Celtics finish tough 15-game stretch looking like much better team originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON — When the Celtics suffered a tough loss at home to the Utah Jazz on Nov. 3 that dropped their record to 3-5, they did not look like a playoff-caliber team. They weren’t in sync offensively, the defense was not executing at a high level and the offseason additions were still settling into their roles.

Fast forward one month and the Celtics look like a much better team. And not only that, they have the look of a squad that could make a run in the Eastern Conference playoffs if healthy.

Beginning on Nov. 5 with a win against the Washington Wizards and ending Friday with a win over the rival Los Angeles Lakers at TD Garden, the C’s have just wrapped up one of the toughest portions of their regular season schedule.

This 15-game stretch, during which the C’s earned an 11-4 record, spanned one month and included matchups versus a lot of quality opponents. Eleven of the 15 games were against teams currently in a playoff spot.

The Celtics beat the No. 1 team in the East (Detroit Pistons), the No. 2 team in the East (New York Knicks), twice beat the No. 4 team in the East (Orlando Magic), and the No. 2 team in the West (Los Angeles Lakers).

Boston has won four straight games — its longest win streak of the season so far — after dispatching the shorthanded Lakers. The C’s are 9-2 in their last 11 games, which has vaulted them up from the play-in tournament spots to fifth place in the East standings. Only four games separate the Celtics from the first-place Pistons.

What’s been going right for the Celtics? Well, quite a bit, actually.

During this 15-game stretch, the Celtics ranked No. 7 in the league in points per game (120.6), fifth in field goal percentage (49.5), No. 3 in 3-point percentage (40.1), No. 12 in rebounds per game (44.7), No. 8 in blocks per game (5.4), No. 1 in offensive rating (126.0), and No. 3 in net rating (10.7).

“We got guys who are finding their stride, feeling confident, and you can see it,” Celtics wing Jaylen Brown said postgame.

Speaking of Brown, he has been the leading force for the Celtics. He averaged 30.4 points over this 15-game span — the fifth-highest in the league — while shooting 48.5 percent from the field, along with 7.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He’s literally playing at an MVP level of late, and proving that he absolutely can play like a true No. 1 option in the absence of Jayson Tatum.

Jordan Walsh also is making a strong impact at both ends of the floor, but especially on defense. His perimeter defense, hustle, tenacity and rebounding have made a huge difference in Boston’s recent success, evidenced by the team’s 9-2 record since he was elevated to the starting lineup.

He has shot 18-of-19 from the field (94.7 percent) over his last three games. He’s also averaged 15.3 points per game over his last four contests.

Despite the uptick in performance on a team basis and individually, there are still plenty of areas where Boston can improve.

Even though the Celtics’ defense has been better of late, their defensive rating of 114.7 (17th in the league) is far below where it’s been in previous seasons. The Celtics need to rebound better, too. They rank 17th in rebounds per game. Drawing fouls has been difficult for the C’s as well. They are the only team in the association averaging fewer than 20 free throw attempts (19.2) per game.

The Celtics also could use another center who can rebound and defend the paint. Neemias Queta is making a strong case to be in the Most Improved Player Award conversation, but the depth behind him isn’t great.

The Celtics have hit their stride over the last 15 games. This is a scrappy team getting contributions from a lot of different guys, headlined by Brown’s heroics.

There’s still a lot of season left to play, but it’s fair to say the Celtics have exceeded expectations to this point. And the scary part for the rest of the league is they can play a lot better.

“I think the expectation level has always been the same in my brain,” Brown said. “Just come out, compete and maximize our potential and kind of go from there. Don’t focus on the end result, focus on what you control and what’s in front of you. And that’s winning each possession, being the harder playing team, all that good stuff.

“It sounds boring, but that’s the type of stuff that leads to building a really good team.”

Kevin Durant became just the eighth player in NBA history to reach 31,000 career points during the Houston Rockets' 117-98 win against the Phoenix Suns.

The 37-year-old started the game needing just four points to hit the milestone and took his tally to 31,000 points with a 10-foot jump shot midway through the first quarter.

Durant, who finished the night with 28 points to move to 31,024 overall, sits behind Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James on the all-time list.

"As you're coming up into the league, you look at these guys as heroes and you put them on pedestals, and you look at their accomplishments as sometimes unreachable," Durant said.

"But then you get on that road trying to do your thing. That's what I've done since 2008.

"I've been focused on trying to be the best player I can be, and they set a standard for each player when they left the league.

"Guys like Wilt, Michael, Kobe - I'm missing so many guys - they just set a standard that I try to reach every day."

Antetokounmpo out for up to a month

The Milwaukee Bucks expect to be without star player Giannis Antetokounmpo for the next month as he recovers from a calf strain.

The Greek power forward limped out of Wednesday's game against the Detroit Pistons after falling to the ground during a defensive play.

Initial scans indicated the 31-year-old could miss between two to four weeks.

But the Bucks say they will give Antetokounmpo added time to recover given the nature of the injury.

"I feel like we should learn that with calves - make sure they're healthy," Bucks coach Don Rivers said.

"So that may take longer than we want. That even may make Giannis frustrated over it, but we've just got to try to get that right."

Elsewhere, James and Luka Doncic were absent as the Los Angeles Lakers lost 126-105 to the Boston Celtics.

James, 40, continues to be troubled by a sciatica problem in his left foot, which saw him miss the first 14 games of the season.

Doncic, who missed the match for personal reasons, could return for the three-game trip against the Philadelphia 76ers this weekend.

NBA results in full

The Knicks' starting lineup is finally at full strength.

OG Anunoby returned to the floor on Friday against the Jazz, his first game since injuring his hamstring on Nov. 14. The forward missed nine games just when he was putting up some of the best numbers of his career. 

But Anunoby picked up where he left off, scoring 11 points and assisting one in 23 minutes on Friday night. As with any game Anunoby plays, his impact goes far beyond the stat sheet. The first defensive possession for the Knicks, Anunoby forced a bad pass from Jazz forward Svi Mykhailiuk, one of many stops by the Knicks as they got off to a 23-0 start, the best in NBA history since play-by-play has been recorded (1997-98), en route to a 146-112 rout. 

"I didn't really notice it. We were just playing. Someone told us later," Anunoby said. "I didn't even notice they didn't score; we were just getting stops and going. So felt pretty good just playing the way we try to play all the time."

That good feeling extended to Anunoby's health. He said he felt good after the game and that he missed playing with his teammates and playing for the fans. But he did not have a good time being unable to play. In those few weeks of missing action, Anunoby described his time recovering as "not fun" but still tried to help his teammates however he could. 

"Just try to help in any way possible," Anunoby said. "Be supportive, talk to my teammates, tell them what I'm seeing, and still help."

Part of that support is watching film and pointing out little things his teammates are not doing or what teams are doing to the Knicks and trying to get them to incorporate it.

Anunoby's 23 minutes was good, but head coach Mike Brown was hoping to extend his forward even longer, but the score dictated he empty his bench. Brown did allow Anunoby to play with the reserves as the rest sat on the bench, watching for most of the fourth quarter. 

"It was tough because you always wonder... you get a big lead, you don’t want anybody to get hurt. But we needed to get OG some game minutes to work on his conditioning," Brown explained. "He looked good for the time he was out there. I would have loved to get him 25-26 minutes, but 22-23 worked good enough, especially with the way we had the lead tonight."

Anunoby says he'll need just a couple of game to feel like he's in game shape, and he'll definitely need his conditioning when the Knicks welcome a physical Magic team to the Garden on Sunday.