Boston must not have liked Chicago ending its nine-game winning streak prematurely on Monday. To catch up, the Celtics delivered a successful collective performance from start to finish on Wednesday against a Luka Doncic, yet in great form (42 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists). Another proof, if we needed it, that basketball is a team sport, and that a player, even the most efficient and regular, can do nothing when isolated (or almost) in his franchise, against such complementarity in the opposite team.
Last year’s NBA finalists overwhelmed Dallas (125-112) at TD Garden. Before the game, Luka Doncic rented from his opponent of the day what he considered to be the “best duo in the league”, references of course to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. There was something foreboding about the Slovenian leader, as between them they scored 68 points.
An association that works well, and which saw Boston rise quickly, to return to the locker room with a comfortable lead of 21 points. They even scored 27 more points in the third quarter, before leaving a huge highlight for the “Mavs”.
Fortunately for the tension, and the fans waiting for a promising poster, Doncic was then accompanied by a great night from Christian Wood (26 points, 12 rebounds), who helped Dallas get back to within 9 points of their opponent three minutes from the end. Then Tatum (37 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists) nailed it all and proved once again that he had his chances in the race for the regular season MVP title.
With this success, Boston thus began its streak of six consecutive home games very well and recorded a 14th win this season (highest total in the league). And with their performance, we can expect the Celtics to continue to comfortably lead the East.
