Celtics 108, Bucks 81

 

OMG, this f-ing team! They head into Milwaukee last night with, of course, Jayson Tatum still on the long-term DL, but also give backup superstar Jaylen Brown a day off for his knee and last night's surprise breakout star, Neemias Queta, a night's rest after his career-best performance the day before, all while Giannis A. returns to the lineup for the Bucks. A sure-fire recipe for a Boston loss, right? And what happens?

They put Hugo González, the pride of the Iberian peninsula, in as a starter and he drops 18 points and grabs 16 rebounds, as well as three steals, two blocked shots, and one assist to lead the Celtics to a 108-81 victory. Not only were those career high numbers for González, but no Celtic player had as high numbers in as many categories since Larry Bird. 

On back-to-back nights, unlikely heroes Queta and then González rise to the occasion with career-best games and lift the Boston Celtics to a 41-20 season record. If you're not yet on the team bandwagon, I suggest that now's the time to get on board.

I've been stanning for González here for a while now, mainly for his defensive play (rebounds and steals, mostly), but I purposely laid off a little because I felt like too much close examination on a rookie might build up too high an expectation, jinx his career, or at the very least, bias my opinion. But last night, he proved that he's worthy to be a starter on this team, and the bench is so deep that even without Tatum all season, the Celtics lead their division, and have the second best record in the East and the fourth best in the entire NBA. 

Speaking of bench players, Payton Pritchard lead the team in scoring last night with 25 points. Luka Garza, normally a starter, got 10 rebounds off the bench while Nikola Vučević, usually the backup center, hit for 10 points and 7 assists as a starter. All starters last night had at least 10 points.

What a team! Jayson who (lol)? The Celtics held Antetokounmpo to 19 points and had a big enough lead in the fourth that they played the last two minutes of the game with Amari Williams, Max Shulga, and John Tonje (who, lol?) on the court.

The Celtics return home from this one-game road trip and will host the Charlotte Hornets (30-31) Wednesday night. 

What a team!

Celtics 114, Sixers 98

 

A pair of double doubles from the two centers - starter Neemias Queta scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, the first Celtics player to record 25-plus points and 10-plus offensive rebounds in the same game since Robert Parish in 1989, and Nikola Vučević came close with 11 points and 12 rebounds coming off the bench. Mr. Brown also scored 27 points, while Mr. White scored 21. 

The Celtics trailed the Sixers by two points after the first quarter, but took the lead with a dominating 36-22 second and sealed the win with a 25-15 fourth. 

The Celtics are 40-20, winning twice as many games as they've lost, and are currently 12-3 in their last 15 games. Tonight, they play in in Milwaukee against what remains of the Bucks (26-33). Tip off is at 7:30 Eastern time.     

 

BU 5, BC 1

 

The unranked and underappreciated BU men's hockey team sweeps No. 10-ranked Boston College! I hate the fucking Eagles, man!

Freshman Ben Merrill scored two goals, opening the game with a short-handed score in the first, and hitting an insurance goal with 4:57 left in the game in the third. After Merrill's first score, BC responded with their lone goal of the game, but Gavin McCarthy gave the Terriers the lead back with a goal in the second period. Jack Harvey opened the third with a short-handed goal and after Merrill's second goal of the night, Cole Eiserman knocked in an open netter. Mikhail Yegorov made 28 saves in goal. 

With the win, the Terriers complete a sweep of arch-rival BC in the penultimate game of the regular season, played in BC's home arena.  They'll close out the season with a game at UMass Lowell (12-20-0).

The Terriers are 16-15-2 overall and 12-11-0 in conference play. Their 35 points put them in sixth place in Hockey East, and in a best-case scenario, with a win in Lowell and losses by UMass and Maine, they could end the season tied with UConn for third place in the conference. That's asking a lot and most of it's out to their hands, but a guy can dream, right?  

Northeastern 2, BU 1 (2 OT)

 

Pity the women: they open the season with two games against No. 3 Minnesota and two against No. 8 Colgate, and the seventh and eighth games of the season were against No. 12 Northeastern. Since those games, Northeastern has moved up to No. 5 and now the Terriers' season ends after they drew the Huskies in the second round of the Hockey East conference tournament, losing 2-1 after two OTs.  

BU's lone goal of the game was a short-handed score in the second period, fittingly by team captain Sydney Healey, her fourth short-handed goal of the season. Although BU out-shot the Huskies in the game, 40-35, Northeastern blocked 27 while BU blocked only 24. 

And with that loss, the Terriers are eliminated from the post-season and the 2025-26 season ends at a disappointing 11-21-3 overall. However, remember that this is the team that won the Friendship Series in North Ireland over No 7 Quinnipiac and Harvard, took the Beanpot championship game into OT against Harvard, and took Hockey East's No. 1 seed into double OT last night in the conference quarterfinal.  

Seniors Sydney Healey, Clara Yuhn, the Welcke sisters, Riley Walsh, and Maeve Kelly all graduate, and thank you for the memories and great play. I maintain that it was a killer schedule that ultimately did in the team, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on. 

Next year, hopefully, all things considered, juniors Greta Henderson, Neely Nicholson, Maeve Carey, Ella Belfry, and goalie Mari Pietersen all return, as well as sophomores Kaileigh Quigg, Kiera Healey, Tessa Demain, Lola Reid, and Kate Meinert, and freshmen Lexie Bertelsen,  Anežka Čabelová, Mia Vergilii, and Jackie Wright. I'm expecting great things from these women, and look forward to another year of quality collegiate hockey.

Flyers 3, Bruins 1

 

Charlie McAvoy (BU, Class of 2016) scored a goal for the Boston Bruins, but that was it. The Philadelphia Flyers scored three, and as I understand the rules of hockey, the team that scores the most goals wins. The Bruins had far more shots on goals (27) than the Flyers (17), but one-time Bruin goalie Dan Vladar made saves on all but McAvoy's one shot, going .963 on saves and winning the game.

Just another night in the NHL. The Bruins are now 33-21-5 and still hanging on to the last Wild Card spot, two points ahead of the Capitals. 

Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins (30-15-13) will pay a visit to the Garden for a 7:00 pm game.  

Celtics 148, Nets 111

 

The New Guy found his groove and the Celtics rediscovered their three-point shot as Boston crushed the Brooklyn Nets, 148-111, in the Garden. 

Nikola Vučević caught 11 rebounds and scored 28 points off the bench, including nine points on three-of-three three-point shooting. Overall, the Celtics were 22-34 on threes (64.7%), with Mr. Brown going four-for-four on his way to 28 points, tying Vučević, and Mr. White got all 12 of his night's points on four-of-eight shooting from outside the line. Pritchard was 4-5 on threes on his way to 22 points, and both Scheierman and Walsh went 2-2 from downtown. 

The Celtics also outrebounded the Nets, 39-25, but I'm not going to gloat. The Nets are struggling and, quite frankly, aren't that good a team.

Boston (39-20) still leads the Atlantic Division and are 5½ back from Detroit in the Eastern Conference.

Sunday night, the Celtics will host Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the rest of the last-place Philadelphia 76ers (33-26). The game starts at 8:00 and will be  carried by NBC.

BU 3, BC 1

 

Last night, the unranked Boston University men's team beat beat the No. 10 Boston College Eagles, 3-1, on home ice. The Battle of Comm Ave moves up Chestnut Hill tonight for a game at BC.

The Terriers took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Ryder Ritchie and Cole Eiserman. BC got their only goal on the night on a power-play in the second, and Jack Harvey hit an empty-netter in the final minute of play to seal the win. Mikhail Yegorov made 24 saves on 25 shots.

I hate the fucking Eagles, man.

With only two more games left to the regular season, BU improves of 15-15-2 overall and 11-11-0 in conference play. Their 32 points are tied with Northeastern for sixth in the Hockey East standings.

The Terriers will play their penultimate game of the regular season tonight at BC and then will close the season with a final, March 7 game at UMass - Lowell.    

Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 2

 

The NHL was off for like, what, two and a half weeks while its players were, I dunno, playing the Winter Olympics for various countries and winning the gold medal for Team USA. But now there're back, and the Boston Bruins, including Olympic stars like BU's Charlie McAvoy (Class of 2016), beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2, in the first game of the season's second act. 

Viktor Arvidsson tied the game up at 1-1 in the first period and Morgen Geekie scored a power-play goal in the second with assists by Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm.  Sean Kuraly made it 3-1, Boston, in the third and then Arvidsson scored an empty-netter to seal the win. Joonas Korpisalo made 36 saves on 38 shots (.947) in the net. 

The Bruins are 33-20-5, nine points back from first-place Tampa Bay. Right now, they qualify for the last  Wild Card playoff spot, four points ahead of the closest contender, Washington. 

What are you doing Saturday? The Bruins will be playing the Philadelphia Flyers (26-21-11) at 3:00  that afternoon, and the game will be nationally televised on ABC. 

Nuggets 103, Celtics 84

 

The Celtics finally took a loss in their epic West-Coast road trip, falling last night to the Denver Nuggets, 103-84. They finish their trip against four of the top eight teams in the Western Conference with a 3-1 record, sweeping the top three in the Pacific Division. 

Mr. Brown came back from his previous night's injury with a double double, leading the team with 23 points and 11 rebounds.  Mr. White was right behind him with 20 points and six rebounds. The bench was uncharacteristically disappointing, with no one scoring more than González' five points. 

The most telling statistic was every single player on the Celtics was in negative numbers for team scoring while on the floor, and all but one of the Nuggets were in the positive.

C'est la vie. The Celtics (38-20) are still in first place in their division and second in their conference.  The long road trip is finally over and they get to return home for a Friday-night game against the lowly Brooklyn Nets (15-42).   

 

BU 3, Providence 0

 

The Boston University women's hockey team won the opening round game of the Hockey East tournament Wednesday night, shutting out Providence, 3-0.

After a scoreless first period, Sydney Healey scored a shorthanded goal to give BU a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the second. The Terriers held that lead until late in the third when Healey tacked on an empty net goal and then Lilli Welcke, back from playing for Germany in the Winter Olympics, added a second empty netter to make it 3-0. Mari Pietersen made 20 saves for her fourth career shutout.

The Terriers advance to the quarterfinals, where they will play the tournament's top-seed, the No. 5-ranked Northeastern Huskies (26-7-1) on Saturday (4:00 pm). The Terriers were 1-3 against Northeastern during the regular season, with the sole win coming in OT in the Beanpot semifinal.

One more game. A loss will mean the season's over. A win will advance them to the next round of the Hockey East tournament, possibly leading to a conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA's Frozen Four tournament.     

Celtics 97, Suns 81

 

With Mr. Brown out of the game due to a knee contusion, Mr. White stepped up and dropped 22 points on the Phoenix Suns, giving the mighty Boston Celtics their third straight win in the this West-Coast road trip. They are 9-1 in their last ten games going back to January 30. 

The Celtics trailed early but had a four-point lead by the half. However, after the break, the Celtics blew past the Suns with a 30-11 third quarter that pretty much sealed the win. They outrebounded the Suns, 61-34, in the game and sank one more three pointer (13 total) than Phoenix (12). 

The Celtics (38-19) are unstoppable. They're in first by two games in the Atlantic Division and have cut the Piston's Eastern Conference lead to 4½ games. 

There's one more game to this road trip, a contest tonight in Denver, Colorado against Serbian strongman Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets (36-22).  If you like staying up late, the game's on ESPN and starts at 10:00 pm.      

Celtics 111, Lakers 89

 

LA sucks. A full strength Lakers squad, with Luka and LeBron and Smart all in the starting lineup, couldn't even break 90 points against the Boston Celtics. Having taken down the Warriors and the Lakers, the Celtics are now 2-0 on this post-All-Star break, West-Coast road trip.

The Celtics outrebounded the Lakers, 50-39. They hit more three-pointers, 15, than L.A. (9). Jaylen Brown dropped 32 points, Pritchard, 30, and Queta had a double double with 10 points and a dozen rebounds. And the Celttics never let up, tying or beating the Lakers every quarter of the game - no trademark "underperforming" quarters.

Our old friend Marcus Smart was on the court for 22:22 and didn't score a single point, going 0-7 including five missed three-pointers. Only one rebound the whole game, too. Hard to fathom how this team is in first place in the Pacific division. 

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, Boston remains in first, one game ahead on the Knicks (coincidentally, just before the All-Star break, the Celtics lost to the Knicks, 111-89, the exact same score as last night's win over the Lakers). However, Boston remain 5½ back from the Pistons in the Eastern Conference standings. 

The Celtics' West-Coast road trip continues with a Tuesday night game against the Phoenix Suns (33-25), the second-place team in the Pacific.