Boston Celtics
“They’re already awesome without Jayson [Tatum], and you add him for 20 minutes a game, or more? They’re the clear pick to me.”
The Celtics sit 5.5 games back of the Pistons for first place in the Eastern Conference, but that isn’t stopping an assistant coach for a Western Conference team from making a bold proclamation about Boston.
The unnamed assistant coach told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps that the Celtics are the clear favorite to win the East entering March.
“They’re already awesome without Jayson [Tatum], and you add him for 20 minutes a game, or more? They’re the clear pick to me,” the assistant coach reportedly told Windhorst and Bontemps.
While the Celtics are 39-20 and trail the 44-14 Pistons by a good bit, there might be some understandable reasons why that coach feels that way. Boston’s arguably been the best team in the NBA since Thanksgiving, posting a league-leading 9.9 net rating and a 29-11 record since then.
On the season, Boston’s slightly ahead of Detroit in net rating. The Celtics are second in offensive rating, and the Pistons are second in defensive rating. But Boston is eighth in defensive rating, and Detroit is 10th in offensive rating. So, the two teams are nearly even on a per-100-possession basis.
But the assistant coach seems to simply trust the Celtics more than the Pistons.
“They know exactly who they are,” the assistant coach said of the Pistons. “They have great mental toughness. They are decisive and there’s no second-guessing.
“I don’t trust them at all,” the assistant coach added on the Pistons. “They have no one besides Cade [Cunningham] to attack. You can make any of their other guys try to beat you, and they will have a hard time.”
To that coach’s point, the Pistons don’t have the number of creators the Celtics have. Cunningham is the only player on the team who is averaging over 20 points (25.4). But what might be more worrisome is that he’s also the only player on the team averaging over three assists (9.8) as well. All-Star center Jalen Duren has scored 18.5 points per game, but most of his field goal attempts come around the rim.
As for the Celtics, Jaylen Brown’s scoring 29.1 points per game, while Payton Pritchard (17.3) and Derrick White (17.1) are around the 17 points-per-game mark. All three are also averaging at least 4.5 assists this season, with each showing they can initiate the offense for sustainable stretches.
Of course, there’s also the possibility that the Celtics could Tatum to the mix, which would arguably give Boston four superior offensive creators than Detroit’s second-best playmaker. Tatum averaged at least 26 points and four assists in each of the last five seasons before tearing his Achilles last May.
Obviously, the Eastern Conference race includes more than just Boston and Detroit. The Knicks and Cavaliers are each within three games of the Celtics in the standings, but there still seems to be some skepticism around the league surrounding those two teams.
A head coach for an Eastern Conference team told Windhorst and Bontemps that the Knicks “have the best roster,” but isn’t sure if New York will pull through come playoff time. An executive for a Western Conference team also told ESPN that the Cavaliers have a “glaring weakness” on the perimeter defensively.
Cleveland is actually the betting favorite to win the East, holding +290 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook. But the top four teams in the conference are all pretty close in the odds. Boston sits at +300 to win the conference, while Detroit (+350) and New York (+400) aren’t far behind.
As for the regular-season standings, Basketball Reference views it as a near certainty that the Pistons get the conference’s No. 1. It’s giving Detroit a 99 percent chance to finish in first at the end of the regular season, while Boston has a 63 percent chance to finish in second.
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