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Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics are moving up the NBA power rankings.
The Boston Celtics won their third straight game on Sunday, again climbing in this week’s NBA Power Rankings. Indeed, this has not been a run-of-the-mill streak. On Wednesday, the Celtics beat the Thunder in a gritty, playoff-level showdown, a win that firmed up their status around the league–if not to themselves–as a real contender for a spot in the Finals. They beat Atlanta on Friday, holding the Hawks to 102 points, the same Hawks that had averaged 124.1 points in winning 14 of their previous 15 games.
And on Sunday, the Celtics drubbed the Hornets on the road, logging a 114-99 blowout even with Jaylen Brown sidelined. It was the Celtics’ 50th win of the season, a remarkable feat considering Jayson Tatum‘s Achilles tendon injury and the fact he did not make his season debut until March 6.
If you ask around, most will tell you Tatum’s return is a secondary impetus for Boston’s recent surge. The big thing has been the defense. The Celtics hit their defensive stride right around the midway point of the season, and in the last two months, they have ranked No. 1 in defensive efficiency, a run that has seen them go 22-7 and log a defensive rating of 107.6.
“They’ve gone to a different level defensively,” one East assistant coach said. “It helps to have (Derrick) White leading the way there, he brings a certain intensity and they all pick up on that. Especially the young guys, when they have Jordan Walsh or (Baylor) Scheierman or Hugo Gonzalez, they mirror White’s energy. The rotations have gotten stronger as the year has gone on, they’re more used to having (Neemias) Queta back there in the middle.
“The arrow is definitely pointing up for them as we get to the playoffs.”
One of the questions raised in the aftermath of the collapsed lung suffered by Cade Cunningham was whether the Pistons had some remorse over the trade that sent out Jaden Ivey to Chicago at the deadline. The answer has come back as a pretty strong no. That’s because the Pistons have considerable faith in Daniss Jenkins, the 24-year-old second-year player whose two-way contract was converted after the Ivey trade.
In his last six games starting in place of Cunningham, Jenkins has averaged 18.7 points and 7.3 assists, with 4.3 rebounds. More important, they are 5-1.
The NBA’s Coach of the Year Award is likely to go to JB Bickerstaff of the Pistons this year, and a case could be made for Joe Mazzulla of the aforementioned Celtics. One guy who has no chance is Tyronn Lue–but it could be argued he has done the best job of his decorated career this season. The Clippers were 6-21 in December, dead in the water, a miserable bunch with Chris Paul and James Harden. They jettisoned Paul, started to play better and then jettisoned Harden for Darius Garland at the deadline.
The Clippers have gone 32-15 since that dreadful start and are No. 8 in the West, hoping to hold that spot and have an advantage in the play-in. The team is eager to at least earn a playoff spot–the uncertainty around Kawhi Leonard’s future could mean Ty Lue’s bunch looks very different going forward.
GettyKawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers.
It’s a race to the bottom for a handful of teams these days, and as much hand-wringing as there has been over tanking–those offended by it and a newly vocal group of tanking apologists–the league is not making much progress on stopping it.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including "Fun City," "Before Wrigley became Wrigley," and "Facing Michael Jordan." More about Sean Deveney
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