Defining moments from the 1st half of 2023-24 Celtics season

Defining moments from the 1st half of 2023-24 Celtics season

Last night we just saw the Celtics win by 50 of course they won a game earlier this year over the Pacers who are from Indiana where you are right now by 51 I’m curious if either of those moments make it into forsberg’s four here as we

Look at four the most you know iconic moments of of those first 55 games yeah and it’s weird right cuz we always say this is the end of the first half of the season but we’re really like 65% of the way through the season it’s going to be a Sprint through the final

Here but what I wanted to do is I just kind of went back and kind of started to process the last 55 games and what were the moments that jumped out and I picked four that I think sort of defined how the Celtics got to this spot and it even

Starts before the games even started number one when Al Horford took everyone aside and took the top six into the little film room and said you know what guys I’m going to come off the bench and I just thought this was a huge moment in terms of everyone embracing sacrifice

There was no obvious answer for them on how to play the starting lineup like certainly Al would like to be a starter in this league especially all he accompl but for him to step back and say like this is what is best for the team put the Celtics in such a great position

Going into the season what’s more is knowing that Al would have to rest on the second night of back to backs and same with kristofh porzingis often resting on the first night it set up the rest pattern for this team and I just like the tone at set going into the year

It really allowed everyone to just Embrace whether it was okay I’m not going to as much scoring I’m not getting as much assist whatever the case may be and everyone has benefited from that and let’s face it too the starters at the at the beginning of the year were fantastic

They have to actually tap back into some of that Mojo but Al set up the tone for the whole year he did and uh even when they’ve had to call upon him and to to start and we talked about this a lot last night with Christos porzingis on

The first night of the back toback when he would sit out he got alhor from the starting lineup and it’s just it’s a seamless transition to whichever role that he needs to play for them so I I I like that that’s number one here on the

Forestburg for what do we got for number two all right moment number two that game in Memphis now kristofh porzingis we knew from the preseason like whoa this guy is going to be pretty special here he fits right in with what they’re trying to do he had a great opening

Night against the Knicks and being back in New York but I thought it was that Memphis game that really jumped out to me where I said oh boy he is probably vital to whatever this team is going to do this season I mean the 26 points were

Great but I think it was nine of 10 inside of the three-point arcs super efficient had essentially the game-winning dunk in the final minute but then the big iconic moment to me is blocking the shot at the end of that game they when Memphis protested he gave

A little huh and like threw out his arms and exasperation it was clear at that point to me that like porzingis was the guy that was going to take this team to a level that it maybe hadn’t tapped into before and it was going to happen on

Both ends of the Court ever since then they’ve worked hard to make sure they’re feeding him in the post that he’s getting the touches necessary and it’s only gotten better as the season went along but I still think like like the most important thing maybe to the finish

Line of this year is keeping Chris staps healthy and from game 11 of the Season it was clear how vital he could be and he’s also been I think one of my favorite sound bites on this team one one of my favorite guys to watch on the

Floor as well the the personality that he’s broughten of course the relationship with Jaylen Brown by the way Chris as porzingis speaking of his defense Chris forsberg he right now I think has the eigh best odds to win defensive player of the year so even

Though Rudy goar is by far the odds on favorite porzingis is at least he was registering there somewhere the top 10 all right what do we got for number three all right number three was the IST win over the Chicago Bulls now I know you said J you were wondering if that

Big domination of the Nets would be on there if the big win over uh the Pacers earlier in the year would be on there but I thought that was the one the night where the Celtics most imposed their will and it sort of showed to me just

How ruthless they can be in the pursuit of an ultimate goal like the IST mattered to them in terms of just wanting to show the rest of the league and like maybe send a little bit of a message so knowing the point differential was going to be a factor

That night they went out there and did everything possible from the hack of Drummond to just like letting the the the Stars really shine in that night Billy dunan was not happy about it and I love that Joe didn’t care and so like twofold there I think we saw in that

Moment Joe the bottom line for him is winning and he will be ruthless in that pursuit of it and that has shown through all year long and like how he coaches this team and what matters to him and I thought the team showed it too that on a

Night where you could have downshifted at times where you needed to be really great to push yourself through to that next round they found a way so I I just think they found a little something that night in terms of how good they could be when they were focused and if they bring

That sort of focus in the postseason good luck League by the way does it feel like it’s been like 6 months since the inseason tournament like it it we we so hyperfocused on it at the time and you know that that game against Indiana and

I here we are months later and uh you’re you’re approaching the All-Star break we’re at the All-Star break and of course it’s all about getting ready for the playoffs and making a big run what do we got for number four Chris number four was the overtime win

Against Minnesota in Boston I feel like this is probably their signature win this year so they lose up in Minnesota to start the year didn’t match the physicality that the Timberwolves who have turned out to be a really good team in leading the Western Conference and it

It was nice to see the response out here now they didn’t get the late game execution in the fourth quarter that thing goes to overtime but Tatum was just phenomenal over that final fourth quarter and into overtime 12 points in the extra session that was also the

Night Jaylen took on the challenge of Defending Anthony Edwards and both the Jays were just everywhere defensively to me that’s as close maybe outside of the Denver game which I actually thought about putting on this list which might surprise people because that was obviously a loss but I thought their

Late game execution Joe was really happy about it they just never kind of get over the hump and and finish that game off but I thought that Minnesota game just sort of tapped into like playoff Vibe the way that they can play on that level the way the Jays embraced playing

Both ways at the end of that game and so I I feel like that if they can bottle that up moving forward and I think they’ve done a really good job about you know in those moments I feel like that just sets them apart and again if the

Jays play like that that is the road map to being super successful as much it feels weird not to bring up Derek white moments in this segment not to bring up Drew holiday and Al and all that but that was the night that really was like

Wow the JS if they play to that level this is this is how you get to the finish line of a championship season

Chris Forsberg’s is back with another edition of ‘Forsberg’s Four’ on Celtics Post Up where he is breaking down four defining moment’s for the Celtics so far this season.

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