11 things I’m thankful for

Thanksgiving is a time to pause, look again, and watch soccer be glad about all the things that’s occurred within the final yr. It’s notably simple to provide you with a fats gratitude record for Boston Celtics followers who’ve had a heck of a basketball time of late. Listed here are some Celtics issues I’m giving thanks for earlier than the tryptophan hits.

1. The dying of basketball

Is Mazzulla-ball ruining the NBA? After all not, though it’d really feel that solution to the beleaguered competitors.

Joe heard preliminary criticisms that his groups have been taking pictures too many threes, and as a substitute of acquiescing to public stress, he cranked that **** to 11. The Celtics, as you’ve heard by now, are taking pictures greater than half their pictures from past the arc. Oh no, my eyes!

Amazingly, Boston solely has the third-best offense within the league proper now, mere fractions of some extent behind the Knicks and the Cavaliers. These groups rank sixteenth and fifteenth, respectively, in three-point frequency. It’s nearly like there are a number of paths to creating good offense, and that basketball is as alive and properly because it’s ever been!

Mazzulla has created a system that maximizes his personnel. No person and no course of is ever good, however we simply watched the Celtics raze the league to the bottom final season, and occasional sleepwalking apart, they appear poised to take action once more this yr.

2. Derrick White

We must always all be eternally grateful for Derrick White. It’s laborious to reconcile the man benched within the 2022 NBA Finals for being an offensive legal responsibility with the dude who seems like a long-lost Splash Brother (greater than 9 triples per sport this season!). He’s now in his third straight yr of setting a career-high for three-point proportion (41.5%), and it’s inarguable that he’s been a minimum of Boston’s third-best participant this yr — and analytically-minded of us may need him even greater than that.

He even has a brand new Sam Adams beer, which gave us this Oscar-worthy efficiency. Could be a pleasant pairing with some turkey.

3. The early return of Kristaps Porzingis

Porzingis had a powerful debut Monday evening, notching 16 factors and notably bettering the Celtics’ protection. The Celtics went 14-3 with out him this season, and so they cruised to an NBA championship principally with out him, too. However that’s not the purpose. Porzingis isn’t vital, precisely, as a result of the Celtics are so good that just about nobody is important. However he’s insurance coverage and overkill, a security assure. He brings a swaggy component to this Celtics’ workforce growing their range and effectiveness in equal measure.

I’m additional grateful as a result of we weren’t alleged to see him till the subsequent main vacation, give or take a number of weeks. Seeing him seem weeks early as a Black Friday sale merchandise as a substitute of a gift underneath the Christmas tree was an sudden delight.

4. Steve Kerr and Workforce USA

Whereas Celtics followers have been irritated with Jayson Tatum’s lack of taking part in time and Jaylen Brown’s snub, it stored them each motivated and (extra importantly) wholesome to proceed dominating this season. Not way more must be stated right here. Thanks, Steve!

5. The Jays, abiding

I’m grateful Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have continued to buck pressured nationwide storylines that they will’t maximize one another, that they every want their very own workforce to succeed in full potential. They’ve by no means wavered in phrase or deed, and to see them destroy the league final season (and once more up to now this yr, give or take some shaky taking pictures to begin) regardless of so many defective narratives considerably restores my religion in basketball humanity.

6. The brand new NBA Cup court docket

Perhaps the NBA Cup courts aren’t to your style, however have you ever regarded across the league? For those who assume the brand new court docket needed to be one thing obnoxiously garish at baseline, the Celtics completely knocked it out of the park.

(I’m not grateful in any way for this yr’s Metropolis Version jerseys although.)

7. Payton Pritchard’s explosion

I predicted earlier than the season that Payton Pritchard would make a Sixth Man of the Yr run, and up to now, that’s panned out properly. Vegas presently has him because the consensus favourite to win the award.

Between his end-of-quarter heroics and his absurd three-point gunnery, Pritchard is a hooper’s hooper. The basketball gods didn’t give him an alpha scorer’s physique, however he’s long-established himself into one anyway. Nothing makes me fairly as gleeful as Payton sprinting round searching triples like his subsequent meal will depend on it.

Whether or not he wins the award or not, Quick PP has made himself right into a drive to be reckoned with.

8. The previous guys

Al Horford and Jrue Vacation proceed to be the Celtics’ Flex-Seals. At any time when holes seem within the good ship Celtic, Mazzulla slaps an previous man on it, and the issue is solved!

Horford’s potential to repeatedly faucet the fountain of youth each time the Celtics want him is nothing wanting miraculous. He’s been practically automated from three, an enormous growth with Porzingis lacking a lot time to begin the season, and whereas he picks his spots slightly extra defensively, he all the time rises to the event. Al Dependable, certainly.

Vacation has a little bit of a gradual begin shooting-wise this season, and the protection would possibly’ve slipped a tiny notch. However he stays each wildly overqualified to be a task participant and humble sufficient to cede occasional closing minutes to Payton Pritchard, if want be. That’s a uncommon mixture.

Any fanbase could be fortunate to have one in every of these guys to root for. For Celtics followers to have each appears downright unfair, so let’s toast the previous heads within the room. *Clink*

9. Brad Stevens

Let’s not overlook the architect of this masterpiece. Whilst he’s pale considerably from the general public eye, his work speaks for itself, and we might be remiss in not acknowledging his efforts (and the departed Danny Ainge) in maybe the best team-building train the league has seen in many years.

10. Banner 18 and continuity

Look, it’s a brand new season. I don’t need to spend a lot time speaking about how friggin’ nice it’s that the Celtics are reigning NBA champs (though it’s fairly nice!). However it’s tremendous cool (and tremendous uncommon) for a champion to carry again the very same core for an opportunity to run it again. Banners are ceaselessly, however back-to-back rings create mythologies. they need it.

I’m undecided what the long run holds after this yr, when luxurious taxes, aprons, and typical NBA weirdness would possibly end in a Celtics workforce with a minimum of {a partially} new look. However I’m grateful we’ve had this enjoyable, implausible Boston squad to cheer on for therefore lengthy, and nonetheless slightly bit longer.

11) You all

To not get too Hallmark-movie on you, however the readers make CelticsBlog tick. It goes with out saying that with out you, this web site wouldn’t exist. Thanks for being right here with us.

Completely satisfied Thanksgiving, everybody, and tell us what else you’re grateful for within the feedback!