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Isaiah Thomas might be a bit biased when it comes to the Boston Celtics.
Still, he’s one of the most candid players in the league. So when he says that the Celtics — the team he led for three seasons before being spirited away by Boston during one of the toughest stretches of his life — are “playing the best basketball of any team in the NBA,” it’s worth paying attention to.
On a night that saw him score 18 points and dish out a team-high seven assists against his former team, Thomas just witnessed the play of this season’s Celtics first-hand. He saw Boston’s bevy of offensive options, the growth of their young wings, their active (if undersized) defense and their ball-movement, which led to seven Celtics delivering three to five assists.
Though Boston’s defense wasn’t sharp enough to stop All-Star Bradley Beal from shining, as he scored 44 points, they were dominant enough offensively to score 140 points without Gordon Hayward and savvy enough to pull out a win down the stretch.
Isaiah Thomas asked about the Celtics’ early season success: “As a competitor, I hate it. But to see them jelling and playing the best basketball of any team in the NBA right now, you have to take your hat off to them.”
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) November 14, 2019
After Wednesday’s win took the Celtics to 9-1, Boston continues to hold the league’s best record. The best part for the Celtics may be that the numbers back up how well they’re clicking on both ends.
They rank sixth in points per game (116.1); eighth in three-pointers made per game (13.0) and three-point percentage (37.0); 10th in assists per game (24.7); third in blocks per game (6.5); and first in plus-minus (9.2).
Even the advanced stats look good — if not better — with the Celtics ranked first in offensive rating (113.8), net rating (9.1), turnover percentage (11.3), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.15) and Player Impact Estimate (55.6). Their defensive rating of 104.7 ranks just outside the top-10 (12th), whole they rank in the top-10 in categories like opponents points in the paint (44.2) and fastbreak points (11.7).
Thomas, whether presenting a biased opinion or not, was right. However, the Celtics will have to play a few more games before everyone is a believer in their ability to be the best team in the league.
*All stats gathered from NBA Advanced Stats