The Boston Celtics have been a great basketball team for months. On Sunday night, they proved it to the entire country.
The Celtics smoked the Los Angeles Lakers on national TV, blowing them out 111-89 on their home court. Boston dominated both ends of the floor, proving to be a superior all-around team.
The Celtics are still without Jayson Tatum, but that hasn't stopped them from winning eight of their last nine games and surging into the Eastern Conference's second seed. They're firing on all cylinders, ranking second in offensive rating, seventh in defensive rating and third in net rating.
ESPN writer Marc J. Spears praised Boston's impressive campaign on Monday's episode of "NBA Today."
"Joe Mazzulla's doing an amazing job, Jaylen Brown's doing a great job leading this team. ... And then Tatum is about to come back with Vucevic? It's a scary Celtics team right now."@MarcJSpears on the Celtics after their dominant win over the Lakers 🏀 pic.twitter.com/4PHFlXWZzL
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 23, 2026
"Joe Mazzulla's doing an amazing job, Jaylen Brown's doing a great job leading this team. Everybody knows their role. As you see, they play hard every night," Spears said. "And then Tatum is about to come back with Vucevic? It's a scary Celtics team right now."
The Celtics have won three straight games by double digits, making it look easy. They still have a tough test coming up this week, however, with a road back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets.
If Boston wins both of those games or even just one of them, Joe Mazzulla's team will look even scarier as February winds down.
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