Ranking the top-5 Boston Celtics killers so far this season
The Boston Celtics have been a victim of the dreaded Celtic killers since the dawn of time, or at-least social media.
Whenever a random NBA player goes off on the shamrocks, delivering a career performance, it always launches the fans into a frenzy.
The term “Celtic killer” describes a player that always plays above their season averages or paygrade against the ball club. I took some time to research five such players that perfectly fit this narrative to a tee.
Guys that have simply outplayed expectations against the white and green.
Some familiar foes, and a couple of outstanding outliers; all seem to relish the opportunity to play Boston every season.
Catapulting their season averages through the proverbial roof against the Boston Celtics. All in an astonishing effort to baffle the franchise’s faithful followers.
We are zoning in on their performances as of late against the C’s, over the last season and a half. These are guys that raise their level of fire against Beantown for whatever reason.
Is it in that dirty water from the Charles River? Is it revenge-fueled aggression?
Very well could be a mix of both.
Let’s delve into the top five Boston Celtics killers thus far into the 2021-22 NBA season.
Boston Celtics killer No. 5) Facundo Campazzo
The Boston Celtics are no stranger to the crafty play of Denver Nuggets’ international man of mystery, Facundo Campazzo. The mystery is how he manages to double his scoring average playing against the C’s.
The 5-10 point guard comes from Argentina and came into the league undrafted, starting his NBA career just before hitting his 30s. A very common situation for some of the best international ballers to get late starts on coming to the league.
Campazzo plays the role as a backup guard in the Nuggets rotation and sometimes even dips to that of a third-stringer competing with Monte Morris, Austin Rivers, and Bones Hyland for playing time.
Season averages of just 5.8 points and 3.6 assists per game on a woeful 37 percent shooting from the floor and just 31 percent from three do not jump off the page.
That said, his averages are on steroids against the Boston Celtics during his three career games against them, scoring 14.3 points and dishing out five assists per contest with a block and steal for good measure.
It’s not just the fact that Campazzo more than doubles his scoring against the shamrocks, but he also sees a rise in efficiency as well.
As we mentioned, he is having a down shooting year with lower percentages across the board. You would not know this against Boston when he shoots over 52 percent from the field and a staggering 53 percent from distance.
The little guy, as Tommy Heinsohn would say, looks like a starting-level point guard against the C’s. Averages of over 34 minutes per contest could play a part in this uptick of play.
However, the Argentinian guard is officially a Celtic killer!