{"id":12890,"date":"2023-02-01T08:26:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T08:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/tatum-celtics-aim-for-10th-straight-win-over-irvings-nets\/"},"modified":"2023-02-01T08:26:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T08:26:27","slug":"tatum-celtics-aim-for-10th-straight-win-over-irvings-nets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/tatum-celtics-aim-for-10th-straight-win-over-irvings-nets\/","title":{"rendered":"Tatum, Celtics aim for 10th straight win over Irving&#8217;s Nets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets travel to Boston on Wednesday to face the Celtics in a tantalizing clash between Eastern Conference contenders.<\/p>\n<p>The Celtics currently have the best record in the NBA with a 36-15 record, while the 31-19 Nets are the fourth seed.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh off the road to the NBA Finals, Boston has looked like a genuine contender from day one, building an elite, championship-level statistical profile.<\/p>\n<p>Arguably, the eventual champion will show signs of elite play on at least one side of the ball throughout the regular season. Last year&#8217;s champions, the Golden State Warriors, have established an identity in the top two defense.  In 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks were top 5 offensively and top 10 defensively.  The 2020 Los Angeles Lakers possessed the third best defense.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s Celtics team is in a rare air of being in the top five for both offensive and defensive efficiency, with two All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and Defensive Player of the Year. is in Marcus Smart and his fellow All-Defensive selection Robert Williams III.<\/p>\n<p>Games and series are often determined by which team has the best players, but the Celtics are bolstered by the continued rise of Tatum, now a legitimate MVP contender.<\/p>\n<p>This season, the 24-year-old is averaging career highs in points per game (31.1), rebounds (8.7), assists (4.4), field goals made (10.1), tries (21.8) and 3-points made (3.3). doing. and attempts (9.3), free throws made (7.6), attempts (8.8) &#8211; his best on the field since his rookie season. was recorded.<\/p>\n<p>The records, profiles and talent of the Celtics&#8217; elite, combined with the fact that they will be playing in front of home fans, will make them favorites on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no question that the Nets have gone into a mini-tailspin since Kevin Durant suffered a knee injury on January 8 against the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"link caas-button collapse-button\" aria-label=\"\" title=\"\" data-ylk=\"elm:readmore;slk:Story continues\">story continues<\/button><\/p>\n<p>Ranking as the 5th-best offense and 10th-best defense of the season, both units are mediocre definitions because of this past stretch of ranking 19th on offense and 18th on defense. , both have fallen.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not the ex-Celtic Irving&#8217;s fault who enjoys a great individual run. He has recorded his seven-game streak of at least 26 points and six assists, and the Nets dropped him in his next six games without Durant after dropping his first four. 4 wins.<\/p>\n<p>Also to Brooklyn&#8217;s advantage is the fact that they are the NBA&#8217;s second best team away from home this season. Meanwhile, his 16-11 record in the road only beats his 17-9 record with the Celtics.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for the Nets, Boston also have few problems at home. They possess the fifth-best home record (19-6), and Thursday&#8217;s overtime loss to the New York Knicks was TD Garden&#8217;s first loss since December 21.<\/p>\n<p><strong>important performer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Boston Celtics \u2013 Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Simply put, the Nets only have one offensive end superstar without Durant in action. The Celtics have the perfect player to make Irving&#8217;s life miserable. Or at least they usually do.<\/p>\n<p>Smart became the first guard to win Defensive Player of the Year since &#8220;The Glove&#8221; Gary Payton in 1995-96. His influence on Irving has been evident in recent matchups. ankle injury.<\/p>\n<p>Malcolm Brogdon, one of the frontrunners for Sixth Man of the Year, will look to pick up where Smart left off as he takes his place as the lineup&#8217;s top defensive guard with the help of Derrick White .<\/p>\n<p>In his last four games against the Celtics, Irving has reached 20 points only once and finished with the following shooting performances: 4 of 19, 8 of 18, 7 of 21 and 9 of 24.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brooklyn Nets \u2013 Bench Shooter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Irving is the obvious focus and engine driving the Nets, but they could need one of their shooters off the bench to get hot.<\/p>\n<p>In Monday&#8217;s win over the Lakers, Sparkplug second-year Cam Thomas and veteran Patty Mills combined for 21 points and shot 11-of-8 from long range. In the previous game, in a rivalry victory over the New York Knicks, the trio of Thomas, Edmund Sumner and Yuta Watanabe combined to make his 6-of-6 3-pointers.<\/p>\n<p>Watanabe in particular could be a game changer as he has a 49% completion rate from deep. That&#8217;s the highest number in the league for a player who averaged more than one shot per game.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A key battle \u2013 how will Brooklyn slow down Boston&#8217;s wings?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As previously mentioned, the Nets were in the top 10 defensemen this season, but the 7-foot Durant is definitely gone. and 6-foot-8 TJ Warren.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to fielding the All-Star duo of Tatum and Brown, they are severely understaffed.Tatum is the exact kind Brooklyn had in mind when he traded Utah a first-round pick for Royce O&#8217;Neal. matchup, but they could be stuck with Brown&#8217;s Joe Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Watanabe, who is 6-foot-8, and perhaps even veteran Markieff Morris, who is 6-foot-9, will get a chance off the bench, but Brooklyn&#8217;s remaining perimeter options are simply too small.<\/p>\n<p><strong>face to face<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since early February 2022, the Celtics have gone undefeated in nine matches against the Nets, including a clean 4-0 sweep in the first round of the playoffs last season.<\/p>\n<p>Boston won both head-to-head matches this campaign by 11 points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiS2h0dHBzOi8vdWsuc3BvcnRzLnlhaG9vLmNvbS9uZXdzL25iYS1nYW1lLXdlZWstdGF0dW0tY2VsdGljcy0wODI2Mjc0MTcuaHRtbNIBU2h0dHBzOi8vdWsuc3BvcnRzLnlhaG9vLmNvbS9hbXBodG1sL25ld3MvbmJhLWdhbWUtd2Vlay10YXR1bS1jZWx0aWNzLTA4MjYyNzQxNy5odG1s?oc=5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets travel to Boston on Wednesday to face the Celtics in a tantalizing clash between Eastern Conference contenders. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","two-columns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/adbff957755b879e4a04ee161b0fe8a7.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}