What’s up with the Boston Celtics?
Boston has easily been one of the hottest teams in the league this season, elevating to a 21-5 start in its first 26 games. In the middle of December, however, they lost five games.
Since then, they bounced back with wins against big teams like Minnesota, Milwaukee, and the Clippers. They’re in a period right now where they are regaining momentum so facing the Nuggets will definitely be a crucial one.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been the main characters of the Celtics’ fairytale story. Boston’s dynamic duo right now is a 1-2 punch that is going down in NBA history as one of the best tandems to play together. They have a combined average of 56.8 points each night, just behind the legendary duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in the 2000-2001 campaign (57.2 points per game).
Offensive firepower is abundant when these two are around but it’s expected that the Denver defense will do everything it can to limit the young stars in the coming matchup.
What’s up with the Denver Nuggets?
The Nuggets somewhat have a similar plot with the Celtics in the last month of 2022. They suffered a disappointing three-game losing streak at the beginning of December but their record has been nearly flawless since then.
All eyes are on Nikola Jokic and his out-of-this-world performance. The two-time MVP is keeping his shooting streak alive as he leads Denver with 25.5 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 9.5 assists. This juggernaut center has been a privilege to watch when he’s dishing out the ball to Caldwell-Pope, Murray, or Gordon. Highlight reel after highlight reel.
Prediction
When the top team of the East and the West face each other, you already know that we’re in for a treat.
I have to go with Boston on this one just because I think they are one of the few teams in the league that is able to overpower Denver’s both ends of the court. The Celtics have the best offense in the league, and they definitely have enough bodies to throw at Jokic to slow him down throughout the game.
They already showed that they have the capacity to do so when they pulled off a 131-112 victory over the Nuggets back in November. Tatum led the squad with 34 points in the first meetup so it’s not a bad guess that he’ll be delivering once again tomorrow night.
