NBA Scores 2018: Are we panicking about the Celtics (no) and 7 more things from Wednesday

Sure, the Boston Celtics are a long ways removed from their 16-2 start to the season, a dominant performance totally unexpected from a team that suffered a massive injury to Gordon Hayward during the season opener. That 16-game win streak naturally set expectations a little too high, and, even in the moment, we knew it wouldn’t be sustainable.

The most pessimistic Celtics fans might be panicking now that the team has lost four of their last five games, allowing 111 points per 100 possessions during that span. They’ve even lost the No. 1 seed to the Toronto Raptors, sitting two games behind their division foes. But panic would be the silliest reaction to this all — every team is allowed a bad stretch of games.

Boston has a few ailments — Marcus Smart is injured, Jayson Tatum has struggled due to a finger injury and also possibly hitting a rookie wall, and the team generally looks slow. The players get it, like Al Horford:

Or Kyrie Irving:

The Celtics are a flawed team without Hayward, and their success this season despite that has been admirable. They’re still a great team, much better than they’ve been the past five games, and there’s no reason to doubt Brad Stevens getting his team back on track after the break. They may not surpass Toronto — wow, that team has been great — but they will still likely stave off the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 2 seed.

This held up as the winning shot, but Philadelphia almost blew it.

After Redick put them up, 102-99, the Heat missed a potentially game-tying triple. Robert Covington made the game 104-99 on the other end, but Tyler Johnson pulled it to 104-102 with his own three. All the 76ers had to do was inbound the ball and hit a couple free throws, but Ben Simmons threw the ball out of bounds.

Dwyane Wade missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, ending the game unceremoniously. It was a crucial game for the standings, too — the No. 8-seeded Heat now fall 1.5 games back of Philadelphia’s No. 7 seed.

Kevin Durant exploded for 50 points on Friday, but it wasn’t enough for Golden State to top the Portland Trail Blazers. With the loss, the Warriors have officially fallen to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. A drop below No. 1 this late in the season hasn’t happened to the Warriors since the 2014-15 campaign.

Golden State is now 44-14 this season, a half game behind Houston at 44-13. It’s worth noting the Rockets have also secured the tiebreaker between the two teams this season, winning the series 2-1. (They only play three games this year.)

The Warriors have had a few problems with their bench and with motivation after recording the most regular-season wins across three seasons in NBA history. (They tallied 207 victories from 2014 to 2017.) They’ll be fine, but if you want to take this as a sign the Rockets are a legitimate contender to them, that’s acceptable as well. Houston general manager Daryl Morey couldn’t resist one amazingly petty tweet, too.

#RIPCity is Portland’s favorite hashtag, and the Blazers won on Wednesday to allow Houston to sneak past the Warriors. What a great league this is, man.

The Internet is really locked in on this debate: Who is better between Simmons and Mitchell? Things didn’t get any better with the two rookies putting up gaudy numbers in wins for their respective teams.

Simmons dropped another triple double — his sixth of the season. He’s just one away from tying Magic Johnson for the most triple doubles by a rookie since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976.

Meanwhile, Mitchell dropped a casual 24 points, seven assists, and four rebounds to help the Jazz win their 11th game in a row. It’s practically impossible to distinguish between these two rookies right now. They’re both having phenomenal seasons.

You can make legitimate arguments for each player — one is putting up historic numbers on a solid team, while the other is leading a team that has been unhealthy and shouldn’t even sniff the playoffs. Those are both incredible accomplishments for such young players.

At this point, we just have to sit back and enjoy them. When it comes down to it, voters will have to make a decision. But until then, this is some great basketball.

Wizards 118, Knicks 113 (Bullets Forever recap | Posting and Toasting recap)

Pistons 104, Hawks 98 (Detroit Bad Boys recap | Peachtree Hoops recap)

Hornets 104, Magic 102 (At the Hive recap | Orlando Pinstripe Post recap)

Pacers 108, Nets 103 (Indy Cornrows recap | Nets Daily recap)

Clippers 129, Celtics 119 (Clips Nation recap | Celtics Blog recap)

Raptors 122, Bulls 98 (Raptors HQ recap | Blog a Bull recap)

Rockets 100, Kings 91 (The Dream Shake recap | Sactown Royalty recap)

Thunder 121 , Grizzlies 114 (WTLC recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)

Pelicans 139, Lakers 117 (The Bird Writes recap | Silver Screen and Roll recap)

Jazz 107, Suns 97 (SLC Dunk recap | Bright Side of the Sun recap)

Trail Blazers 123, Warriors 117 (Blazers Edge recap | Golden State of Mind recap)

76ers 104, Heat 102 (Liberty Ballers recap | Hot Hot Hoops recap)