At this point in the season, the Boston Celtics are starting to look like an enigma. One moment they play like one of the better teams in the Eastern conference, only to turn around and lose to the Brooklyn Nets, one of the conference’s worst teams based on its record. In order to make it in the NBA, a team has to go out every night and deliver a consistent effort win or lose. Apparently, the Celtics aren’t quite there yet.
However, they did just recently bring a little two game road losing streak to a halt by winning its next two games against the winless Philadelphia 76ers 84-80, coming back two nights later to destroy a decent Washington Wizards team 111-78. In the victory over the Sixers, the Celtics used a big fourth quarter to come from behind and secure the victory. They actually trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the fourth before turning on the jets and closing the game out with a rush.
For the Sixers, it was the 26th regular season loss in a row, which tied the record for consecutive losses in any professional sport. The existing marks were set by the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976-77. In 2013-2014, this same Sixers team also put together a losing streak of 26 games. Note: Two nights later in Houston, they would break this rather dubious record for consecutive losses (27) by losing to the Rockets 116-114 in a valiant effort to avoid standing alone in the record books.
For the Celtics, the Washington game represented a return to form from earlier in November when the Celtics were able to win four of five games, including two road victories (100-85 over Oklahoma City and 111-95 over the Houston Rockets) in the state of Texas on back to back nights. On a night when Boston guard Marcus Smart was forced to sit out a fourth straight game due to a leg injury, the Celtics had six players score in double figures, led by center Jared Sullinger who had one of his best nights of the season with 18 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. They also got another 21 points from leading scorer Isaiah Thomas who was coming off a 30 point performance against the Sixers.
This was the kind of game that showed what this Celtics team is capable of doing when everyone shows up to play at the same time. These two victories brought the team’s record to 9-7, good enough for second place in a contentious Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.
Over the next five, the Celtics are will be faced with five straight on the road. The trip starts with a swing through Florida for games against the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat. Following the Heat game, it’s on to Mexico City for a game versus the Sacramento Kings as the NBA takes a regular season game to Mexico City Arena. From there, they close out the road trip through the South with games against the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans. After logging that many miles over 10 days, they will be more than happy to get back home for some home cooking.
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