Austin's currently the hottest team in the association as of this recording. Despite having just the 24th best team defense, the Celtics currently have the best offensive rating of all time. On Saturday, without Jalen Brown, Malcolm Braugden, and Al Horthard, the C's picked up a gritty row W in Motor City. The Celtics' sixth straight win saw the all-business Jason Tatum post his fourth consecutive game of scoring 30 plus points by exposing whichever less experienced matchup that was put in his vicinity. Tatum's resembled at the very least, a top 3-5 player in his young season, and if the Celtics can maintain their position near the top of the east, he could very well take home his first MVP trophy. Against the Troya, Grant Williams and Blake Griffin stepped up in the absence of two crucial front court players in Brown and Horthard, Williams and Griffin have played key roles next to JT in the Celtics blistering Many fans don't take Boston seriously because Milwaukee took them to seven without Chris Middleton, but at the end of the day you play who's in front of you. Middleton quite simply has to be more durable for Milwaukee because there's no excuses come the playoffs. The books have started 10 and 2 this year all without Middleton, so mine is cash, that proves Milwaukee is still damn tough to beat. In terms of the Celtics though, last year, the momentum from Boston's historic mid-season turn carried over to a breakout playoff run. Boston deserves respect for 2022's run, regardless of the circumstances in terms of Milwaukee's health. With a few less lazy turnovers, who knows, Boston could have been celebrating championship number 18 all summer. Instead, Boston had to deal with the infamous email Udoca drama, but that hasn't distracted them, whether it's New Coach Joe Mozilla, aka Nacho Varga, Jason Tatum, or this well-built Boston team, they're all on a mission in 2023. The Celtics as a whole are very worrisome because of that. This video delves into whether or not it's seeming like bean town can finish the job. Right quick, just 7.9% of you are subscribed, so hit the subbox and turn on notifications, hit the like button to help this video spread, and last but not least, my handle on Instagram and Twitter is at Deflow Hoops, so go help your Roy out by following me there. I'm really trying to get my numbers up on both those platforms, so a follow would be greatly appreciated again that's at Deflow Hoops on Instagram and Twitter, back to the content. Boston's right on the heels of the first place Milwaukee Bucks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, but I wanted to lead off this video by quickly flashing back to the 2022 playoffs. After the Celtics swept Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in four hard fought wins of round one, I predicted they'd win the title. While I got torched in the comment section after they didn't, the prediction of Boston winning the chip on this channel didn't turn out as bad for me as this guy who tapped to the Celtics 2022 championship banner on his arm, but it's still stung for me. My prediction about why Boston would win the title was based off the top heavy firepower provided by Tatum and Brown, along with the Celtic stacked depth around the Jays being surrounded with the perfect complimentary weapons. The time Lord's rim protection, Derek White's pure point guard organization, Marcus Smart's top of the league perimeter defense, and the toughness plus floor spacing up front from Big Al Horthard and the Batman Robert Williams made me comfortable with picking the Celtics to win it all. But the Celtics have the entirety of their core back intact this year and an attention to run it back in 2023. In fact, the addition of 50-40-90 club member and former rookie of the year Malcolm Bragden, who's currently out with hamstring tightness, makes Boston even more top heavy. In terms of role players amidst the email Udoca Drama, beloved GM Brad Stevens, also gave the team a boost in that area from the growth of Wing Sniper Sam Hauser, who's making an elite 45% of his three-pointers to the draft steal of third string guard JD Davison, or the signings of well-suited big body rebounding screen-setters in Noah Vanley and Blake Griffin. This is now a much deeper Celtics team. We'll get to a breakdown of Blake Griffin, as well as the Celtics' hottest three-point shooter this season. But while the depth is outstanding, Boston will go as far as Jason Tatum takes them. Just look at how Steph carried the Warriors offensively to steal the championship away from Boston. The NBA is a superstar-driven league, it always has been, and it always will be. That's why Tatum's isolation bucket-getting, somehow reaching an even better level this season, is the biggest storyline in Celtics land. The best combo forward the game has to offer is currently third in points per game at 32.3, only behind Curry and Dodge-Hitch. Speaking to how efficient Jason's been so far, at his position, Tatum's 65.3% true shooting clip is only worse than Mikhail Bridges and Boyon Bogdanovich, yet he averages 12 to 15 points more than those two. The only 30-plus-point-per-game score who owns a higher true shooting percentage than Jason Tatum is Steph and Curry. Jason's season-high 43-piece over the bottom-feeding pistons was a sight to be hold. He shot 14 for 28 from the field, knocked down 7 of his 14 three-pointers, and 8 of his 10 free throws. Along with dropping 43, he stuffed the stat sheet with 10 boards, three dimes, a block, and a steal in a hefty 41 minutes of action. Unfazed by not having a second best player on this team, and the best second option in all of basketball next to him in Jalen Brown, Tatum was dominant in a variety of aspects. As I said in my last video on him, you almost never saw Jason playing like a traditional stretch big in Emeyudoka's system last season, but he's been slipping and puffing greens like he does right here, quite often undercoach Joe Mozula. Displaying Jason's perimeter defense, his top foot is attacked quickly by Sadeek Bay, but a quick under-control recovery allows him to stay on Bay's hip as he drives, and he pinces shot off the backboard. Then he takes it coast to coast, and watch the slippery hesitation to freeze Michigan product Isaiah Livers, opening up a driving lane for his quick first step to take over. Being aware of Tatum's shooting range, Savi play right here from Derek White to turn his body for the two-handed shuffle past the trailer, and in one motion, shield off Livers while slipping to the hoop to get Frenchman Killian Hayes out of the way for a 24-foot spot-up 3. A triple cross-screen action with off-ball picks set by Smart Griffin and White gets a deep bay sliding out of position, and Livers is forced to pick up. But Tatum's patented leaning back fade gives him even more space than the picks already provided, with a minute left in the half. There's no excuse for beef stew to get beat up before like this, but it just goes to show how Tatum's stamina has improved, again late in the half with the pistons drained. Tatum pushes it up at 100 miles per hour through two defenders, and a crossover gets all four trailing pistons defenders thinking about another attack to the bucket. Before Tatum throws a left-handed bullet to the right wing, and credits a Marcus Smart for calmly knocking it down under the beef stew closeout. First play of half number two sees Tatum set a weak side brush screen for Sam Hauser and Pop. This gets Tatum and ISO, where he sandwiches uninverted jab step with two normal triple threat moves, before using his standing reach advantage over Bob Donovitch to drain a contested jumper. Look at the Celtics floor spacing on this possession with five shooters on the court, as this time Jason gets the DHO from Batman forcing to switch onto Jade and Ivy, and with Sidiq Bay helping, watch the beautiful spin back to his strong hand, watch the evasive triple between the legs size up, leading to simultaneous jab step and jumper. This time in a screen and roll with Van Le, a spin move in the opposite direction of the screen breaks Diallo's ankles, give credits to Van Le for still getting in there to make contact on his screen, and an ambidextrous offhanded euro step gets Tatum the bucket. In a semi-transition opportunity with the piston scrambling, Tatum gets Jade and Ivy on an island and simply jab steps, and like he did to Bogey shoots right over the top of him, then hits him with a two small celebration. Signature player the night for Boston was Marcus Smart getting back for this steel, and saving the ball from going out of bounds, which somehow results in an outlet to Tatum, who lobs it up for Grant Will, Showtime Celtics right there. Grant Williams is proving to be one of the game's best role players, as he's leading the team in 3.0, while being third best in the entire league in that area. Batman's number one in the entire NBA in true shooting at 78.3%, and since entering the starting lineup, he's averaging 9.8 points, 5.8 boards, and 2.5 dimes. Blake Riffin's a fairly solid backup for Grant, as while many were saying that BG's time in the league had come and gone, Riffin was getting into the best shape of his career. Of course, he's not the same athlete that he once was, but Riffin looks skinnier than he's ever been. Last year, Blake was tied with Kevin Love for the league lead and charges drawn with 26 of them. He hasn't been doing a ton of that charge drawn this year, but the stats show you that Riffin still has some juice left in the tank. Over his last four outings in just 13.5 minutes per night, the newest Celtic in Blake is posting 5.8 points and 3.3 boards on 53.3% shooting from the floor, 50% shooting from deep, and 100% from the line. Given I'm a Raptor fan, should I be worried about the Celtics? Should any non-Seltic fan be worried about the Celtics? Best answer down below in the comments gets next video shout out in the top 5 commentaries by December 21st, earned free merchandise that they're choosing. Today's Speak Swimmers are firstly Steven Perkins, who says, Anthony Lamb is a big surprise to me. If he can play like he did in this one, he's going to be a critical contributor. And secondly to Boston Holtane, who says, Matheryn really reminds me of a young Ray Allen. He's on a lead 3 level score already with solid vision who hustles hard on defense. He's got supreme confidence like Allen, and he's not scared of the big moment. Both Milwaukee slash Seattle Ray and Matheryn have great hops and underrated finishing ability. I can see him in Hallibur and leading this Pacer's team to deep runs in the future. Thanks for watching, have a good one.