In Their Bag

Boston Celtics

Nobody thought the Boston Celtics would be this good; everybody thought this was going to be a gap year, and they were just going to wait for Jayson Tatum to return next year. They’re proving us all wrong; since November 12th, they’ve gone 17-5 and are third in the East. Only half a game behind the Knicks and 3 games back of the Pistons. Jaylen Brown has stepped up, doing a tremendous job at filling the void Jayson Tatum left on offense. Brown is averaging a career high, 30 points with 5 assists and 6 rebounds on great efficiency. But he’s not been the only player stepping up; guys who barely cracked the rotation last year are having a huge impact. Luka Garza and Neemias Queta are having career years and doing a decent rim protection job. You also can’t forget about Jordan Walsh who’s stepped and has had some huge moments for this team. Like when he made NBA history as the only non-center to score 45+ points on at least 90% shooting in a three-game span. All these players are huge reasons why the Celtics have 2nd best offense in the entire NBA. But one of, if not the reason why the Celtics’ offense is run like a well-oiled oiled-machine is because of their head coach, Joe Mazulla. Mazulla is pulling all the right triggers at the right time. He knows when to sub someone if they’re not having a great performance, and he knows the exact person to put. This Celtics team is scary, and you shouldn’t be sleeping on them any longer.

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Bag Lookin’ Shallow

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets had a very impressive offseason, adding key rotation players who will help key their offense afloat for when Jokic needs a break, or in the current situation, is out for at least four weeks. Over the past month, Nuggets starters have been falling like bowling pins, and now’s the time to see if those offseason additions can fill the void. This will be a good test and help prepare them for the playoffs. So far, without Jokic, they’ve looked solid. But of course, losing the 3x MVP is a huge blow, and they’re going to need everybody to step up. In Toronto on New Year’s Eve, they showed that, everybody who played made a contribution who helped them win (however, they’re very lucky that the shot by Brandon Ingram didn’t count). They’re going to need to continue to play like this because right now, only 3 games separate the Nuggets (3rd in the West) from the 7th seed Suns, so they could easily fall downhill. It’s going to be fun and entertaining for everyone who’s not a Nuggets fan to see what happens to this team.

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No Bag

Zach Lavine

Unlike most players and teams I’ve put in this category, LaVine’s not in a horrible situation. He’s not in a situation like the Pelicans or Clippers, but he could be if things continue to go as is. So far this year, Lavine has been a pure scorer. That’s literally the only thing he’s done. He hasn’t played good defense, he hasn’t been a playmaker, and he’s not crashing the glass trying to get rebounds. None of it, just scoring. And the thing is, he hasn’t even done that to his normal standard this year. Outside of 2024, this is his lowest-scoring season since 2018, and then he was averaging 5 fewer minutes a game. This scoring slump is because the Kings already have two players who need the ball in their hands to be effective in Westbrook and Derozan, but LaVine is also a ball dominant player. So this leads to him getting fewer touches and thus fewer opportunities for him to be effective. The Kings also don’t have the greatest spacing. They have three players in their starting lineup who are considered sub-par shooters (DeRozan, Westbrook, and Sabonis). This causes problems for Lavine because he often likes to get downhill and attack the net. However, if the defense doesn’t need to worry about Derozan, Westbrook, and Sabonis, they can just sit in the paint, leaving less opportunity for LaVine to drive. Recently, there have been rumours about LaVine potentially being traded at the deadline. I would love to see him get traded to the Bucks, where he would have so much opportunity to score and be Giannis’ new version of Khris Middleton.