Is it starting to feel like we're on a collision course for a Celtics vs. Nuggets Finals showdown?
This weekend sure made it look that way.
The Nuggets had the spotlight first in a primetime Saturday night spot as LeBron James chased and surpassed 40,000 points. The Lakers led early but fell late as the defending champs pulled away for a comfortable 124-114 win, Denver's seventh in a row over the Lakers.
Sunday afternoon, it was Boston's turn in a game that was never even close. The Celtics rolled the Warriors, 140-88, in a snoozefest that left viewers plenty of time to take in Caitlin Clark's record-breaking Iowa performance or whatever else they could find with that remote.
The Celtics have been demolishing all comers all season long. The Nuggets are the defending champs and always seem to flip that switch when they need to in a key moment. This feels like the two best teams in the league, setting up a huge showdown when the teams meet Thursday night on TNT.
So what exactly did the weekend teach us about the Celtics and Nuggets?
Maybe less than you think.
Boston's domination was start-to-finish.
After the Warriors hung for half a quarter at 21-21, Jaylen Brown hit a trio of 3s in 40 seconds to spark a 23-1 run to end the quarter. Boston doubled up Golden State 44-22 through one, then continued for a 41-7 run that totally flattened the Warriors and left a shocking 82-38 halftime scoreline.
Every Warriors starter finished -20 or worse. The team shot an awful 7-of-41 on 3s, just 17%. Steph Curry was 0-for-9 and 2-of-13 from the field, finishing with just only four points. Golden State had 10 more turnovers than Boston too, and the Celtics shot 25-of-49 on 3s (51%).
It was a comprehensive victory for Boston, now 48-12, on pace for 66 wins.
The Celtics are the first time in NBA history to record three wins by 50 or more points in the same season, per Basketball Reference. They're the first ever with at least four 40+ wins too. Boston ranks top two on both offense and defense, lapping the league with a +11.6 Net Rating that rates among the best in league history.
And Boston's playing even better of late. The Celtics have an absurd 138 Offensive Rating since the All-Star break, and their +243 point differential over the last 11 games — all wins — is the best 11-game point differential stretch in NBA history, per Mike Lynch.
This is who the Celtics are, and it's who they have been all season.
Really then, why was Sunday's result even all that surprising?
Boston has maybe the two best guard defenders in the league in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White to hound Curry. Steph's play has been fading too, his 4.1 BPM over the last 25 games more All Star than superstar with a negative on-court differential and a sub-60% True Shooting. Since February 15, he's at -1.1 BPM with 49% True Shooting and an awful 100 Offensive Rating.
Take Curry away like the Celtics did — four points!! — and there's not much left, not on this version of the Warriors. So little that you probably didn't even notice Boston was without Kristaps Porzingis, maybe its 1B player this season and the exact sort of stretch big that's given Golden State major issues over the years.
Still, it's the Warriors.
Golden State came into this one winning 13 of its last 16, on fire since the return of Draymond Green.
But not all things are as they seem. This was a fourth road game in six days for Golden State, a schedule loss on the road in Boston if ever there was one, especially since Curry was listed as questionable for the game.
And really, who have all those recent Warriors wins come against? The Sixers without Joel Embiid, twice, the Knicks without Julius Randle or OG Anunoby. The most impressive wins were close ones against the Suns and Lakers, both of whom would be in the West play-in with the Warriors if the season ended today.
So what about those Lakers?
L.A.'s loss Saturday night to Denver wasn't nearly as embarrassing, but it might have been more demoralizing.
The Lakers led 33-27 through one quarter, and the home crowd went wild when LeBron James crossed the 40,000-point threshold in the second quarter. L.A. led by eight at the half, even led 108-105 with under five minutes left.
But it was an all too familiar ending for LeBron and the Lakers.
Denver finished on a 19-6 run as Nikola Jokic took over late. The champs flipped the switch and kicked into a championship gear the Lakers simply do not have, as Jokic dominated Anthony Davis late and Denver pulled away with ease.
What was supposed to be a celebratory night for LeBron turned into a loss to the Nuggets, yet again. The same thing happened Feb. 8 on Kobe statue night, and the same thing happened in the season opener when the Lakers had talked up revenge all offseason.
It's now seven straight Lakers losses to the Nuggets, showing just how big the gap is between L.A. and a championship team. And it feels like just as many straight milestone losses for LeBron. His Lakers also lost when he passed 30,000 points, lost when he set the all-time scoring record including the playoffs, lost when he passed Kobe and Jordan and then Kareem on the scoring charts.
It's becoming the new Lakers standard at this point. Break a record, take a loss.
Like the Celtics, the Nuggets were short a starter and it didn't matter. Christian Braun started for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Justin Holiday took most of KCP's minutes late, off the bench.
Holiday outscored the entire Lakers bench. Denver made only 11 3-pointers and just five free throws. Didn't matter. The Nuggets smoked the Lakers on 2s, hitting 65% of them at 43-of-66, and Denver got any look it wanted late.
And again — why are we acting surprised?
LeBron was fine. He has 26 points, four rebounds, and nine assists. Like Curry, it's a very good season that's just not quite a LeBron or Curry season. By almost any measure, James is having the worst season of his career since his rookie year.
Anthony Davis had a quiet 17 points and 11 boards and wasn't good enough late. Austin Reaves had 14 assists. D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura were okay, but they're just not good enough at this point.
Reaves and Russell have been mediocre at best, and the Lakers' roster is simply bereft of talent after LeBron and Davis and has been all season. Buyout pickup Spencer Dinwiddie led all Lakers in bench minutes. He's been atrocious so far in LA. Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince were the only other Lakers to play double-digit minutes and contributed little.
The Lakers just aren't very good. James and Davis have had great but not spectacular seasons, there's little around them yet again, and the West is tough.
So what did we learn about the Nuggets and Celtics?
Precious little, I fear.
Why should we learn anything about two teams we already knew were great beating up on a couple teams on the very fringe of the play-in race?
If the season ended today, the Warriors and Lakers would meet in the opening No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game. One of them would be eliminated immediately, and the other would play on the road in Dallas or Phoenix, needing a second consecutive win just to earn the right to face the West 1-seed.
We still see Steph and LeBron as fans and think of these as marquee wins, but maybe it's time to accept what's been staring us in the face all season.
These teams just aren't that good.
The Lakers have a negative point differential, below the Houston Rockets. The Warriors are 5-17 against teams above them in the West standings.
These are the No. 9 and No. 10 teams in a 15-team conference.
Think of it another way — the East 9- and 10-seeds are the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.
If Denver and Boston steamrolled the Bulls and Hawks, would you have even noticed?
The only thing this weekend taught us is something we already knew — that the league's best teams will beat on the dregs of the playoff race, and that's exactly what the Nuggets and Celtics did this weekend.
