Tag: 2021-22 NBA Season

What other awards might be in the mix for the Boston Celtics besides Defensive Player of the Year?

Several could conceivably be in play.

There are at least four honors handed out at the end of an NBA season that current members of the Boston Celtics organization should realistically at least be in the running for, if not outright favorites to win. Executive of the Year (EOTY) for President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, Coach of the Year (COTY) for Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, All-Defense for rising big man Robert Williams III, and All-NBA for superstar forward Jayson Tatum are the four which might just be nabbed by Celtics this year

And that’s not even considering the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) for veteran Boston point guard Marcus Smart, who is currently the odds-on favorite to win the award.

Host of the regular NBC Sports Boston “Forsberg’s Four” segment Chris Forsberg lays out a case for each n a new video put together to stump for the hometown team’s chances to take home some hardware after an amazing midseason turnaround.

Watch the clip embedded above to hear why Boston ought to be considered for All-Defense, All-NBA, EOTY, and COTY on top of Smart’s ironclad case for DPOY.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[mm-video type=video id=01fzy2wqt246knb22pvp playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fzy2wqt246knb22pvp/01fzy2wqt246knb22pvp-015de57ee6b5012587d9a61c9e289d77.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=100820,100804,100801,100709]

[listicle id=100793]

[vertical-gallery id=100740]

[listicle id=100780]

Taking stock of the Boston Celtics’ last 10 games of the 2021-22 NBA season

The regular season is nearly over — and this is what we expect to happen in it.

After Sunday’s road tilt with the Denver Nuggets, the Boston Celtics will have a mere 10 games left in their slate of games remaining in their 2021-22 season — what sort of challenges will they face between now and the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs?

From getting key heavy-minutes players some rest to keep their legs fresh for a deep postseason push while trying to get the best possible seeding in the playoffs to working in depth players who might see their numbers called in a seven-game series, the Celtics have their work cut out for them between now and April 10, the date of their final game of the season.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the final 10 games of the season for Boston.

With the NBA’s longest active winning streak, new power ranking has the Boston Celtics the hottest team in the league

With eight straight wins to their name, this Fansided article rates Boston the NBA’s most sizzling franchise.

The Boston Celtics are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now, and analysts are taking notice of the new-look Celtics and their recent improved play, current owners of the league’s longest winning streak of eight games.

In fact, according to the creative editorial director of Fansided Ian Levy, they are the HOTTEST team in the NBA at the moment, enough so that Levy put Boston at the very top of his latest power rankings. The recent moves to tighten the rotation while consolidating the talent going into them at the 2022 NBA trade deadline seem to have paid off big time in Levy’s eyes.

“The Celtics have been on an absolute tear,” writes the Fansided editor.

WATCH: How should the Boston Celtics and NBA navigate the new COVID-19 surge?

With the arrival of the Omicron strain, huge numbers of players on the Celtics and around the league are out — is there a better way forward?

Even the most casual fans of the Boston Celtics are by now likely aware of the wave of players from rosters across the NBA now headed into or biding time in the league’s health and safety protocols after returning positive results for a COVID-19 test.

And with league commissioner Adam Silver relating that approximately 90% of the cases knocking players off of active rosters being the highly contagious Omicron variant, one has to wonder how many hardship exemption players it will require to keep the season moving forward with too many cancellations.

Perhaps more importantly, do we need to consider the wider state of the pandemic, public health, and the integrity of the season itself?

The hosts of the CLNS Media podcast “The A-List” A. Sherrod Blakeley and Kwani A. Lunis get into such concerns on the latest episode of their show.

Watch the clip embedded above to hear their views on this most critical of topics.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=66394,66406,66400,66392]

[listicle id=66457]

WATCH: Is the NBA of today ‘too soft’ of a league?

Or is the league moving to strike a balance of physicality and finesse for a better product?

Is the NBA of today a kinder, gentler sport than it once was? With events like the so-called “Malice at the Palace” having burned an indelible mark on the sport of basketball, a gradual move away from overtly physical styles of play has continued up to the present until this season.

In 2021-22 the league altered how it would interpret a lot of rules, sparking altercations involving some of the NBA’s biggest stars, and affecting the games of a lot of players who have forged reputations of hunting calls in games as part of their style of play. To a lesser extent, we saw Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum affected by these rule changes, and many others players around the league have been griping despite fans loving the on-court results.

Is the NBA too soft? How much has it changed, really? What would a Celtics alumnus say about the status quo in the league today?

To get an answer to these questions, watch the eponymous CLNS Media podcast embedded above to hear what former Boston Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell has to say on these issues with co-host Josue Pavon.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=65327,65291,65285,65282]

[listicle id=65295]

[vertical-gallery id=65338]

WATCH: What is behind this weird start to the 2021-22 NBA season?

If you think it’s just the Boston Celtics, think again.

It has been a most unusual start to the 2021-22 NBA season — and not just for the Boston Celtics. A number of teams have jumped out to rough starts, and plenty more of the league’s superstar players than Jayson Tatum have got off to shoot well below the numbers they usually see in terms of both scoring and efficiency.

At the same time, some teams seen as likely play-in candidates or worse are currently at the top of the standings, begging the question of what exactly has been going on in the Association to make things play out so oddly to begin this season.

On the most recent episode of the eponymous CLNS Media podcast hosted by Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman, WEEI sports talk radio legend Gary Tanguay joins the esteemed duo to talk about the weird start to the season, where the Celtics sit in it and other basketball-adjacent issues.

Watch the clip embedded above to hear their takes on this odd beginning, while we wait with fingers crossed for Jayson Tatum to find his stroke.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=64743,64741,64733,64725]

[listicle id=64316]

[vertical-gallery id=64685]

Celtics Lab 65: Taking stock of the NBA’s Eastern Conference with Ky Carlin and Ajayi Browne

In this episode, we’re joined by two USA TODAY NBA Wire editors to take stock of Boston compared to the rest of the East.

With one of the most active offseasons in the entire league this summer, you will be forgiven as a fan of the Boston Celtics if you have lost track of what the other teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference have been up to, much less what the consensus is on where they may end up in the standings by the end of the next season.

But at the “Celtics Lab” podcast, hosts Alex Goldberg, Cameron Tabatabaie, and Justin Quinn have been surveying the 15 teams on Boston’s side of the league with expert help from Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire and Ajayi Browne of Nets Wire to see where the Celtics sit in contrast to their East peers.

We also get caught up on a surprisingly busy week of news for so late into the summer, with trades, signings, and some pre-gaming the looming Hoops Hall induction of Celtics legend Paul Pierce.

Powered by RedCircle

Listen to the podcast embedded above to get caught up on what’s shifted in terms of expectations for the league’s Eastern Conference as the doldrums of summer settle in.

Powered by RedCircle

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=57819,57814,57812,57808]

[listicle id=57816]

Next season will reportedly start much sooner than you think and Bucks fans should be worried

This is such a quick turnaround

The Milwaukee Bucks are officially NBA champions after an all-time great performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo. He and the Bucks silenced all of their haters on their way to a title.

They’d better celebrate this while they can, though. There’s not too much time before they have to do this all over again.

If you already miss NBA basketball, don’t worry. Next season is right around the corner — literally.

The NBA is slated to get back to their regular schedule after having two straight seasons shifted because of COVID-19. After a delayed start to this season in December, the league will be back into the regular swing of things this September, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Sheesh, man. That’s quick. We saw how that worked out for the teams in the Conference Finals last season. The Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets all had significant injury issues this season.

Hopefully, things turn out better for Bucks fans at the start of next season. Regardless, it’s time to celebrate their title.

They can worry about next season when it gets here.

[mm-video type=video id=01fb3kbpwwka17ng0b5k playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=01f5k5x3v4hcz7e10g image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fb3kbpwwka17ng0b5k/01fb3kbpwwka17ng0b5k-1e560058f58f15febcc66e4be9f7a937.jpg]

NBA news: Adam Silver says plan is to begin 2021-22 season in October

NBA commissioner Adam Silver laid out the tentative plan the league has to begin the 2021-22 season in October.

The 2020-21 NBA season has been like no other, as the coronavirus pandemic forced commissioner Adam Silver and the league to change the norms to adapt to health and safety guidelines.

The biggest change for the 2020-21 season involved its start time. After the 2020 Orlando Bubble concluded with the Los Angeles Lakers hoisting the NBA championship, the league decided to start the upcoming season in late December.

The quick succession resulted in a shortened offseason for teams that competed in the bubble, most notoriously the Lakers and the Miami Heat, who went six games in the NBA Finals and received limited rest afterward.

Another important change saw the regular season going from 82 games to 72 games, which increased the frequency of back-to-back and one-day rest games.

With the NBA playoffs underway, the league is already planning for next season’s start date. On ESPN’s “Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin”, the show interviewed Silver about the league’s plans.

We’re looking towards getting back on our regular schedule…our plan is to start again roughly, give or take a week, mid-to-late October of this year.”

Silver detailed how the NBA would need to have a shorter offseason in order to hit that target, but it wouldn’t be the same length as the one from the last year. Otherwise, the league would continue a cycle of shortened offseasons.

Silver noted how the NBA Finals normally conclude by the end of June during a normal year, but because of the late start time this season, the postseason may not end until July 22 if the finals extend to seven games, which is why reducing the offseason is necessary to return to normalcy.

If the Lakers reach the NBA Finals again, it’ll be the second-straight season where they’re one of the two teams with the least amount of rest heading into the next year. Superstars from around the league will also have to plan around a trip to Tokyo for the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin in July.

That vital rest seemed to hurt them during the regular season, literally, because many players, from LeBron James to Anthony Davis, dealt with injuries that kept them out for a long time.

But if Los Angeles can attain title 18 this year, it would be worth it.

Check out the full conversation here, courtesy of ESPN’s YouTube channel.

[vertical-gallery id=39915]

[mm-video type=video id=01f62x2yfttk5r6vbvxb playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f62x2yfttk5r6vbvxb/01f62x2yfttk5r6vbvxb-27baf1f4f6d53c51447d60bdfd0daa60.jpg]

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talks on the future of the play-in tournament, start of 2021-22 season

The Commissioner had plenty to say about how seasons may be starting — and ending — in the near future.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spent some time opening up about how the league’s new play-in tournament and how it impacted the end of the 2020-21 season in a recent interview, as well as how the start of the 2021-22 NBA season will go.

While there are certainly legitimate gripes to be had by teams and players who would have preferred to be resting as the end of the regular season winds down, it seems the new end-of-season wrinkle was a smashing success in generating fan interest in a part of the season that is about as low as it can be during the regular season.

Silver also talks on how the league plans to get back to playing something closer to a normal schedule in terms of their historic range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQHWrFkosps

Watch the video embedded above to hear everything he has to say about these twin issues moving forward for the league — it sounds as if things are in motion to try and cement both ends of the season in the ways Silver describes in this clip.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=50833,50831,50817,50807]

[listicle id=50819]