse to quit. The Celtics won 105—100 in one of the more impressive wins of the year. Marcus Morris went off for 30 points and Terry Rozier added 16 points. The 3 was an important part of the Celtics success as they shot 11—18 from beyond the arch. Next up, the Celtics traveled to Sacramento to take on the Kings. Jaylen Brown made his return from that nasty fall but Morris was held out due to knee soreness. But it didn’t matter as it was Terry Rozier’s night. He had a career high 33 points and hit 8 three pointers. He also added 5 rebounds and 5 steals to go with his career night. Oh yea, the Celtics also won 104—93. In his return, Brown scored 19 points and shot 6-10 from the floor. It was another great win for the undermanned Celtics.
As they continued their trip on the West Coast, the Celtics traveled to Phoenix to take on the lowly Suns. With Morris returning, the Celtics were the healthiest they’ve been in a while. However, that lasted only 2 hours as Morris re-sprained ankle after scoring 20 points. But once again, the Celtics were able to gut out a 102—94 win. Jayson Tatum led the team in scoring with 23 points and Al Horford had a near triple double with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. Finally, the Celtics traveled to Utah to take on the Jazz. Morris and Al Horford were out again which left the Celtics more undermanned. But it didn’t matter all as the Celtics as Jaylen Brown hit a buzzer beating 3 as time expired. He finished with a game high 21 points as the Celtics won 97—94. This one of the best wins of the year and considering how many injuries the Celtics have had, it was the best week of the year. I truly love this team.
Steve Santoro (SVS_1993)
