CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger believes that by besting the Golden State Warriors’ 2016-17 net rating and blowing out the Dubs by 52 points on March 3, the Boston Celtics have become a “all-time great regular season team” and put the Cs as the No. 1 team in his NBA Power Rankings.
“Remember a few weeks ago when Kristaps Porzingis said, ‘Don’t worry if we’re not beating everyone by 30 anymore?'” So, the Celtics started beating everyone by 30 again.” Ward-Henninger prefaced by noting, “Actually, they beat the Warriors by 52 on Sunday, their 11th straight win and THIRD by 50 or more points this season — something no NBA team has ever done.” Boston’s season net rating now exceeds that of the Kevin Durant-Steph Curry 2016-17 Warriors. Fans should stop worrying about the playoffs and instead appreciate this all-time great regular-season club.”
With the victory over Curry’s Warriors, NBC Sports Boston’s Darren Hartwell believes Jayson Tatum has emerged as one of the top MVP candidates.
“Tatum’s fingerprints were all over this blowout victory; he played a key role in limiting Curry on the defensive end and finished with a team-best plus-40 plus-minus,” Hartwell said. “Tatum is still fifth on the MVP ladder at most sportsbooks, but he’s now outdueled Luka Doncic and Curry in back-to-back games as the engine that drives the NBA’s best team.” If Tatum continues to play well this week against the Cavs and the reigning champion Denver Nuggets, his MVP prospects will improve.
Tatum’s stock may be increasing, but he could face the same fate as Kevin Durant on the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors.
The super-team narrative may damage Boston Celtics player Jayson Tatum’s MVP case.
With Porzingis and Jrue Holiday being such natural fits for the Celtics, some consider Boston to be a “super-team,” but most see through that veneer and recognize that Jaylen Brown’s next poor performance will have those same people claiming he’s overpriced and not a star.
Nonetheless, that narrative will be used to explain voting for either Nikola Jokic or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over Tatum, who has been the best player on the best team and would win the award in a heartbeat if he played for practically any other organization.
