BOSTON — The Celtics have been one of the NBA’s hottest groups since coming back from the All-Star break.
They can add one of the best offensive performances in league historical past to their record of accomplishments as they await a doable return of star Jayson Tatum to motion.
Boston shot a season-high 66.7% (52-of-78) from the sphere of their 148-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. Including the playoffs, it was the membership’s third-highest proportion in a recreation within the shot clock period (since 1954-55), behind 67.9% in 1984 and 67.0% in 1990, in line with ESPN Research.
The Celtics additionally shot 64.7% from the 3-point line Friday, which equaled an 80.8% efficient subject purpose proportion — the best within the shot clock period. Effective subject purpose proportion measures capturing effectivity by adjusting for the truth that 3-pointers are value greater than two-point photographs
All-Star Jaylen Brown led the way in which, ending with 28 factors, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. But he bought a lot of assist from his teammates, with commerce deadline acquisition Nikola Vucevic including 28 factors and 11 rebounds for his third double-double as a member of the Celtics.
“I thought we just did a good job reading the game,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “I thought we made the right reads throughout most of the entire game. I thought tonight Vooch really looked comfortable in his offensive reads and his offensive screening. He unlocked a lot of stuff for us.”
All 13 Celtics gamers scored, with Boston committing solely three turnovers after halftime.
“We just try to read the game and take what’s there,” Brown mentioned.
Boston, winners of 5 of its six video games for the reason that All-Star break, will wait to see if Sunday night time’s residence matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers will mark the return of Tatum.
The recreation, initially scheduled to be performed earlier within the day, was moved by NBC into an 8 pm ET prime-time slot, creating hypothesis it might sign Tatum’s plan to return.
It’s been 41 weeks since Tatum ruptured his proper Achilles tendon in May within the waning minutes of the Celtics’ loss to the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Celtics are required by the NBA to launch an preliminary damage report by 5 pm ET on Saturday forward of Sunday’s residence recreation in opposition to the 76ers.
After working towards with the Celtics’ G League staff two weeks in the past, Tatum mentioned he hadn’t determined whether or not he would return.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m coming back or I’m not, it’s just following the plan. So it’s just another step,” Tatum mentioned. “I don’t know percentage. I just know I feel a little bit better every day. I just try to focus on that.”
Tatum mentioned in the identical interview that he’s additionally aware of not eager to disrupt the progress of a Celtics staff that at 39-20 sits in second place within the Eastern Conference standings.
“I’m just hyper aware of what’s going on. I think it would just stem from that. Obviously, I know what I bring to the table and bring to the team. But I’m also aware that these guys have been playing extremely well,” Tatum mentioned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
