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Celtics midseason report card: Boston checked all boxes in impressive first half

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Celtics midseason report card: Boston checked all boxes in impressive first half


Before the NBA season tipped off, we outlined a seven-step roadmap for the new-look, Jaylen Brown-led Celtics to exceed expectations in 2025-26.

Exactly halfway through, they’ve successfully checked six of those boxes, with the seventh still pending.

The result: Boston entered the week with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the fifth-best in the league, and top-three rankings in point differential (third), offensive rating (first) and net rating (second). Joe Mazzulla’s club has been, by almost any all-encompassing metric, one of the best in the NBA through 41 games.

Ahead of Monday night’s marquee matchup against the Detroit Pistons — No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the East — here’s a closer look at how Boston stacks up against those seven preseason benchmarks:

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1. “Jaylen Brown looks like a legit No. 1”

“Boston’s clearest path to competitiveness involves Brown playing at an All-NBA level.”

Brown, who’d said for years that he could thrive as a No. 1 option if given the chance, has aced this test thus far, playing his way into the NBA MVP conversation while Jayson Tatum recovers from Achilles surgery. Owning the NBA’s second-highest usage rate behind Luka Doncic, he’s the league’s fourth-leading scorer (29.7 points per game) and is on pace for a career high in assists (4.8).

Though the 3-pointer has been the centerpiece of Boston’s offense under Mazzulla, Brown has found success by becoming one of the premier 2-point maestros, taking more shots per game from inside the arc than any other NBA player. He’s also averaging a career-best 7.3 free throws per game — despite frequent gripes about what he considers unfair officiating.

Simply put, he’s been exactly what this Celtics team needs.



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Vermont men’s hockey takes down Boston College

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Vermont men’s hockey takes down Boston College


CHESTNUT HILL – The Boston College men’s hockey team got ensnared in a Beanpot trap.

On the eve of a historic encounter, No. 11 Boston College was ambushed 6-1 by the Vermont Catamounts in a quantifiable trap game upset on Friday night at Conte Forum.

The Eagles fell to 15-9-1 overall and 10-6-0 Hockey East in their dress rehearsal for the 300th Battle of Commonwealth Ave. against crosstown nemesis Boston University, a rivalry that dates back 108 years.

“Probably,” said BC coach Greg Brown when asked if he thought his players were looking ahead to Monday. “We talked about this game a lot, for league standings, for national standings, everything is important and we weren’t sharp enough.

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“We have to get over this in a hurry. We will take a look at it, regroup so we can be sharper. We know we can’t make those kinds of mistakes and win games.”

The timing of the milestone match could not have been scripted any better. BC and BU will play for the 300th time in the championship game of the 73rd annual Dunkin Beanpot Tournament on Monday night (7:30) at the TD Garden.

The defending champion Terriers will engage the Eagles for the 24th time in the title match. BU is going for its record 33rd Beanpot title while BC looks to secure its 21st. BU leads the overall series, 141-137-21.

BC advanced to the Beanpot title game with a 5-1 victory over Harvard. Boston Bruins 2025 first round draft pick and Hobey Baker Award nominee James Hagens had two goals and an assist against the Crimson.

BU scored two shootout goals after three-on-three overtime to beat Northeastern in the other semifinal. The game went into the books as a 2-2 tie with BU winning in the shootout. The No. 9. Terriers beat the No. 1 Eagles 4-1 in last year’s championship game.

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“The timing just adds more excitement to it for everybody,” said Brown. “We know they are a great team and we have to play better than we did tonight.

“We have to play faster and execute at a higher level. It is going to be a fun game. I think both teams are capable of playing a lot of good hockey. It will be exciting to see who can execute better.”

BC showed early signs of being embroiled in a trap game when Vermont scored two unanswered goals in the first period. Top line center Colin Kessler forced a neutral zone turnover, broke in on the left flank and backhanded the puck around BC goalie Louka Cloutier at 1:20 for his fourth of the season. Vermont made it 2-0 when sophomore left wing Ethan Burroughs beat Cloutier top shelf on the glove side for his third of the season at 8:24.

“I thought it was a complete game from head to toe from our guys,” said Vermont coach Stephen Weidler. “I certainly felt like from the net all out we were dialed all the way into what our identity is and what our system needs to be.

“We were just playing our version of hockey. BC had their pushes and we didn’t get bored with being simple. We knew we had our hands full but for us it was about our process and staying focused on the first task at hand.”

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BC attempted to dispel the notion of a trap game on the power play 47 seconds into the second period. The Eagles cut the lead to 2-1 when Hagens redirected a Lukas Gustafsson slapper from the point for his 15th of the season.

Vermont appeared to take a 3-1 at 7:20 but the replay revealed that defenseman Caeden Herrington kicked the puck into the net. Undaunted, Vermont went up 3-1 on the power play at 12:40 when Herrington set up junior defenseman Sebastien Tornqvist for his fourth of the season.

Vermont went up 4-1 at 2:27 of the third on a scenario that added injury to insult. On the same play that senior left-wing Massimo Lombardi netted his fifth of the season, BC freshman center and Bruins’ draft pick Will Moore left the game in pain with an apparent right shoulder injury. Vermont freshman right wing Matteo Michels scored on a breakaway to make it 5-1 at 5:39.

“There is no update on (Moore) at all,” said Brown. “It looked like he got caught in an extended position but hopefully he is okay.”



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NEW SNOWFALL MAP: Parts of Mass. could see 8 inches on Saturday

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NEW SNOWFALL MAP: Parts of Mass. could see 8 inches on Saturday


The northeast is prepping for snow on Saturday, with bitter arctic cold to follow by Sunday morning. 

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the areas of Boston, Worcester, Providence and Manchester, New Hampshire, with a winter storm watch issued for Essex County. And a cold weather advisory is in place for Sunday — the city of Boston issued a cold emergency.

Friday is a transitional day, as we get light snow to flurries due to ocean effect offshore and along the coast through the day. Temps will be in the 20s to near 30, with cloudy skies for everyone in New England. Tonight’s lows drop to the teens and 20s, with incoming snow out in western New England.

Saturday snow

The First Alert Weather Team has issued a First Alert for Saturday’s snow. The updated snow map (issued Friday at 11am) shows an increase in totals at the coastline. This is due to a Norlun trough and ocean effect that typically enhances lift and therefore, snowfall. 

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Scattered snow showers will start up in western New England Friday night, moving into Boston by sunrise Saturday. The heaviest snowfall rates seem to develop around midday Saturday and from the New Hampshire coast, then spinning down into the south shore by mid afternoon through Saturday evening. 

The scattered snow showers taper inland, while the mountains see several inches of snow due to upslope development Saturday evening. Lingering outer Cape Cod snow showers will be around for Saturday night with a gusty northwest breeze. Stay tuned to snow map adjustments as the system develops. 

Dangerous cold Sunday

Another First Alert is on for Sunday as we see the coldest temperatures and wind chills of this season.  Extreme Cold Warnings and Advisories are up for Saturday night through Sunday midday.  Wind chills will be -20 to -30 degrees as actual lows drop to around zero. The wind remains strong 30-40 mph gusts from the northwest Sunday morning, slowly subsiding to 20 mph gusts at night. 

The cold means it is a great day to stay inside and watch all the Patriots Super Bowl coverage on NBC10 Boston. The big game will be warm and in the 60s by kickoff out in California. 

10-day outlook

The cold remains for Monday as highs will be in the teens to 20s with some sun. Slowly, we see milder air returning midweek as highs reach the mid 30s. 

A wintry mix to snow showers will be around as a system moves in for Wednesday into the end of the week. There’s a possibility that the storms stalls offshore in the Gulf of Maine for the end of the week and if that happens, we will trend colder with snow near the shoreline. Another model shows a similar trend with the system stalling nearby, but with less precipitation from it. 

Stay tuned to updates on the forecast as we near Valentine’s Day next weekend.



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Boston Police Blotter: East Boston drug bust, loaded gun seized in Dorchester

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Boston Police Blotter: East Boston drug bust, loaded gun seized in Dorchester


Boston Police, working with the US Postal Service, seized six kilos of drugs worth over $1 million in an East Boston bust Tuesday.

Officers executed search warrants at multiple locations, including 11 Trustman Terrace and 906A Saratoga Street.

During the operation, police said they recovered 3.5 kilos of fentanyl and 2.5 kilograms of cocaine, valued at about $1 million and $150,000 respectively. They also found a 9mm large-capacity semi-automatic firearm, a large-capacity feeding device, ammunition, an additional feeding device, as well as cellphone, an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency and pills they believe to be narcotics.

Police arrested Anny Perdomo-Santana, 35, of East Boston, for allegedly trafficking the drugs they seized.

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Perdomo-Santana faces charges of trafficking more than 200 grams of fentanyl, trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device, firearm violation in commission of a felony, and improper storage of a large capacity firearm near a minor.

“Additionally, an individual was summonsed to court, in lieu of arrest, to face a charge of Trafficking of a Class B Substance (Cocaine) Over 200 Grams due to medical considerations identified at the time of the enforcement action,” BPD said in a statement.



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