Boston Celtics

The scorching-hot Boston Celtics earned their eighth straight win by virtue of a 126-101 road victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday evening.

Despite missing Marcus Smart (ankle), Malcolm Brogdon (hamstring) and Robert Williams III (knee), the Celtics shot 54.5 percent from the field and 21-of-46 from three-point range. They had more than twice as many assists (29) as turnovers (14). Seven players scored at least 14 points, with Jaylen Brown pacing the team with 22.

The Celtics' performance is more impressive when considering that superstar Jayson Tatum struggled from the field (6-of-19) en route to his 19 points, although he did finish with a starter-high plus-28 rating. But the Hawks had no answer for the Celtics defense, which held Atlanta to 7-of-32 three-point shooting.

Boston also had plenty of unsung heroes on a deep roster that had no problem against a Hawks team that was third in the Eastern Conference entering Wednesday.

Derrick White entered the starting lineup and dropped 16 points and 10 assists. Grant Williams scored 18 points.

Reserves Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet each scored 15 points and combined to shoot 12-of-13, with the former player hitting all but one of his six three-pointers. The Celtics also outscored the Hawks by 35 with Hauser on the floor. Payton Pritchard added 14 more points off the bench too.

Overall, Boston delivered a masterpiece, and Twitter recognized the team's efforts with a focus on its deep and talented roster.

The Celtics will look for their ninth straight win when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.

The Boston Celtics have started 11-3 under interim head coach Joe Mazzulla, and it appears inevitable that he'll eventually be given the full-time title.

"Everything is aligned and in place for Joe Mazzulla to be the long-term coach for the Boston Celtics except for one thing: Ime Udoka is technically still the head coach of the Boston Celtics, on suspension," ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said on Wednesday's SportsCenter. "But for all intents and purposes, he has coached his last game in Boston. This is uncharted territory, certainly."

With Udoka serving a minimum one-year suspension from the Celtics for a number of violations, including having an improper workplace relationship,

Udoka was reportedly a candidate to be hired by the Brooklyn Nets earlier in November after the team fired Steve Nash, though the team instead promoted interim head coach Jacque Vaughn.

Per ESPN's Nick Friedell and Wojnarowski, "The Nets backed off an initial plan to hire Udoka based on several factors, including a prolonged antisemitism controversy with Kyrie Irving coupled with the impending disruption that would've come with the hiring of Udoka in the aftermath of his suspension in Boston for an improper relationship with a female subordinate."

Had the Nets hired Udoka, appointing Mazzulla the long-term head coach would have been simple enough. Instead, the team will have to either fire Udoka or wait for another team to hire him.

Both men have had success in the role. Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals last season in his first year on the job. Mazzulla has picked up where he left off, with the Celtics holding the best record in basketball thus far this season.

Given the early success the Celtics have had under Mazzulla, any concerns about growing pains on the job have likely been alleviated. When Udoka was suspended, the Celtics had the luxury of giving Mazzulla an extended trial period under the interim tag to see how he would handle the position.

The early returns have been nothing but positive.

The Boston Celtics apparently didn't go above and beyond to get a new contract finalized with Grant Williams before the Oct. 17 deadline for rookie-scale contract extensions.

HoopsHype's Michael Scotto reported the team "never offered more than $50 million guaranteed over four years." Scotto previously reported in October the 6'6" forward was believed to be wanting a deal paying him $12-14 million annually.

Williams is now due to hit restricted free agency in the offseason. That allows the Celtics to match any offer sheet he signs, but they may not utilize that luxury when the moment arrives.

According to Scotto, Boston might balk if Williams is handed a deal worth $18 million or more from another team.

The 23-year-old is off to a strong start. Through 12 games, he's averaging 9.5 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 60.9 percent from the field and 50.0 percent on three-pointers. The Celtics have been 5.8 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court, per NBA.com.

Based on Scotto's reporting, the front office may not view Williams as an irreplaceable member of the rotation. The payroll moving forward is undoubtedly a factor in that calculus.

The Celtics are on track to have $149.5 million committed in 2023-24, per Spotrac, with the salary cap expected to come in at $134 million. Their cap commitment in 2024-25 falls to $111.4 million, but the figure will easily surpass $140 million if they re-sign Jaylen Brown.

Considering Williams might be playing his way into as much as $20 million on his next contract, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens could be facing a dilemma.

Williams is providing great depth in the frontcourt, and he's an ideal complementary piece for a roster built around Brown and Jayson Tatum. But the money that's required to keep him around might be better spent elsewhere when Stevens is looking at the bigger picture.

Kemba Walker said he helped Boston Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown stick together amid constant trade rumors.

The former Celtics guard discussed the situation with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod (h/t Conor Roche of Boston.com):

I remember me telling those guys, because they've always seen the talks and everybody saying they can't play with each other, I always told them just block that out. I always told them, this organization isn’t going nowhere without you two, literally. My main thing to those guys was that they have to love each other. Jayson and Jaylen, you two guys have to come together as much as you can and lead this team to the promised land. They can't go anywhere without those two guys.

Tatum and Brown were viewed as the long-term foundation of the Celtics roster, but questions began to emerge about whether the duo would remain in place amid the team's sluggish start to the 2021-22 season.

Boston started the campaign 2-5 and spent most of the season's first half hovering around .500, which was well below preseason expectations.

In mid-January, Tatum told reporters a conversation with Brown had them come to the conclusion they "both want to be here" together:

"It's not many players in the league like JB. The grass ain't always greener. We've had some great stretches and this year hasn't been what we've expected, but I think in the long run it will be good for us. We gotta figure some things out, but I think the most important thing is we both want it extremely bad. We want to try to figure it out together. So for us just to be on the same page is extremely important. We got each other's back and we're going to give it all we got to figure this out, regardless of what people say."

The Celtics bounced back in a massive way, eventually reaching the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, where they lost in six games.

Tatum has developed into one of the NBA's most complete players since Boston selected him with the third overall pick in the 2017 draft.

The 24-year-old Duke product averaged 26.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists last season in Boston. He ranked second among all NBA players in FiveThirtyEight's WAR metric (15.8) for 2021-22.

Through 13 games in 2022-23, the three-time All-Star has raised his game to a new level with an average of 32.3 points per game.

Brown has been nearly as productive, earning one All-Star selection while scoring at least 20 points per game in each of the last three years.

Despite earlier question marks, it's now clear the two can coexist and compete at a high level while helping the Celtics contend for a championship.

Walker only spent two years with Boston, but his leadership might have had a profound effect on the franchise.

The Boston Celtics announced that guard Jaylen Brown will miss the team's road game against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday with a left knee contusion.

On Friday, Brown made his first 10 shots en route to 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in 35 minutes in a 131-112 home win over the Denver Nuggets.

The Celtics initially listed Brown as questionable for the Pistons game but ruled him out before tipoff. Jay King of The Athletic provided an update on his status midday.

"On top of the knee contusion from last night, Jaylen Brown said he rolled his ankle in a previous game," King tweeted. "So he's a little banged up, but he didn't seem to think it was serious at all."

John Karalis of the Boston Sports Journal reported that Brown "knocked knees late in the game" against Denver.

Now in his seventh NBA season, Brown has missed at least 15 games in each of the past three campaigns. He was healthy at the outset of the 2022-23 season, and he is averaging 25.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.

The Celtics will also be without Al Horford (low back stiffness) and Malcolm Brogdon (right hamstring tightness).

Derrick White and Payton Pritchard will see an increase in minutes with Brown out.

Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon has been ruled out of Wednesday's game against the Detroit Pistons due to right hamstring tightness.

The guard had nine points in 14 minutes before coming out of the game.

Brogdon is in his first year with the Celtics, and he entered Wednesday averaging 14.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 10 games off the bench.

The Celtics added the veteran in an offseason trade with the Indiana Pacers, strengthening the depth of a team that reached the NBA Finals last season.

Brogdon had been exclusively a starter over the past four years with Indiana and the Milwaukee Bucks, but he has made a quick transition to the second team with Boston while scoring in double figures in seven of his first 10 games. He is a key part of the squad getting off to a 7-3 start to the year.

An extended absence could put pressure on the rest of the rotation, however, with Derrick White likely to see the biggest uptick in minutes. Payton Pritchard should also see a bigger role after getting limited action in the first few weeks.

Injuries are still a concern for Brogdon, who played just 36 games last season and only topped 60 games twice in his first six NBA seasons.

The Celtics will hope the latest issue won't keep the guard off the court for too long.

Ime Udoka was required to forfeit half of his $4 million salary as part of the season-long suspension issued by the Boston Celtics, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.

The Celtics banned Udoka for violating team policies, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reporting he had an inappropriate relationship with a female subordinate and used crude language toward the woman.

Boston has said little about the nature of the specific allegations.

Per Wojnarowski, a law firm tasked with looking into the matter raised concerns about the power dynamic at play since Udoka is one of the most influential voices inside the organization.

Team governor Wyc Grousbeck declined to provide much new information when addressing the matter at. press conference.

"I am concerned about the situation and its impact on everybody in the Celtics' organization," he told reporters on Sept. 23. "I do hope this represents the beginning of a new chapter, and a chance to turn the page and move forward with things, to some extent, resolved."

Although Joe Mazzulla is only coaching the Celtics on an interim basis, it's unclear whether Udoka will be retained once his suspension ends.

The 45-year-old has already been linked with the Brooklyn Nets' vacancy, with the speculation beginning almost immediately after Steve Nash was fired.

Especially with how rapidly things evolved at first, the absence of a contract between Udoka and Brooklyn could be telling, however. Stein reported Sunday that "strong voices" have pushed for Nets majority governor Joe Tsai to pivot in another direction.

Stein followed up to report Udoka is the "preferred choice" for general manager Sean Marks and star Kevin Durant.

The Boston Celtics defeated the New York Knicks 133-118 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to improve to 6-3 on the season, and it was another spectacular evening for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Brown finished with 30 points, five rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes, making 10-of-19 shots from the floor and 6-of-11 shots from deep. Tatum, meanwhile, finished with 26 points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal and two blocks in 37 minutes. He made 8-of-17 shots from the floor and 6-of-13 shots from deep.

The Celtics also set a new franchise record for the most three-pointers in the game after making 27-of-51 shots from beyond the arc against the Knicks. After the offense exploded on Saturday night, fans on Twitter were quick to praise the duo of Tatum and Brown for helping the Celtics set the record:

The Celtics were one of the NBA's best defensive teams last season, but this year they are one of the best offensively, entering Saturday's game with a 115.3 offensive rating, which ranks fifth in the league.

Boston's defense, meanwhile, ranks 18th at 113.

The combo of Tatum and Brown and the addition of Malcolm Brogdon has the C's firing on all cylinders, and they'll look to keep it rolling on Monday against the Memphis Grizzlies.