Kristaps Porzingis had quite the road trip.
Kristaps Porzingis had quite the road trip.Brandon Dill/Associated Press
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That is my one and only April Fool’s joke of the day. Those uniforms can burn.
Anyway, where my road dogs at? Can we get Luke Kornet to start barking for us?
The Celtics stayed dominant on their travels, beating the Spurs on Saturday and the Grizzlies last night to cap off the first 6-0 road trip in franchise history.
Boston is now an NBA-best 32-7 away from home, leaving the Celtics just two wins short of the all-time record for road wins in a season — held by the 2015-16 Warriors, winners of a record 73 games overall — with two road contests left.
Speaking of records, Derrick White made some Celtics history in Monday night’s win in Memphis, breaking the franchise’s single-season record for 3-pointers with his 246th triple.
He’ll likely be joined near the top of the all-time list by a couple different teammates, with Jayson Tatum (240) and Payton Pritchard (238) hot on his heels.
This was an unusually fun road trip, aside from all the winning and record-breaking. You had the exploits of Baylor Scheierman, a 15-point, 16-rebound effort from Kornet against the Spurs, all sorts of Unicorn behavior from Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford forgetting he’s supposed to be old and pouring in a game-high 26 points against Memphis — the road trip had everything.
Boston even broke out a little Showtime in Memphis, with Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Porzingis combining for one of the season’s prettiest buckets.
All six wins on this trip were by double digits (an average margin of victory of 17.8 points per game!) as the Celtics decided to just mop half the Western Conference while they racked up some frequent flyer miles.
The Globe’s Gary Washburn asked Mazzulla last night, point-blank, why the Celtics are so good on the road. Mazzulla’s answer: “I would venture to say our guys are good everywhere.”
Al Horford was red hot down in Memphis.
Al Horford was red hot down in Memphis.Brandon Dill/Associated Press
By the way, it was hard not to be impressed by Tatum on this stretch. He was genuinely doing it all in averaging 27 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 6.6 assists — while having to leave one game with more than a quarter to go with that ankle injury — over the course of five games.
Tatum didn’t shoot the ball all that well (46.5 percent from the field, 31.4 percent from deep), but was consistently impacting the game throughout the trip.
The Celtics get to spend the next week at home, playing a three-game set at TD Garden before a pair of road contests — where two wins could make some history — and two more at home to wrap up the year.
The playoff anticipation is in the air folks. Isn’t this fun?
Let’s get into it.
ICYMI 🗞️
Jrue Holiday is rounding into form at the right time.
Jrue Holiday is rounding into form at the right time.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Playoff season is a perfect time for Jrue Holiday to be sparkling
By Gary Washburn
There is no coincidence that the Celtics have surged in March and Jrue Holiday is enjoying his best month of the season.
A few weeks ago, there was legitimate concern that the tendon damage in Holiday’s right pinkie would affect his shooting and rob the Celtics of their best on-ball defender.T
he mallet finger injury is wrapped heavily by a black bandage and if Holiday even bends the finger, it will mean six more weeks of immobilization. But the 16-year veteran has figured ways to play and shoot with the injury and he has returned to previous form.
Continue reading
Other top stories we’re watching ...
The Celtics finished off a flawless road trip with a dominant win in Memphis Monday. Gary Washburn has the recap.
Boston wants Jaylen Brown to get his due with NBA awards, but managing his health ahead of the priority makes it a balance. Gary Washburn has more.
Jayson Tatum has long been on the fringes of the MVP debate, but never a true contender for the league’s highest individual honor. For Christopher L. Gasper, that’s just fine.
Trivia Tuesday 🧠
Each week, we’ll be asking a piece of Celtics trivia to test your knowledge on the 18-time champions.
Congratulations to — and I can’t believe I’m saying this — Tina Touri of Watertown, the first person to correctly answer last week’s question (yes, that is my older sister; no, this is not a nepotism thing; yes, she really was just the first to reply). As a refresher, we asked you to name the player who holds the Celtics rookie record for 3-pointers in a season.
The answer is Jayson Tatum, who hit 105 in his first season in 2017-18. In case you’re curious, here are the top five:
1. Jayson Tatum — 105 (2017-18)
2. Payton Pritchard — 102 (2020-21)
3. J.R. Bremer — 101 (2002-03)
4. Marcus Smart — 91 (2014-15)
5. Paul Pierce — 84 (1998-99)
Young Jayson Tatum sure was throwing up those threes.
Young Jayson Tatum sure was throwing up those threes.Maddie Meyer
Anyway, here’s this week’s question: Who is the Celtics’ all-time leader in fouls committed?
Know the answer? Send us an email at courtsense@globe.com, and the first person to write in with the correct answer will get a shoutout when the answer is revealed in next week’s newsletter. Good luck!
This week in basketball 🏀
Big week for basketball players having big feelings!
Joe Mazzulla will have been crushed to miss another NBA fight, as he was busy preparing for Memphis while things got physical between the Timberwolves and Pistons on Sunday night.
It was some fracas in Minneapolis, with a seemingly innocuous foul by Detroit’s Ron Holland on Minnesota’s Naz Reid erupting into a brawl that spilled into the first row of the crowd.
Now, we don’t condone violence here at Court Sense, and I’m sure Adam Silver was having trauma flashbacks to another Pistons-related brawl that ended up a little further into the stands, but I do need to take the time to list off my five favorite things about this gigantic collective overreaction:
The fact that this fight happened so early. Usually it takes a full game of chippiness and tension to build to something like this, perhaps some feelings getting hurt late in a blowout — nope, these guys were ready to fight after less than 16 minutes of basketball;
I called it an “innocuous foul,” and honestly, even that might be harsh. This might’ve just been a clean strip! Why are we so angry?
Seven people got ejected, including Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Wolves assistant Pablo Prigioni. Great job being the adults in the room, guys;
Minnesota mocking Pistons guard Malik Beasley’s signature shimmy, because I guess this is just a rivalry now;
The poor baseline cameraman. The broadcast tried to cut to his angle as the brawl broke out, just to provide a first-person view of said cameraman getting smushed by some very large humans.
Amazing stuff. While some bits of this are funny (to me, anyway), videos from the crowd showed how dangerous this potentially could’ve been as the altercation got into the seats on the baseline.
Outside of that whole thing, there was also a fun little disagreement between future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant and Hall of Fame nuisance Dillon Brooks, which saw Brooks get ejected. Brooks took it ... not well.
I really just tell you this so you can see Bill Kennedy, my favorite refereeing gem, deliver one of his signature post-review announcements. They are gold, every time.
Up next ☘️
The Celtics are off Tuesday before hosting the Heat on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Boston).
See the full Celtics schedule here.
This story first appeared in Court Sense, a biweekly Celtics newsletter from Boston Globe Sports.Click here to join the fun.
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.