Sarni's Scrolls: Unstoppable Celtics

ESPN's Perkins questions Boston's championship credentials

The Celtics are gliding through the regular season.

Tuesday's 117-99 victory over the 76ers extended Boston's season-long winning streak to nine games.

The Celtics (46-12) have the best record in basketball and are favored to hang their 18th championship banner.

Current odds: Celtics +255, Nuggets +475, Clippers +475, Bucks +650.

However, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins isn't convinced Boston can win a championship. He has seen his former team be floated as favorites in recent seasons, only to fail once the playoffs got underway.

"We have revisited this topic so many times over the past two and a half or three seasons," Perkins said on "First Take."

"Because we've seen this movie before. The Celtics are not judged on regular season. Jayson Tatum is not judged on regular season. We haven't even seen Kristaps Porzingis in a meaningful playoff game. I don't know what he's gonna do in a series ... I can't sit up here on national television and say the Celtics are up there in a tier of their own." 

Boston has made it to four Eastern Conference Finals during the Jayson Tatum era. They've progressed to the NBA Finals once, losing to the Golden State Warriors in 2022.

The Celtics will get plenty of attention in the first 11 days of March with their next six games on national TV:

■ Friday: Mavericks, 7:30 ET, ESPN

■ Sunday: Warriors, 330 ET, ABC

■ Tuesday: Cavaliers, 7:30 ET, TNT

■ March 7: at Nuggets, 10 ET, TNT

■ March 9: at Suns, 8:30 ET, ABC

■ March 11: at Trailblazers, 10:30 ET, NBA

***

The United States no longer rules women's soccer.

That's becoming increasingly clear.

The Americans were knocked off their perch at last year’s World Cup, a shocking round of 16 exit.

Then, Monday, a stunning 2-0 loss to Mexico in a Concacaf W Gold Cup match.

 The USWNT and La Tri had played 42 times. Mexico had only won once. ... in November 2010. 

The U.S. held the majority of the possession, but Mexico was the more threatening team.

The game was the final match of the group stage for both teams and cemented Mexico as the winner of the group. The U.S. will still advance to the knockout stage, though, by virtue of having finished second in the group. 

"I think it just shows how far the game is coming and there’s no easy games anymore,” USWNT interim coach Twila Kilgore said. “And if we don't take care of business and we don’t execute, this is to be expected. We’ll step up and take ownership in that, and I think anytime you have a group that is willing to take ownership in things like this, it’s a good thing for the future of the tournament.”

***

Tony Segreto is a legendary South Florida sports and news anchor, an integral part of NBC6 for 40 years.

Samantha Segreto is Tony's daughter, an editor-producer at NBC Sports.

Together, they are "Passing The Torch," a terrific new podcast.

Father and daughter. Wise experience and youthful exuberance. Male and female points of view.

"It has all the ingredients," said Tony, who, post-TV, is a regular on "The Defo Show" and "Mike Mayo's Lunchbox" podcasts on the South Florida Live network. 

 "It's about her career and my career and how they mirror each other."

"The idea developed over time," said Sam, a Florida State grad who started at NBC Sports in 2021.

"I've always been picking his brain. This is a fun way to spend moreĺ time, hearing his stories and getting advice."

Tony and Sam will be discussing the Olympics in future episodes. Tony covered the 1984 L.A. Games and the 1996 Atlanta Games. Sam is headed to Paris in July for the Summer Games, focusing on gymnastics coverage.

And that's called Passing The Torch.

***

Puck's John Ourand on legendary NFL columnist Peter King, who retired from full-time writing on Monday.

"King’s legacy will be as a perspicacious and accessible reporter, super-plugged-in expert, and newsroom mensch. 

"But his greatest legacy in the media business has largely been underappreciated. A quarter-century ago, King created the industry’s first proto-newsletter experience. 

"His weekly column, “Monday Morning Quarterback,” was a visionary product that offered news, analysis, and copious personal touches about his coffee addiction, craft beer fetish, and personal life in Montclair. 

"It was published to the Sports Illustrated website, sure, but it became the framework for this modern era of publishing.

"Companies like Puck would not exist but for the insights it offered into our brave new world."

***

Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue cover:

■ Natalie Portman

■ Bradley Cooper 

■ Lily Gladstone 

■ Jody Comer

■ Barry Keoghan

■ Jenna Ortega 

■ Da'Vine Joy Randolph 

■ Pedro Pascal 

■ Charles Melton

■ Greta Lee 

■ Colman Domingo 

***

ETC.

■ Massachusetts is reportedly leaving the A-10 for the MAC in 2025.

■ ESPN debuts its National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) campaign -- “It’s So On,” designed to captivate both core and casual fans.... The NWSL has undergone its first league-wide uniform refresh.

■ Women’s World Cup champion Spain qualified for the Olympics for the first time.

■ The USMNT will play Brazil in a friendly lead-up to Copa America, June 12 in Orlando.

■ Long-running efforts to revive the site of RFK Stadium as a potential new home for the NFL team could take a big step forward Wednesday, as Congress is set to consider a bill that would allow D.C. to enter into a 99-year lease on the federally owned land.

■ Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart has signed the first private-jet NIL deal. Nicholas Air will provide flight hours on a fleet for travel, training, and philanthropy as part of the agreement.

■ MLB will play its first game at Rickwood Field in June, the country’s oldest pro ballpark and longtime home to Negro Leagues games.

■ Winnipeg, the NHL’s smallest and perhaps most overlooked market, is sounding the alarms, and league commissioner Gary Bettman is paying attention. Despite sporting the third-best record in the Western Conference, the Jets currently have the league’s lowest attendance (13,140, down 6% from a year ago).

■ Sprinter Noah Lyles has signed a record deal with Adidas through the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

***

■ The LA Clippers are moving to the Intuit Dome next season, and they're bringing a new logo, court and uniforms with them. The redesign features a naval blue, ember red and Pacific blue colorway with a greater focus on the maritime roots of the Clippers name, which is derived from the ship.

■ American Ice Football is gaining popularity in Germany.

■ Ryan Clark is finalizing a new deal with ESPN.

■ Sunday's Iowa–Ohio State game -- Caitlin Clark's Senior Night game -- is the most expensive women’s basketball game ever. Average ticket price: $577.

■ Jon Rahm says Tiger Woods won't answer his texts about his LIV Golf move, which he finally admitted was about the money.

■ Erling Haaland scored five goals on Tuesday in Manchester City's 6-2 rout of Luton Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The 23-year-old now has 79 goals in 83 appearances for the club since his debut in July 2022, which is 30 more than any other Premier League player during that time (Mo Salah, 49).

***

■ Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande declined cameos in Jennifer Lopez's "This Is Me... Now" film. 

■ Odysseus — the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since 1972 — is likely to die soon. It touched down sideways, limiting its ability to send images back.

■ WalletHub's Happiest Cities in America (2024): 1. Fremont, Ca., 2. Overland Park, Kan., 3. San Jose, 4. Madison. Wis., 5. Irvine, Ca., 6. Honolulu, 7. San Francisco, 8. Pearl City, Hi., 9. Columbia, Md., 10. Scottsdale, Ariz... 182. Detroit.

■ Fast food future: Wendy's plans to introduce surge pricing at certain times of the day.

■ TikTok is not just for the young. Nearly 40% of users are in their 30s and 40s.

■ Macy's is closing 150 stores and giving itself a makeover.

■ Demand for lithium, the essential component in EV batteries, is projected to soar 20x by 2040.

■ There are more $100 bills in circulation than any other kind of US paper money, according to the Wall Street Journal.

■ February 28 is National Tooth Fairy Day.

***

THEY SAID IT

■ "I did.” -- Max Strus, when asked if he knew his 59-footer that lifted his Cleveland Cavaliers to a 121-119 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night was going to be good. ESPN Stats and Info said it was the second-longest game-winning shot at the buzzer in NBA history.