On Monday night, the Boston Celtics improved to 23-12 with a comfortable home win over the Chicago Bulls, 115-101. The big hero of this game was Anfernee Simons, who poured in 27 points, more than making up for a rare off night from Jaylen Brown on the heels of his 50-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers over the weekend.
That result, combined with the New York Knicks' blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons, vaulted the Celtics into second place in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games back of the leading Pistons, far away from where most fans thought they would be at this point in the season considering that Boston is playing without its best player in Jayson Tatum.
After the game, Celtics guard Payton Pritchard spoke on why the Celtics still aren't satisfied despite blowing away expectations thus far.
“I take a lot of pride in being first in the East. … That's the main goal,” said Pritchard, per Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog on X, formerly Twitter.
In fact, the Celtics also boast the number one point differential in the East, thanks in large part to the many blowout wins they've accumulated over the last few weeks.
Brown has quelled any doubts about his status as a legit star in the league, pouring in monster stat lines on a routine basis and with impressive efficiency, especially considering that he's typically matched up against the opponent's best perimeter defender.
Meanwhile, Pritchard and Derrick White have shaken off rough shooting starts to the year to return to their usual form, and Boston has gotten strong contributions from some of its younger players, including Jordan Walsh.
It still would appear to be a long shot that Tatum is able to return this season, but even with the team they have now, it seems that the Celtics are more than capable of competing with anyone in the Eastern Conference.
