The case for 3 Boston Celtics in the 2020 NBA All-Star game

With shooting guard Jaylen Brown, forward Jayson Tatum and point guard Kemba Walker driving Boston’s success, the case for three Celtics in the 2020 All-Star game is a strong one.

Do the Boston Celtics have a legitimate shot at sending three players to the 2020 NBA All-Star game?

After the Jay Team combined for 64 points and 14 rebounds in their 129-117 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the case is getting stronger.

Just the third trio to play for the storied franchise who have scored 30 or more each while still younger than 23, the young duo of fourth-year shooting guard Jaylen Brown and third-year swingman Jayson Tatum are in rarified air.

Only Bill Russell and Tommy Heinsohn, and Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker decades later are the only other duos to achieve such a feat.

And we should not forget they are doing it alongside a modern-day Walker having a career year wearing the same No. 8 jersey his predecessor did.

That Walker, UConn product Kemba, joined Brown as the first teammates in NBA history to each make five threes on Christmas.

What’s more, he has hit as many in a dozen games already this season, just four games short of the franchise season record held by Isaiah Thomas in 2016-17.

Did we mention there’s more than half the season ahead?

The Celtics are the only team in the NBA with three players averaging north of 20 points per contest, own the league’s second-best scoring differential, third-best record, third-best defense, and fourth-best offense, as related by Celtics play-by-play maestro Sean Grande.

The case only gets stronger when you look at the other options given the former Husky is likely a starter for the mid-season friendly.

Only the Brooklyn Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie and perhaps Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal or the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young the only guards with reasonable shots at stealing away a starting role from the Bronx native.

There’s also few truly transcendent frontcourt players in the East for the fire-and-ice duo to compete with after Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

And, as noted by MassLive’s John Karalis, there are plenty more reasons than counting stats to include the Jay Team in full, such as the fact Brown joins Giannis as the only other East player averaging above 20 points per contest with greater than 50 % accuracy.

The Duke product is second among East forwards in plus/minus, and third in net rating, while joining Brown among the top six in offensive rating.

One might even make the argument it’s hard to not have the Celtics with three players in a wing-starved Eastern Conference. Teammate Daniel Theis, for example, thinks all three ought to make it, though he’s obviously going to be biased.

“I think we’re going to have all three in there,” Theis offered (via MassLive’s Tom Westerholm). “I think they deserve it. Personally they’re playing great, and as a team we have the second-best record [in the East] right now,” he added.

Unbiased eyes are coming around as well, with basketball fanatics like actor Michael Rapaport seeing the argument for three being sound as well.

Of course, none of this will happen without the fan vote lifting the trio into the event with fan voting, a fact noted after Boston’s Friday afternoon win over the Cavs by outspoken center Enes Kanter.

“Please don’t forget to vote for Tatum and Brown for the NBA All-Stars,” admonished the Turkish big man, who has been on something of a tear of his own over the last few games Boston has played.

“Please, vote for them,” he continued, noting it was their play making everyone around them better.

Brown has kept his eyes on the prize, however, prefering to take each game in front of the team as a chance to hone their skills further. “We have to continue to have the right balance. Make the right plays, the right reads, and continue to get better,” noted the Georgia native.

“We have to get better,” he added. “We’re looking to be a team playing deep into the postseason this year so every game counts, every game is a chance to get better, every game is an opportunity and we’ve got to make sure that we seize it.”

“We still have our best days in front of us, so as a team we have to continue to strive, less about the opponent and more about us,” he continued.

The prospect of this version of the Celtics as incomplete and growing stronger has to strike fear into the hearts of rival teams around the league, because this trio of scoring menaces has already put the league on notice.

Are we really still debating whether they should be in the All-Star game?