Boston Sports Then and Now

Boston Celtics Step It Up

The Boston Celtics won their sixth straight game Monday night at the Garden against the Charlotte Bobcats by a score of 100-89. This notched the Celtics’ sixth straight win and brought them to a 20-17 overall record.

If you think they have played easy teams during their win streak like the Bobcats who just came off an 18 game losing streak and a struggling Suns team that has a record of 12-25 well guess again. To start this streak they topped the Central Division leading Pacers, a solid Hawks team with a 21-16 record, the streaking Knicks who have been hot all season and sit atop the Atlantic Division, and the Rockets who are first in the league in scoring at 105.4 points per game and are led by one of the top scorers in James Harden.

The C’s have not  looked this good all season. What has changed? Two things: defense and players stepping up and contributing.

The defense has held strong for the Celtics and it has been a big reason for their success the past six games. To start the season they gave up 100 or more points in 13 of their first 30 games including six games just in December. In the past six games they have yet to give up 100 points and have held their opponents to under 85 points on three different occasions. The saying defense wins games holds true for the Celtics. They have plenty of talent on the team to score. If they play defense and stop other teams they will win more games.

The other piece to the puzzle for the success the C’s have had lately is players stepping up on the team. When someone has an off night somebody else has stepped up and filled that void. The Celtics have a lot of talented stars on the team and any one of them can score and play at a high level. They can’t just rely on the Big Three to score a lot and carry the team every game. Players have been stepping up and contributing both on the offensive side and defensive side.

Avery Bradley has been a big asset to the defense harassing opposing guards and causing turnovers. In Monday nights game Kevin Garnett played well and had 10 rebounds, but it was an off night for him scoring wise as he only had seven points. Jason Terry did not score at all last night coming off the bench, but because other guys filled that void in scoring and the team was able to be successful. Avery Bradley had 16 points including four big threes. Rondo led the team with a triple double, Jeff Green chipped in 11 points off the bench and Jared Sullinger contributed 8 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. Courtney Lee also scored 9 points and hit a big three in the fourth quarter to help the Celtics seal the deal.

Against the Phoenix Suns Paul Pierce only scored 7 points and Rondo had 8 points. Jared Sullinger however had a career night off the bench with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Jeff Green led all Celtics in scoring with 14 off the bench and Jason Terry added 13.

This just shows that the Celtics are very versatile and if one or two players have an off game in one particular area then there are several other players that can pick up the slack, and they have successfully done that and that is a big reason why the Celtics are winning lately.

A-Gon has an RBI in each game of the winning streak.

Things looked bleak for Boston after being swept to the falling Chicago White Sox. Talks of the inconsistencies in the pen started up again and player slumps were under the microscope. Since then the Sox have won nine in a row sweeping the Athletics, Yankees, and Blue Jays.

Now we hear of the 100 win team once again. Best offensive team in the league, best team in baseball, same stuff we heard before the season. This Red Sox team may be proving it true as they head into Tampa Bay looking for their tenth straight.

What is going right for the Red Sox?

Adrian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has an RBI in each of the Red Sox wins this streak. Just as the prospect traded for him (Anthony Rizzo), has climbed to the bigs, Gonzalez is proving why he was worth that prospects bundle.

He is hitting .364 in the last seven days to go along with ten RBIs. If you look at his ten day splits, you can see his batting average rise to the best in the American League. He also leads in RBIs by quite a margin. Talks of the triple crown may need to slow down because of Jose Bautista’s home runs, but all that matters is wins, and Gonzalez is helping the Red Sox get them.

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