Fire in Ice

As New England suffers the inevitable chill of winter, most notably the ice storm that recently passed through, there is a flame that is burning white-hot. Of course that fire comes from the Boston Celtics’ and their 14-game winning streak. The Celtics boast an NBA 2^nd best 90.5 score against them per game while averaging over 100 points themselves. This year’s team shows shades of the 95-95 Chicago Bulls team that posted an impressive 72-10 record by season’s end. During the Bulls’ amazing run they to held a 22-2 record by this point in the season as well. These teams are similar in many ways; defensively they hold their opponent well under 100ppg and offensively they each have their big three. Unlike the Bulls this is a Celtics team who is without a Michael Jordan, and sorry Pierce you are certainly a leader but you just aren’t Mike.

           Coming into his own is Boston’s guard Rajon Rondo. Now he might not be posting the scoring numbers of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett but he leads his team in assists per game and steals per game. He’s the guy you want to have the ball in his hands; he has become Boston’s playmaker. As far as the bench is considered they too are able to hold down the fortress and give their starters the required rest to put away their opponents and more often then not the big three are finding themselves on the bench more and more as the fourth quarter comes around. With a strong defensive rotation it’s no wonder why the green team is putting away its opponents so handily.

           Should the Celtics be able to win the next two games they’ll be outpacing what is considered to be the greatest team of all time. Keeping this level of play up will make them sure bets to repeat as NBA champions.