When they crushed the Golden State Warriors 140-88 at the start of this month, the Boston Celtics simultaneously exorcised some of the ghosts of the 2022 NBA finals and added further lustre to what is on course to be a historically high-achieving regular-season campaign.
Thanks to 29 points from Jaylen Brown and 27 from Jayson Tatum on his 26th birthday, it was the third-highest margin of victory in Celtics history and their third 50-point win of the season – an NBA record. It was also their 11th win in a row, a run during which they had demolished their opponents by an average of 22 points, a margin of victory unmatched in NBA history over a single-season winning run of 10 or more games.
Boston’s record improved to 48-12 with the victory, and they held Stephen Curry to just four points in a win so dominant that Golden State coach Steve Kerr benched his starters for the entire second half after the Celtics had raced to a 44-point half-time lead.
“That’s what we used to do to teams,” Curry said after the game.
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But as quickly as the Celtics had asserted their championship credentials against the Warriors, defeats in their next two games showcased many of the issues that have seen recent playoff runs end short of a title.
First, in what Brown termed “a mentality loss”, they let slip a 22-point fourth-quarter lead to lose 105-104 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night. It was a loss that could have been written off as a blip in a busy schedule were it not for the fact that it was yet another example of Boston’s struggles with late-game execution.
One of the biggest criticisms of the Celtics in the postseason over the last two years has been how their play slows late in close games. The Celtics haven’t been involved in many truly close contests this season, but when they have, the same old problems have returned. Taking the season as a whole, Boston rank 18th in the league when it comes to pace – defined as the average number of plays per 48 minutes. In clutch scenarios – the final five minutes of the fourth quarter…
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