The Boston Celtics took down the Dallas Mavericks 119-110 for their 34th win of the season on Monday night, closing out the game with authority and staving off a comeback attempt from Dallas. Boston has tallied back-to-back wins to kick off their west coast trip after their 116-107 win over the Rockets on Sunday.
Through their first 42 games, the Celtics have delivered well on their potential as a contender, pacing the East and the league with a 32-10 record. Boston isn’t done growing and learning with their roster, but how much has the team improved in comparison to the past few seasons?
With an ample sample to work with, it’s time to look at some numbers. Last season the Celtics were 30-12 through the first 42, and the year before that, they were .500 with a 21-21 record before their miraculous in-season turnaround under Ime Udoka. Both years, Boston ended up as a top two seed followed by deep playoff runs, and based on some projections, the Celtics very well may finish with over 60 wins on the season; per Cleaning the Glass, Boston is currently on a 63-win pace this season.
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In terms of advanced stats, Boston has kept the ball rolling, building off the past two seasons with very similar offensive, defensive, and net ratings. The biggest difference is how potent on offense the Celtics have become while still playing some of the best defense in the NBA, leading to a league-leading 9.8 net rating. Boston has dominated the glass, especially on the defensive end, leading the league in both rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game, and they’ve ranked top two in blocks per game and block attempts.
This uptick is in no small part to the roster changes Boston made over the summer, and it’s hard to argue with the results so far. Kristaps Porzingis has been a massive addition, Jrue Holiday has done well in filling the void left by Marcus Smart, and Derrick White has continued to find another level to his game on both sides of the court as a key cog in the Celtics starting lineup. With All-Star weekend just under a month away, it’s also worth noting that Boston’s starting five is getting some serious recognition across the board.
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LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead their respective conferences in the third fan returns of #NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T.
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After thirteen seasons, the Celtics have a real chance of having more than two All-Stars with Holiday, White, Brown, Tatum, and Porzingis all in the top-10 in votes at their position through January 18th. If Boston has three or more players named to the All-Star Game, it will be for the first time since the Big Three era trio of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
From 2007-2011, the Celtics had at least three players every season earn All-Star honors, with four players making the ASG roster between Allen, Garnett, Pierce and Rondo in 2011. That year, Boston tied the record for most All-Stars from one team, a feat that has happened 9 times in NBA history, most recently being in 2018 with the Golden State Warriors. As of now, the Celtics have the chance to make NBA history if their entire starting five makes the final cut. The NBA will announce the All-Star Game starters this Thursday, January 25th.
Beyond the roster changes and overall performance so far this season, the biggest question is the mentality of this team and breaking out of bad habits, including the team’s late-game offense and execution. After their narrow loss to the reigning champion Denver Nuggets, Boston’s late game offense became subject of conversations again after multiple missed shots. It’s a fair concern to have, especially with Boston’s track record of late game collapses in years past. So, how have the Celtics fared so far in the clutch?
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Through the first 42 this season, Boston is 13-8 in clutch game situations, tied for 5th most wins in the league. By comparison, the Celtics were 12-5 in clutch games last year and a dreadful 8-16 in clutch games during the 2021-22 season. When looking at clutch situations within the final minute, Boston had a record of 9-5 in 2022-23 and 9-8 this season, just barely above .500; the Celtics are also 2-3 in overtime. Despite this, the Celtics actually have a better clutch net rating this season than the last two years, and even with concerns over late game offense, Boston’s clutch offensive rating was top five in the league for the first half of the season.
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The number of clutch games is slightly concerning, but that may be a byproduct of a tough schedule. Boston was tied with the Orlando Magic for 5th strongest strength of schedule through the first half of the season; as for their remaining games, Boston has the easiest remaining strength of schedule outside of the Magic, per Tankathon. Either way you slice it, the Celtics have kept finding themselves in close games, but it should help that their schedule softens up quite a bit after January.
Overall, the Boston Celtics have been markedly improved this season, and they still have ample time to improve in terms of chemistry and rhythm with the second half of the schedule already underway. Even with all of the success the Celtics have, it feels like this unit has another level of basketball it can reach, and it’ll be fun watching them try to unlock it in time for the postseason.
BOSTON (AP) — A Delta Air Lines jet was roughly 300 feet (90 meters) from an American Airlines plane during a close call at Boston’s airport that forced the Delta aircraft to abort a weekend landing attempt, an aviation expert said Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the incident between two commercial flights that happened Saturday at Boston Logan International Airport.
Todd Curtis, a former safety engineer at Boeing, estimated the distance between the two jetliners using Flightradar24, a website that tracks flights. Curtis now coproduces a podcast about flight safety issues.
“This is a significant incident,” Curtis said, adding that it was particularly concerning because it involved two professional airline crews.
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He said federal aviation officials have been concerned about such runway incursions for a while now and will scrutinize Saturday’s close call.
Near-misses and runway incursions at U.S. airports will be the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation will seek ways to strengthen safety across the national airspace system.
The Delta flight from Dallas had to execute a go-around, or aborted landing, to avoid the American plane departing from an intersecting runway, according to the FAA and flight logs.
The crew of Delta flight 2351 coordinated with air traffic control to perform the go-around, an airline spokesperson said. The plane, which had 129 passengers and six crew members on board, landed safely and deplaned normally, according to the spokesperson.
Go-arounds are safe, routine procedures performed at the discretion of the pilot or air traffic controllers, according to the FAA.
A volunteer rescuer was seriously injured while helping multiple hypothermic hikers who called for help near the summit of a New Hampshire mountain Friday night, officials said.
The rescuer, who had to be helped back to the trailhead, was carrying an unresponsive teenager through stormy conditions on Mount Lafayette in Franconia when they were hurt, according to a statement from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. The hiker, 19-year-old Dmytro Grechko of New Jersey, later regained consciousness and was taken to Littleton Regional Hospital for treatment.
A small rescue team set out around 8 p.m.for reports that the two teenagers were suffering from severe hypothermia about an eighth of a mile below the summit, according to the statement. More than five hours later, rescuers found Grechko and his friend, 19-year-old Jason Fisher of New Jersey, who was cold and wet but remained conscious.
Rescuers began warming the teenagers, who had set out without warm clothing or lights, around 1 a.m., according to the Fish and Game Department. Additional crews were called to help carry Grechko to the Greenleaf Hut, a mountain hostel operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club located on the shoulder of the mountain.
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As crews worked to rescue the New Jersey teenagers, another group of hikers called for help about a mile away from the trailhead, the statement said. Rescuers found those hikers wet, cold, and suffering from hypothermia, and gave them lights and dry clothing before helping them to safety.
Crews reached the hut with Grechko just before 3 a.m. and began treating all rescued hikers for hypothermia and other cold-related injuries, according to the statement. Grechko later regained consciousness, and after the group was warmed and dried, rescuers escorted him down the Old Bridle Path. They reached the trailhead around 7:55 a.m.
The Fish and Game Department warned that conditions in the White Mountains can change rapidly and urged hikers to check forecasts from the Mount Washington Observatory before attempting a summit. Officials also reminded visitors to carry proper gear.
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“Hikers are encouraged to be prepared for their trek to include packing the ten essential items: map, compass, warm clothing, extra food and water, headlamp, fire starter, first aid kit, whistle, rain/wind jackets & pants, and a knife,” the statement said.
Lila Hempel-Edgers can be reached at lila.hempeledgers@globe.com. Follow her on X @hempeledgers and on Instagram @lila_hempel_edgers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call between two commercial flights at Boston Logan International Airport on Saturday morning.
Flight tracking data shows the pilots of Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 aborted their approach for landing around 11:30 a.m. as American Airlines Flight 3161 was accelerating for takeoff on an intersecting runway.
Delta pilots performed an evasive go-around maneuver before the Airbus A319 landed safely and passengers deplaned normally, a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.
The two aircraft got within several hundred feet of each other, according to a CNN analysis of tracking data from Flightradar24.
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An air traffic controller asked the departing American Airlines flight where it was going, to which its pilot said the tower had cleared the aircraft for takeoff, according to air traffic control audio captured by ATC.com. American Airlines deferred questions from CNN to the FAA.
While experts say flying remains an incredibly safe way to travel, Saturday’s close call is the latest in a recent spate of aviation-related incidents the US, including four dramatic plane crashes, the ever-worsening problem of turbulence and strikingly similar close call and go-around investigations.
A go-around, or aborted landing, is an aviation term for discontinuing a landing and beginning an immediate climb, then following further instructions. The safety maneuver is used to prevent runway incursions – when aircraft, vehicles or people are incorrectly positioned on a runway – as well as to counter other hazards, like sudden wind shifts and less-than-ideal approaches.
While go-arounds can feel jarring to passengers, they are still considered common and happen daily in the US, Michael McCormick, a former FAA air traffic manager and an associate professor in air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, previously told CNN.
“Passengers aren’t told in advance it’s going to happen, but they’ll recognize it when suddenly they’re coming in to land and the aircraft just starts rising back up again,” McCormick said, again noting go-arounds are routine.
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“This is something that pilots practice in flight simulators on a regular basis,” he added.
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