Celtics 109, Cavs 98

 

The Boston Celtics are 2-0 since the return of Jayson Tatum. I'm pretty convinced they'd still have been 2-0 even if Tatum were still out, but it's fun to have another milestone with which to measure the team's progress.

Last night, they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 108-98.  The team was once again led by the two J's like it was 2025 as Jaylen Brown had 23 points and Jayson Tatum had 20. Off the bench, Pritchard sank 18 points and Scheierman hit 16 while grabbing 10 rebounds for the night's double double. Starting center Neemias Queta got 11 rebounds, all on D, but only four points.

With 18 games left to the regular season, the Celtics are 43-21 and all but assured a playoff spot, and with Tatum back in the lineup, they've got to be considered as possible Eastern Conference champions. Boston is now only 2½ games back from Detroit, who've conveniently gone 0-4 in their last four games.

The Celtics are off on a road trip next to face the top two teams in the entire NBA - Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, Luke Kornet and the San Antonio Spurs.(47-17) on Tuesday night and then Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder (50-15) on Thursday night. Brutal.