Boston, MA
‘The Best Fit of Players’: What’s Driving Unprecedented Boston Celtics Offense?
Adam Glanzman/Getty Photos
Boston Celtics gamers have made no secret about their concentrate on getting again to the NBA Finals and taking what they see as the subsequent logical step: profitable all of it.
Saturday evening’s recreation at Golden State—the workforce that defeated the Celtics within the 2022 Finals—will probably be a great litmus take a look at to see if they will proceed trending in that path.
Dethroning the champion Warriors, or whoever emerges from the West, will not be straightforward. However Boston has improved its probabilities for fulfillment with a motion-filled, space-creating offense that’s giving the remainder of the league suits on this still-young season.
This is what it is advisable to learn about this offense:
Jayson Tatum is a front-runner for league MVP largely as a result of he scores at a excessive degree whereas ensuring his teammates are main contributors, too. It is usually fueled by a deeper-than-usual bench led by Malcolm Brogdon.
Above all else, interim head coach Joe Mazzulla has put his imprint on what they do, tapping into his multisport background and putting an elevated emphasis on area, which have each opened the ground and in addition created alternatives to construct off final season’s success as they head into their Finals rematch towards the Warriors.
The Basis
Spacing. Spacing. Spacing.
Mazzulla is a person of many pursuits, one among which incorporates soccer. As a highschool standout in fútbol and a lifelong fan of the sport, he has an amazing appreciation for the game’s emphasis on ball motion and crisp passing designed to create higher alternatives to attain.
And we’re seeing that appreciation present itself regularly with the Celtics.
“Spacing is actually vital to what we do, in every thing we do,” Boston’s Derrick White advised Bleacher Report earlier this season. “It is undoubtedly one thing that is emphasised quite a bit this season.”
Brian Babineau/NBAE by way of Getty Photos
It is no shock that prioritizing this aspect of the sport would create a better-looking offense, which was middle-of-the-pack most of final season. However what the Celtics have completed with Mazzulla operating the present goes far past your run-of-the-mill improve.
Boston’s improved spacing has been the muse for what has been maybe probably the most environment friendly offense in NBA historical past.
The Celtics’ efficient subject aim share is 58.9, which might higher the present NBA document of 57.5 set by the Brooklyn Nets in the course of the 2020-21 season. Boston additionally has a real taking pictures share of 62.6, barely higher than the NBA document (61.0) set by the 2021 Nets membership.
Boston additionally stays inside putting distance of a brand new NBA document for three-pointers made per recreation. They common 16.6 per recreation, simply behind the NBA document of 16.7 set by the Utah Jazz in 2021.
So if their explosive offense is all about spacing, which each workforce within the league talks about, why aren’t different groups having fun with unprecedented success?
“The gamers,” an Jap Convention scout advised Bleacher Report. “It isn’t that they’ve one of the best gamers within the NBA, per se. However they do have one of the best match of gamers within the recreation proper now.”
The Brogdon Issue
Maddie Malhotra/Getty Photos
The Boston Celtics knew they have been getting a great participant—albeit an injury-riddled one lately—once they acquired Brogdon this previous summer time. The veteran guard was the centerpiece of a six-player commerce that despatched Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan and a 2023 first-round decide to Indiana.
Brogdon and his 14.0 factors per recreation off the bench have helped, however his means to assault defenses off the dribble has been a key think about Boston’s offensive ascension. He leads the workforce with 11.2 drives per recreation, together with 5.3 passes and 1.6 assists when going to the basket, that are additionally tops on the roster.
However it’s what Brogdon and his teammates aren’t doing that has allowed Boston to attain just like the basket is their very own ocean, and all of us obtained a beachfront property to observe the present.
Boston has stored its turnovers per recreation comparatively the identical regardless of the league common bounce from 13.8 per recreation to 14.9 this 12 months.
In relation to drives, Boston solely provides the ball up 2.6 occasions per recreation for a turnover fee of 5.5 %, which ranks third and first within the NBA, respectively. That is additionally a notable enchancment in comparison with final season once they ranked twentieth within the league in each classes (3.2, 7.0 %).
“My job is to essentially do no matter I’ve to do to assist us after I’m on the market,” Brogdon advised Bleacher Report. “Generally it is to attain; typically it is to go. However it’s at all times about making the appropriate basketball resolution which is my focus.”
That elements into the workforce’s spacing, creating loads of open or calmly contested shot makes an attempt. And the Celtics, most of the time this season, have been in a position to capitalize.
Boston has taken 564 field-goal makes an attempt this season with shooters having at the least six toes of area, which ranks fifth within the NBA. Solely Denver (48.8 %) has transformed the next fee of wide-open alternatives than Boston (46.6) this season.
Having so many open seems is a far cry from the place the Celtics offense was final season once they ranked twentieth in whole open field-goal makes an attempt with at the least six toes of area between the shooter and defender. Boston’s 41.7 subject aim share when taking these pictures ranked seventeenth within the league.
Tatum’s MVP Emergence
Cole Burston/Getty Photos
No Celtic has benefited from the workforce’s improved spacing greater than Tatum. The 24-year-old three-time All-Star is on the quick listing of MVP candidates so far this season, and whereas the person stats inform the story (30.5 factors per recreation), his league-best plus/minus of plus-245 reveals his affect past the field rating.
Teammates have lengthy been impressed with Tatum’s expertise. However this season, they’ve observed a extra vocal, locked-in chief.
“He is simply so proficient,” stated Marcus Sensible. “He is determining how greatest to assist this workforce, the way to lead. He is just a little extra vocal now, which is sweet for us.”
You may usually discover him directing gamers to sure spots to emphasize defenses. It will seemingly result in a simple rating for himself. Or it could wind up being one of many career-high 4.4 assists per recreation he is averaging on the 12 months.
After which there’s the Tatum followers by no means see in observe, usually a voice of encouragement to his teammates.
Derrick White, for example, has been among the many largest revelations for the Celtics this season. His taking pictures has taken a significant step in the appropriate path. After hitting 34.0 % of his three-point makes an attempt over the primary 5 years of his profession, White is flattening 42.7 % of his deep pictures.
The improved marksmanship was aided by further time this previous summer time engaged on shot mechanics. However White has additionally benefited from having Tatum in his ear, repeatedly telling him to maintain firing when groups are prepared to surrender perimeter pictures.
“It is nice when your greatest scorer is telling you it is advisable to shoot extra,” stated White, whose plus/minus of plus-188 is second solely to Tatum within the NBA this season. “He is at a degree the place he can try this and is aware of that the ball goes to come back again to him, and he’ll nonetheless be capable to rating like he is used to.”
In doing so, Tatum is the face of not solely the franchise but additionally one of the vital environment friendly offenses in league historical past.
This has been a significant component within the Celtics wanting like front-runners to convey residence what can be an NBA-record 18th championship by subsequent June.
Boston, MA
Nine ways to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day around Boston – The Boston Globe
SMALL ACTS, BIG IMPACTS: A DAY OF SERVICE From Saturday to Monday, give back to the community with the Discovery Museum’s “Day of Service” in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day’s designation as a National Day of Service. Donate or collect supplies for the Welcome Basket drive, and make a warm welcome card in support of the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center. Donations for these care packages — including cleaning and laundry supplies, hygiene products, infant care items, and winter clothing — will go to immigrant or refugee families in need of essential daily items. Free admission. Jan. 18-20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 177 Main St., Acton. discoveryacton.org
MLK DAY CONCERT — VOTING WITH PURPOSE AND WITHOUT FEAR On Sunday, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington is hosting a concert in honor of MLK Jr. Day and in celebration of the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and activist Fannie Lou Hamer. Both civil rights leaders were integral in the fight for equal voting rights and access to ballots for all voters. Enjoy songs of spirituality and freedom — performed by Brother Dennis and Friends — as an homage to the songs that motivated those at the Meredith March Against Fear in 1966 and many other civil rights activists of the 1960s. Tickets are $25. Jan. 19, 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Follen Church, 755 Mass. Ave., Lexington. eventbrite.com
EMBRACE HONORS MLK On Sunday, Embrace Boston hosts Embrace Honors MLK 2025, a formal evening of joy, music, and community. Leaders to be honored include former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and first lady Lauren Baker, and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and first lady Diane Patrick. Hosts include Melisa Valdez, in-arena host for the Boston Celtics, and Latoyia Edwards, Emmy-winning anchor from NBC 10 Boston. DJ Envy, DJ Papadon, and the Berklee All Star Jazz Band are among the entertainers booked. Tickets are $450. Jan. 19. 6:30 p.m.-midnight. Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St. embraceboston.org
PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION The Peabody Essex Museum will honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday with a variety of art installations. View the works of Bethany Collins (”America: A Hymnal”), David Boxer (”The Black Books”), and Alison Saar’s (”Weight)”. Starting at 11 a.m., join fluid acrylics artist Rahim Gray to learn the way he incorporates social justice and music in his work and to make pour art of your own. Free admission. Jan. 20, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 161 Essex St., Salem. pem.org
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM — MLK JR. DAY OF SERVICE Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Monday to stroll its galleries, hear storytellers, and participate in activities. Featured exhibits include performance artist Dzidzor’s soundscape “Riot: A Sermon of Anger, Dreams, and Love,” Crystal Bi’s “Dream Portal” hands-on installation, and a performance by Amanda Shea and musician Wylsner Bastien of “Why We Still Dream” at Calderwood Hall. Free admission. Jan. 20, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way. gardnermuseum.org
CELEBRATE! WITH GEORGE RUSSELL JR. AND FRIENDS The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum hosts a Monday performance of some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite songs by George Russell Jr. and Friends. The event is free to the public per the support of the Martin Richard Foundation and the Mass Cultural Council. Jan. 20, 10:30.-11:30 a.m. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point. eventbrite.com
MFA BOSTON OPEN HOUSE, MLK DAY In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and the communal and artistic spirit of the holiday, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will offer free admission Monday to any visitors with a Massachusetts ZIP code. Within the museum, view ArtSpark’s “Radical Heroes” program and make your own window-hanging at the “Stained Glass: Doves” station. The museum offers several other performances and talks; see the website for the schedule. Jan. 20. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. mfa.org
BOSTON CHILDREN’S CHORUS — ROAD TO FREEDOM This year’s Boston Children’s Chorus MLK Day program educates about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, two civil rights leaders who are often perceived as ideologically unaligned, though the interconnectedness between the two is more complex. The “Road to Freedom” program at Symphony Hall on Monday is designed to educate the Boston community on the similarities between the two activists, and the vital role both hold in shaping social movements of the past and present. $15-$75. Jan. 20, 4 p.m. Symphony Hall, 301 Mass. Ave. bso.org
ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CELEBRATION Join the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Boston community for a celebratory program of memorable performances on Monday. The two-hour program, presented in conjunction with the Museum of African American History, will include spiritual and cultural performances, spoken word and readings, and guest speakers. Free admission. Jan. 20. Starts at 1 p.m. Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road. eventbrite.com
Haley Clough can be reached at haley.clough@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @hcloughjournalism.
Boston, MA
Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors: Where to watch free NBA live stream
A pair of division foes in the Eastern Conference meet up on Wednesday, Jan. 15 when the Boston Celtics travel to take on the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Boston. Fans looking to watch this NBA game can do so for free by using DirecTV Stream, which offers a free trial. You can also watch on FuboTV, which also offers a free trial and $30 off your first month, or SlingTV, which doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available.
The Celtics are looking for their first winning streak since they beat the Raptors, Timberwolves and Rockets consecutively to end December and start January. Boston enters this matchup at 28-11 while Toronto is 9-31 and winless in two previous matchups with the defending champions.
- WATCH THE GAME FOR FREE HERE
Who: Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors
When: Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. EST
Where: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
Stream: FuboTV; Sling; DirecTV Stream (free trial)
Betting: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
What is FuboTV?
FuboTV is an internet television service that offers more than 200 channels across sports and entertainment including Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. From the UEFA Champions League to the WNBA to international tournaments ranging across sports, there’s plenty of options available on FuboTV, which offers a free trial and $30 off the first month for new customers.
What is DirecTV Stream?
DirecTV Stream offers practically everything DirecTV provides, except for a remote and a streaming device to connect to your television. Sign up now and get three free months of premium channels including MAX, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and Starz.
What is SlingTV?
SlingTV offers a variety of live programing ranging from news and sports and starting as low as $20 a month for your first month. Subscribers also get a month of DVR Plus free if they sign up now. Choose from a variety of sports packages without long-term contracts and with easy cancelation.
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Court papers say ex-NBA player Jontay Porter laid out betting scheme in a text; 6th person arrested
By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A sixth person was charged Monday in the federal sports betting case involving ex-NBA player Jontay Porter, and authorities disclosed a text message Porter allegedly sent explaining how to cash in on his plans to bench himself in a January 2024 game.
The former Toronto Raptors center already has pleaded guilty in the criminal case and was banned from the NBA for life. He admitted that he agreed to withdraw early from games, claiming illness or injury, so that those in the know could win big by betting on him to underperform expectations.
Although the new developments don’t affect the legal case against Porter, they put the scheme in what a court document says were his own words.
“Hit unders for the big numbers,” Porter wrote to an alleged conspirator on Jan. 26, 2024, according to a court complaint against yet another alleged schemer, Shane Hennen. He was arrested Sunday at the Las Vegas airport while boarding a flight to Panama.
“No blocks no steals. I’m going to play first 2-3 minute stint off the bench then when I get subbed out tell them my eye killing me again,” Porter wrote, according to the complaint. It identifies him only as “NBA Player 1” but makes clear through references — such as the details of his guilty plea last year — that it’s Porter.
He had scratched an eye during a game on Jan. 22, 2024, keeping conspirators in the loop by text even from the arena, according to the complaint. But he wasn’t on the injured list when the Raptors faced the LA Clippers four days later.
Porter ultimately played about 4 1/2 minutes in that game before saying he had aggravated the eye problem. Then he pulled out of a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings after less than three minutes, saying he felt ill. His performance in both games fell well below what sportsbooks had anticipated.
Porter told a court in July that he got involved in the plot to try to clear his own gambling debts. He’s set to be sentenced in May. He could face anything from no jail time to 20 years behind bars; prosecutors have estimated his sentence at about 3 1/2 to four years in prison.
A message was sent to his lawyer Monday to seek comment on the developments.
Hennen was released without bail after his arraignment Monday in Las Vegas on charges including wire fraud conspiracy. The court complaint alleges that he placed bets through proxies after co-conspirators alerted him to Porter’s plans for the Jan. 26 game, and that he also got a heads-up about the March 20 game and likely told other gamblers about it.
A message seeking comment was sent to his attorney.
Besides Hennen and Porter, four other people also have been charged to date. Two have pleaded guilty, a third has pleaded not guilty, and the fourth hasn’t entered a plea.
The complaint against Hennen alleges there were still more conspirators involved. It’s unclear whether more people may yet be arrested.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Boston, MA
Constantine Manos, photographer for landmark ‘Where’s Boston?’ exhibit, dies at 90 – The Boston Globe
Among Mr. Manos’s books were “A Greek Portfolio” (1972; updated 1999), “Bostonians” (1975), “American Color” 1995) and ”American Color 2″ (2010). Mr. Manos’s work with color was notably expressive and influential.
“Color was a four-letter word in art photography,” the photographer Lou Jones, who worked with Mr. Manos on “Where’s Boston?,” said in a telephone interview. “But he was making wonderful, complex photographs with color, and that meant so much.”
Yet for all his formal skill, Mr. Manos always emphasized the human element in his work. “I am a people photographer and have always been interested in people,” he once said.
That interest extended beyond the photographs he took. He was a celebrated teacher. Among the students he taught in his photo workshops was Stella Johnson.
“He’d go through a hundred of my photographs,” she said in a telephone interview, “and maybe he’d like two. ‘No, no, no, no, yes, no.’ Costa really taught me how to see. I remember him looking at one picture and saying, “You were standing in the wrong spot.’ Something like that was invaluable to me as a young photographer.
“He was a very, very kind man, very generous. But he was very strict. ‘How could you do that?’ He was adored by his students and by his friends, absolutely. We were all lucky to have been in his orbit.”
Mr. Manos, who moved to Provincetown in 2008, lived in the South End for four decades. The South Carolina native’s association with the Boston area began when the Boston Symphony Orchestra hired him as a photographer at Tanglewood. He was 19. This led to Mr. Manos’s first book, “Portrait of a Symphony” (1961; updated 2000).
Constantine Manos was born in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 12, 1934. His parents, Dimitri and Aphrodite (Vaporiotou) Manos, were Greek immigrants. They ran a café in the city’s Black section. That experience gave Mr. Manos a sympathy for marginalized people that would stay with him throughout his life. As a student at the University of South Carolina, he wrote editorials in the school paper opposing segregation. Later, he would do extensive work chronicling the LGBTQ+ community with his camera.
Mr. Manos became interested in photography at 13, joining the school camera club and building a darkroom in his parents’ basement. After graduating from college, Mr. Manos did two years of Army service in Germany, working as a photographer for Stars and Stripes. He joined Magnum in 1963. This had special meaning for him. Mr. Manos’s chief inspiration as a young photographer had been Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of Magnum’s founders. He was such an admirer he made a point of using the same equipment that Cartier-Bresson did.
That same year, Mr. Manos entered a seafood restaurant in Rome that was around the corner from the Pantheon. Prodanou, his future husband, was dining with friends. Noticing Mr. Manos, he gestured to him. “Would you join us for coffee?” The couple spent the next 61 years together, marrying in 2011.
Mr. Manos lived in Greece for three years, which led to “A Greek Portfolio.” He undertook a very different project in the Athens of America. Part of the city’s Bicentennial tribute, “Where’s Boston?” was a slice-of-many-lives view of contemporary Boston.
Located in a red-white-and-blue striped pavilion at the Prudential Center, it became a local sensation. The installation involved 42 computerized projectors and 3,097 color slides (most of them taken by Mr. Manos), shown on eight 10 feet by 10 feet screens. Outside the pavilion was a set of murals, consisting of 152 black-and-white photographs of Boston scenes, all shot by Mr. Manos.
“The most important thing I had to do was to keep my picture ideas simple,” he said in a 1975 Globe interview. “Viewers are treated to a veritable avalanche of color slides in exactly one hour’s time.”
In that same interview, he made an observation about his work generally. “I prefer to stay in close to my subjects. I let them see me and my camera and when they become bored they forget about me and then I get my best pictures.”
Among institutions that own Mr. Manos’s photographs are the Museum of Fine Arts; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Library of Congress; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
In addition to his husband, Mr. Manos leaves a sister, Irene Constantinides, of Atlanta, and a brother, Theofanis Manos, of Greenville, S.C.
A memorial service will be held later this year.
Mark Feeney can be reached at mark.feeney@globe.com.
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