When they crushed the Golden State Warriors 140-88 at the start of this month, the Boston Celtics simultaneously exorcised some of the ghosts of the 2022 NBA finals and added further lustre to what is on course to be a historically high-achieving regular-season campaign.
Thanks to 29 points from Jaylen Brown and 27 from Jayson Tatum on his 26th birthday, it was the third-highest margin of victory in Celtics history and their third 50-point win of the season – an NBA record. It was also their 11th win in a row, a run during which they had demolished their opponents by an average of 22 points, a margin of victory unmatched in NBA history over a single-season winning run of 10 or more games.