The Celtics of the 2023-24 NBA season were (and are) favorites for the ring. The movements made in the summer invited us to make such a statement and the facts are supporting it with hardly any cracks left, a reply that can only be found when they travel, since in the Garden they are simply passing the roller on everyone who approaches there.
As we head to close the first third of the regular season, Boston is a perfect 13-0 at home after defeating Orlando Magic last night by a clear 129-111. Although Florida’s team is one of the great revelations of the campaign, the Greens hardly had any problems against them. After an even first quarter, in the second they were more than 10 points ahead and in the third they shot the distance up to 22 points. It was a new exercise in mastery.
With the aforementioned 13-0 at the Garden, Boston is currently the only team that remains undefeated on its home court. With only one defeat are the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets (both 10-1), and already with two Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic themselves (12-2 and 11-2 respectively).
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To achieve this level of excellence, Boston is counting on a spectacular Jayson Tatum. The All-Star forward, who scored 30 points last night, is shooting a little less than in the previous three seasons, but his effectiveness has grown to the point of being at the best percentage of his career in field goals with 48.7%. He is the main piece of a machine that Jaylen Brown assures is born in the group’s mentality.
«Throughout these years we have lost some home games that we should not have lost, or did not want to. The mentality of this team is that you can’t skip any steps. In every shot, every training session, every warm-up, every time you walk to the bus… At all times you must be aware of what the job is, what the end goal is and what our mission is. I think that’s why we’ve been able to have such a good streak at home,” he explains.
The truth is that the Celtics’ current streak began before this season. To be exact, they don’t lose a game of regular season at the Garden since March 5, 2023. If they continue like this they could beat the best home streak in the history of the franchise, which dates back to the distant 1957-58 campaign, when the team led by Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn started with 17 consecutive wins at home.
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
2023-12-16 11:00:00
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