Celtics 98, Raptors 93

 

Even without Kawhi Leonard and Scottie Barnes, the Raptors gave the Celtics a lot of trouble last night. Toronto held a 61-54 lead at the half and led by five after three quarters. Playing without Paul George, resting after his performance against the Sixers the previous night, the Celtics had to rely on Neemias Queta's double double (11 points, 13 rebounds) to assist Tatum (24 points) and White (19 points) to win it in the fourth, 98-93. Queta had a game-leading +/- of +27 on the night.

No one on the Celtics was particularly hot on three-pointers last night, with the team shooting 35%  for 14 threes. Toronto was barely better, going 37.2% for 16. 

All wins aren't pretty, and it's actually kind of impressive that Boston won at all, playing without George and on the night after a big win in Philadelphia. Nevertheless, win they did, their fifth straight, and they improve to 10-2, first place in the Eastern Conference by a game over Philadelphia.

After playing back-to-backs, the Celtics are off until Sunday, when they host young Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks (7-4). Flagg is 12th in the NBA on buckets made this season (9.0 per game), but has been hot lately and is 4th with 10.3 field goals per game over the last seven days. Fortunately, the Celtics have the best defense in the NBA at 103.1 points per game and with home court advantage should be able to handle Flagg and the Mvs.

Game tips off at 6:00 pm.        

We're No. 1!

 

Winning has consequences. After last weekend's dominating, 42-7 win over Ole Miss, the reigning SEC champion University of Georgia Bulldogs (8-1) were ranked the No. 1 top team in the country by the CFP Selection Committee. 

Utah (9-0) is No. 2 in this week's rankings and Alabama (7-2), No. 7 in the AP Poll, is No. 3 in the CFP rankings (the Steering Committee sure do love themselves some Crimson Tide). UCLA (9-0) and Texas (8-1) are Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.

Other SEC teams in the rankings include Texas (7-2) at No. 6, Tennessee (7-2) at No. 8, Kentucky (7-2) at No. 11, South Carolina (6-3) at No. 17, Ole Miss (6-3) at No. 19, and LSU (6-3) at No. 21. Missouri (8-3), Georgia's opponent next weekend, is No. 22 and will be the third consecutive ranked team the Dawgs face. An unranked Missouri battled Georgia to the brink during our 2022 National Championship season. The Dawgs prevailed, 26-22, but had to come from behind to do it. An easy win this year against a 22nd-ranked Missouri team is far from guaranteed. 

The next weekend, Georgia plays No. 17 South Carolina for a fourth straight game against a ranked team. After a season finale against unranked, in-state rival Georgia Tech (2-7), the Bulldogs play either No. 3 Alabama (again), No. 4 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee, or No. 11 Kentucky in the last-ever SEC championship game. 

No. 2 Utah has only one game against a ranked team on their schedule all season and may not face a ranked opponent even in the Big 12 championship game. No. 4 UCLA has two and may face a third in the Big 10 championship. No. 1 Georgia has six and has already beaten three of them.

Friendly reminder that as of this week, Utah still has the lineal championship belt and Georgia's two national championship rings from 2021 and 2022. 

As the CFP rankings stand right now, Georgia would have a bye in the first round of playoffs and then play the winner of Indiana-Tennessee in the second round. The winner of that game would play whoever emerges from the UCLA-Notre Dame-Boise State series (pro tip: it won't be Boise State). 

So Georgia's path to a National Championship would be through the ranked SEC opponents Missouri and South Carolina, and then through Georgia Tech and the SEC Championship game. At this point, they'd still make the playoffs if they lost one of those four games, although I think they will win them all. After that, it's the sudden-death, win-or-go-home playoffs against the Steering Committee's idea of the dozen best teams in the country. 

No pressure. We got this. Go, Dawgs!  

Celtics 123, 76ers 101

 

Well, it all happened: the Celtics finally faced the Sixers, beat LeBron, Jaylen, and the rest of the 76ers in Philly, and are now in first place in the Eastern Conference, the Atlantic Division, and, if you care (I don't), East Group C of the NBA Cup.

Philly might have James-Brown (get it? LeBron James and Jaylen Brown?), but the Celtics now have Jayson Tatum and Paul George from the Sixers trade for Brown. George had a monster night, dropping 36 points on the Sixers, hitting 6 of 11 three-pointers, and pulling down six rebounds against his old team. Tatum scored 21 points, and Pritchard (18 points) and Hauser (12 points) made it rain threes with a combined 8-14 shooting from downtown. 

The Celtics lead by as many as 16 points in the first half, but the 76ers fought back and tied the game up in the third, fittingly at 76-76 with 3:19 left in the quarter. Boston responded by exploding for a 14-0 run at the start of the fourth; Philly didn't score it's first point in the final quarter until the 7:37 mark, and the Celtics lead by as many as 29 points in the fourth.           

If there's any question over who came out ahead, at least so far this season, in the Paul George/Jaylon Brown trade, George had 36 points last night and Brown had 13. LeBron was held to 11 points and looked tired and old at times, and Joel Embiid (16 points) played through an injury. 

In short, it was a milestone victory for the Celtics, one of those games to look back to later this season - the Celtics (9-2) took first place in the East and settled the question of whether they were still contenders without Brown. 

No rest for the victors - tonight, they play in Toronto against the Raptors (5-5). Toronto's Kawhi Leonard (19.5 points per game) has been out with an injury most of this season, and their top scorer, Scottie Barnes (23.5 ppg) has been out the past two games with a groin injury and will not play tonight.

Boston is a 6½-point favorite. 

Harvard 6, BU 5

 

Okay, now the nerdlings who will eventually rule the world have figured out how to play hockey. During a rare weeknight game last night, the Boston University men's hockey team lost to the Harvard Crimson, 6-5, at BU's Agganis Arena. 

BU trailed, 3-2, at the start of the third period, but the Terriers managed to tie the game up twice before finally taking their first lead of the game at the 8:19 mark in the third. However, Harvard came back and tied it at 5-5, and then took a 6-5 lead with 7:47 remaining in regulation. BU's Jack Harvey evened the score for the fourth time of the night with 51.4 seconds left to play, but after a long Harvard Law Review the goal was overturned due to the puck being played with a high stick prior to the goal. 

Ryder Ritchie, Haoxi Wang, Tynan Lawrence, Kamil Bednarik, and Viktor Nörringer all scored goals for the Terriers. Mikhail Yegorov made 17 saves in the net. 

The No. 13 Terriers drop to 7-4-0 overall but remain 4-2-0 and in second place in the Hockey East standings after the nonconference game.

They play another weeknight game next week against No. 5 Quinnipiac (7-2-0) on Wednesday, November 18. They'll probably face Harvard again later this winter in the Beanpot tournament, depending on seeding and/or first-round results.

Celtics 117, Bucks 97

 

The Celtics used a dominant, 33-18 second quarter to take a 58-45 halftime lead and then cruised to a 20-point win over the Bucks in Milwaukee. 

Along the way, Paul George scored 27 points, including 15 points on 5-10 three-point shooting. Neemias Queta (13 points) snagged nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double double. Jayson Tatum (21 points) sank five threes on 5-11 outside shooting. And coming off the bench, both Mitchell Robinson and Payton Pritchard scored a dozen points each, with Robinson getting seven rebounds, four of them on offense. 

The Celtics (8-2) remain a half game back from the 76ers, making Tuesday night's game in Philadelphia all the more interesting, even beyond the Tatum-Brown rivalry. A win could give Boston the lead in the division and with Detroit dropping back-to-back games, first place in the Eastern Conference.

We're ten games into the 2026-27 NBA season, and the real drama starts on Tuesday night. The Celtics are 1½-point favorites.

Packers 45, Patriots 27

 

I've watched a lot of football games in my life. I'm an old man, and I've seen pro football, semi-pro, Canadian League, USFL, college, and high school games. I've even seen rugby and soccer, man. Having established that, yesterday's Patriots game against the Packers was one of the worst, least-satisfying football games I've ever seen.

Drake Maye was intercepted three times. Two of those interceptions resulted in Green Bay touchdowns. He was sacked four times. As a team, the Pats only rushed for 94 yards, with star running back Rhamondre Stevenson rushing for only 32. 

The game was painful to watch and difficult to sit through. I've seen David Spade movies that were easier to watch than this game.

The Patriots fall to 5-4 but are still in second place in the AFC East, indicating what a shit-show the division has become. I mean, we're bad, but not as bad as the Jets (2-7) or the Dolphins (1-7).

Next game, if you can stomach it, is in Germany, for some fucking reason, against the Detroit Lions (6-2), who are three-point early favorites. Kickoff is at 9:30 in the goddamn morning, so if you get drunk enough Saturday night, chances are good you can sleep through much of this one.

Bruins 4, Panthers 1

 

The Curse is broken, the spell is off. The mighty Boston Bruins have beaten the Florida Panthers, their former kryptonite team who seemed to have some sort of hex over them. 

This afternoon, Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, and Michael Eyssimont, just called up from Providence to replace an injured James Hagens, scored goals against the Panthers. All in the first period alone. JJ Peterka added a fourth goal in the third period. Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves for a .976 percentage. 

David Pastrnak had two assists today, his 15th and 16th of the season. Former BU Terrier Brady Tkachuk (Class of 2018) had his 10th assist of the season for the Panthers, while his brother Matthew had his 22nd.

The Bruins (13-4-1) continue to lead the Atlantic Division with 27 points. Montreal is in second place at 25 points, and come to Boston on Thursday night along with Lane Hutson (BU, 2023) who leads the Canadiens with 14 assists. 

Puck drops at 7:00.

Maine 3, BU 0

After Friday night's 2-1 nailbiter over Maine, the Boston University women's hockey team was shut out by the Black Bears, 3-0, last night at BU's Walter Brown Arena.

Maine scored early (6:27) in the first period to take the lead. They added a second goal in the last seconds of a power play after an officials' review and then quickly tacked on another to go up 3-0 in the second. A potential fourth goal in the third period was mercifully overturned due to an offside call.

Overall, Maine outshot BU, 36 to 23. Sydney Fogu, in her first back-to-back start of the season, stopped 32 shots.

BU falls to 2-8-2 overall and 1-3-2 in Hockey East action. Their seven points ties them for fifth place with Maine and New Hampshire in the conference standings.

The Terriers face No. 15 Boston College (6-5-0) in a home-and-home series next weekend, traveling to Conte Forum on Friday the 13th. Puck drops at 6:00.

Michigan State 5, BU 0 (men)

After Friday night's triumphant 6-2 beatdown of No. 3 Michigan State, the No. 13 Boston University men's hockey team broke its four-game win streak with a 5-0 loss to the Spartans last night in the godforsaken frozen wasteland of East Dearborn.

The Spartans scored their first goal a mere 28 seconds into the game. Michigan State scored twice in the second period to take a 3-0 lead, and then two more in the third, one early in the period and the other late, for the final, 5-0, score.

Mikhail Yegorov made 32 saves for the Terriers on 37 shots on goal.

The Terriers are 7-3-0 overall and still in second place at 4-2-0 in the Hockey East standings after the weekend's nonconference games.  

No rest: BU will host Harvard (2-2-0) at Agganis Arena for another non-conference match on Tuesday for a rare weeknight game. Puck drops at 7:00.

Georgia 42, Ole Miss 7

 

The reigning SEC-Champion and No. 2-ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs deigned to descend upon the mossy campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford and delivered a good old-fashioned, proper ass-whupping on the No. 10 Rebels. When the Dawgs left, Ole Miss was left with their playoff hopes dashed, their quarterback exposed, and their very raison d’être in question. 

The Dawgs dominated from the pregame coin toss to the bus ride home. They held the Rebels to a 3-and-out on the very first Ole Miss possession, and the Bulldogs scored TDs on four of their first five possessions. They managed to keep the Rebels' extravagantly talented QB Trinidad Chambliss to no passing touchdowns, sacking the notoriously elusive player four times and intercepting him once.

When it was all said and done, both teams had 186 passing yards, but the big difference was the running game. Georgia rushed for 295 yards, while Ole Miss managed a mere 66 on the ground. While other teams, including Georgia in the past, committed their defenders to trying to chase down Chambliss in a futile attempt to sack him or stop his rushing yardage, Kirby Smart realized that was a losing proposition and last night the Dawgs instead stacked their backfield with defenders, neutralizing Chambliss' passing game. The four men left on the d-line were able to stop the Ole Miss running backs, and still managed four sacks of the mercurial Chambliss when he couldn't find any open receivers. They don't call him Coach Smart for nothing.

Gunner Stockton got his 186 yards on 9-of-15 passing (.600) and rushed for an additional 28. He passed for four TDs, ran for another, was only sacked once, and his only interception of the game was called back on a roughing-the-passer penalty. He finished the game with a 252-2 QB rating, while Chambliss was rated a mere 89.1.

Nate Frazier had a great game with 107 rushing yards, including a 46-yard thing of beauty on Georgia's very first offensive play of the game. Talyn Taylor caught three of Stockton's TD passes and finished the night with 140 yards receiving, and Ethan Barbour caught the fourth of Gunner's TD passes. 

It was simply complete domination from kickoff to final whistle. Any doubts about the Bulldogs after their unsettling loss to Auburn last month should be laid to rest. With No. 1-ranked Mimi losing last night to Notre Dame, 31-24, there's no plausible way the CFP Steering Committee doesn't rank the Bulldogs No. 1 on Tuesday night. The AP Poll has already declared the Bulldogs as the No. 1 team, with 53 of the 70 first-place votes; some dumb-asses voted for undefeated Utah (seriously) and Notre Dame (8-1) as number one.     

Georgia improves to 8-1 overall and 6-1 in SEC play. With Kentucky losing, 34-6, to Tennessee last night, the Bulldogs finally are in first place in the conference, one game ahead of the 5-2 Wildcats and Alabama.  

The Bulldogs improve to fifth place in the FBS in points per game at 41.1. They've given up a mere 14.0 ppg, seventh fewest in the FBS.

But the Dawgs aren't out of the woods yet. Next week, they play the Missouri Tigers (6-3), who lost to Texas yesterday but not without a fight. The Tigers beat Florida and A&M, and lost to Ole Miss and Texas, and have always played the Bulldogs hard. Nevertheless, Georgia is an early 14½-point  favorite at home.

Celtics 119, Hornets 80

 

Utter domination in Charlotte. Jayson Tatum, back after resting up during the last game, dropped 34 on the Hornets, including 15 points on 5-8 shooting from outside. White and Pritchard were hot from outside, too, both going 4-6, and Hauser was 3-5 on threes, scoring all of his buckets from downtown.

The Celtics outscored the Hornets 40-20 in the first quarter, 30-19 in the second, and 26-18 in the third, It wasn't until the fourth quarter when the bench was playing and Mike Conley and Ron Harper were getting minutes that the Hornets managed a 23-23 period.

Naz Reid, Charlotte's top scorer last night, had only 14 points on the evening.

The Celtics (7-2) are still in second place in the Atlantic Division to the 76ers, but after last night's 119-95 Philly loss to the Cavs, Boston is only a half-game back. 

Sunday night, the Celtics go to Milwaukee to play the Bucks, who they beat, 109-102, on Wednesday night in the Garden after blowing a 21-point lead at the half. Tip-off is at 8:00 pm Eastern. After that, the Celtics and the Sixers will finally have their much-anticipated first meeting of the season on Tuesday night (8:00 pm) in Philadelphia.

BU 2, Maine 1 (SO)

The BU women's team bounced back from a sweep last weekend by No. 4 Northeastern to what's technically a 1-1 tie with Maine before winning the shootout last night.

While nearly every Division I college conference now uses shootouts to break ties after overtime is played, the chowderheads at the NCAA still don't recognize shootout wins as victories. The NCAA still considers a shootout win as a tie for both teams after overtime ends without a goal scored. However, the enlightened folks running Hockey East assign two points for shootout wins, just like for an OT win, in determining conference standings. 

The Black Bears took a 1-0 lead early in the first period before BU's Neely Nicholson scored a power-play goal midway through the third period to force overtime. After OT failed to produce another goal, Greta Henderson and Mylie Ellis scored in the shootout to give the Terriers the SO win. 

Goalie Sydney Fogu made 37 saves through regulation and OT, and didn't allow a shootout score.

The Terriers improve to 2-7-2 overall and 1-2-2 in conference play. Their seven points tied them with New Hampshire for fourth in the Hockey East standings, behind Northeastern and BC (13 points each) and UConn (11 points). 

Game two of the weekend home series is this afternoon at 4:30 pm.