Celtics Hanging Tough in the NBA East; Timberwolves Surprising in the West
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 13 Dec 2023
A quarter through the NBA regular season, the Boston Celtics are hanging tough with a slim lead in standing in the Eastern Conference while upstart Minnesota Timberwolves are continuously surprising in the West holding at least two won games lead over its closest pursuers.
After 21 games thus far, the Celts hold a 16 wins and 5 loses record, one won game ahead of the strong starting Orlando Magic and the usual contenders the Milwaukee Bucks who are both toting 16-7 records. One and a half won games behind are the Philadelphia 76ers at 15-7 closely followed by the NBA in season tournament losing finalists, the Indiana Pacers at 13-8.
Despite losing some dependable players through trade (gone are Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, Grant and Robert Williams), the Celtics have more than compensated by acquiring 7-2 center Kristaps Porzinghis from the Dallas Mavericks and defensive guard Jrue Holiday from the Bucks.
Porzinghis has been ably complementing Boston's 1-2 punch of Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown while providing strong support in the paint to Al Horford with his nearly 19 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists per game average. Meanwhile Holiday is ably backstopping Derrick White at point guard.
The Timberwolves are surprising in the West with a Conference leading 17 wins and only 5 loses record which is at least two winning games ahead of their closest pursuers that include defending champions Denver Nuggets, the reinforced Dallas Mavericks and the recent NBA in season tournament finals winners, the Los Angeles Lakers
Also surprising at second is the Oklahoma City Thunder at 15-7 and still in the running are the Sacramento Kings at 13-8 just a won game behind the Lakers of Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
The Timberwolves have blended its new twin towers well with Karl Anthony Towns taking care of scoring while Rudy Gobert who was acquired from Utah Jazz bringing his act to Minnesota as the league's most effective rim protector.
Providing able support to the duo are Anthony Edwards, Mike Conley, Luke Garza, Naz Reid, Shake Milton and Kyle Anderson.
With some 60 more games to be played by each of the teams, the current standings are still far from conclusive as to the race for the final eight in each conference for the post season.
But what is obvious is that teams as the Golden State Warriors, the Miami Heat and perennial title contenders as the Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks and even the defending champions Denver Nuggets have a lot of scrambling to do heading into the new year.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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