After a brief pause for the events of NBA all-star weekend, the Boston Celtics returned to the court on Thursday night in Philly. This signals the beginning of the second half of the regular season and is usually the point of the season were the real title contenders start to solidify playoff places. The Celtics faced the 76ers on one of the rare occasions that all of their big three were off of the injury list. However, it would not matter as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown returned from the Bay with a bang. Boston racked up a 48-point advantage from three-point land on their way to a resounding 124-104 victory.

After yet another frustrating loss at the hands of the Houston Rockets, the Celtics faced the Chicago Bulls desperately needing a victory. They were still without Sam Hauser and Al Horford which would not help their efforts, but it wouldn’t matter. Kristaps Porzingis has been exceptional over the past few weeks when others have not always been, but he took it to another level tonight. Porzingis was smoking hot from beyond the arc – making a career high eight three-pointers – and he carried the offense where others struggled. The Latvian’s double-double got Boston back to winning ways with a 122-100 win.

After a 3-1 west coast swing the Celtics returned to face an inform Houston Rockets team who had beaten Boston’s competition for the number one seed – the Cleveland Cavaliers – twice in the last week. The road trip had drained the Celtics’ roster to the bear bones with Derrick White, Al Horford, and Sam Hauser all forced out of the game with minor injuries. Luke Kornet got the start in place of White in a double big line-up with Kristaps Porzingis and things went swimmingly for Boston, as they held a 12-point lead with around eight minutes to play. However, there was to be yet another fourth quarter collapse from the Celtics as they failed to execute, especially defensively down the stretch, and Houston pounced. Amen Thompson hit a floater over Jaylen Brown with 1.3 seconds on the clock to win it for the Rockets. Meaning yet another failure in the clutch for Boston.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for my absence from writing about the Celtics over the last month or so, but University exams and assessments took over in January. During my absence it has been an unstable few months for basketball for the Celtics, who have had some impressive victories but also some dreadful defeats to the hands of vastly inferior teams. The team have not been able to emulate their early season success and boast just a .500 record since I last covered them (11-11). Despite my absence from the blog, I have watched virtually all of the Celtics games throughout the end of December and into January and at times it has been a tough watch. However, despite some underwhelming performances they still sit comfortably in second place of the Eastern Conference and are well positioned for hopefully a much-improved end to the season heading into the playoffs. I won’t cover all the games I’ve missed but will begin with covering Boston’s most recent road trip against Western Conference opposition.

For the third time already this season the Celtics headed into Washington DC to face the Wizards, looking to score their third victory of the year in the capital. Boston’s offensive prowess shone brightly in the early exchanges, scoring 67 points in the first half. Despite a more physical and improved defensive display by the Wizards in the second half they could still not put a stop to the juggernaut that is the 2024 Boston Celtics.

Five days after a disappointing defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Celtics finally hit the court against the Detroit Pistons. The home side were without all-star Jayson Tatum, but that would not alter the outcome of this one. Payton Pritchard and Derrick White caught fire from beyond the arc, combining for seven threes in what would be a resounding victory at the TD Garden, 123-99.

This is something that I wanted to add to the blog this season a more general perspective of the entire NBA and how I feel some of the sides have performed. Each Month I will be ranking the top 10 performing teams and giving my thoughts on their performance.

The top two sides in the Eastern conference came face to face in Cleveland last night with the number one seed in the division up for grabs. Unfortunately for the Celtics they would be without Jaylen Brown and Derrick white as Brown struggled with illness, while White is still struggling with the foot injury he sustained in the NBA Cup game against the Bulls. Nevertheless, Boston battled hard and had a double-digit lead throughout the majority of the second half, but Donavon Mitchell went off in the fourth quarter to end the Celtics’ seven game winning streak.

Before tipoff both teams had learnt that the Atlanta Hawks had beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers therefore - unless Chicago beat Boston – the Hawks would top group C in the NBA Cup standings. To qualify for the next phase of the tournament Boston would have to beat the Bulls by as much as possible and hope that their points differential would exceed that of the other second placed sides in the Eastern Conference. With both teams knowing they needed to win to advance and Boston needing to put points on the board to increase their chances of qualifying, the game quickly became an offensive free-for-all. Jayson Tatum was sensational through the opening three quarters, but when Boston needed it most Payton Pritchard went absolutely berserk in the fourth quarter to give Boston hope of reaching the quarter finals.

This was probably the most highly anticipated matchup of the new NBA season, as the 15-0 Cleveland Cavaliers headed into the Garden for an important Emirates NBA Cup game. The Cavaliers are no stranger to the Boston Celtics as Boston sent them out of the playoffs just this summer in five games. But since then, the Cavs have bounced back impressively, without any major additions to their roster they have tremendously improved under the leadership of their new head coach Kenny Atkinson. However, the champions stood in the way of their hope for a 16-0 start to the season and they had a point to prove. The Celtics led by as much as 21 points, but credit to Cleveland, they drove themselves back into the game, But Boston held on to win a thriller 120-117.  

After a successful trip to Brooklyn, the Celtics returned to Boston to face the Toronto Raptors at the TD Garden. It would be the first meeting of these two Atlantic Division rivals this season and it would go right down to the wire. Boston has a growing issue, in their inability to protect the rim, as both Jakob Poetl and RJ Barrett dominated the paint. However, the shot making of Derrick White and Jaylen Brown kept Boston afloat and they managed to send the game into Overtime. Jayson Tatum showed he was the man of the hour once again as after missing a mid-range to win the game in regulation, he took a step-back three from way downtown to win it for Boston.

These two sides have a rich history against each other, even in the NBA finals in 2022. However this Warriors team is very different to those of seasons past, Klay Thompson had departed for Dallas, and they had signed former 76ers and Kings guard Buddy Hield to replace him. Since then, GSW have started the season brilliantly and they bolster a 6-1 record, on the other hand the returning champs Boston Celtics are 7-1 and looking to continue their impressive start. The Celtics were without Jaylen Brown, and it showed as despite having a lead in the fourth Golden State came away with a huge win.