Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
With this success comes greater interest, and with greater interest comes heftier prices. Including next year’s rates that have already been set, the Celtics have increased season-ticket prices by an average of 4.5 percent per season over five years. Increases vary based on seats, plans and tiers.
Pricing for one set of season tickets in a front row of a third-level, corner baseline section, acquired by the Globe, shows a slightly higher markup than the average in recent years. One seat was $40 per game in 2015-16, $43 in 2016-17, $48 this season and $56 next year.
“We price tickets largely based on demand and understanding what the data tells us about the actual market value of a ticket,” Celtics president Rich Gotham said in an email message. “The success of our team and excitement about our future has led to unprecedented demand with a completely sold-out season, a secondary market where our tickets are selling on average at 80 percent above face value, and a large waiting list for season tickets.”
Man, I hate it when teams jack up ticket prices. Whether it’s tickets, parking/arena food, cable TV, or even media subscription rates, we fans are being squeezed at every goddamn turn.
But these ticket increases are… reasonable.
According to Vivid Tickets, the Celtics have the 9th highest average ticket prices ($90) in the NBA. Imagine paying $177 to watch the Knicks? Boston’s in the same ballpark as other good teams like the Raptors, Rockets and Thunder.
The Celtics are also the cheapest ticket in New England (Red Sox – $99, Bruins – $115, Patriots – $326). My kids are nagging me to see the Bruins but I refuse to spend $400 for an afternoon of hockey.
I’ll give the Cs a pass on these increases, but they better not take advantage of one of the best fan bases around. One of my favorite moments late in the Celtics win over Toronto:
https://twitter.com/ETD51/status/980262253122478080
On Page 2, Dwane Casey choked big time.
Miles played 20 minutes last night. That’s the most on the entire second unit, and one more than starter OG Anunoby. He played 6.5 minutes of the fourth quarter, a quarter in which the Celtics outscored Toronto 28-15. Again, Miles was 0-for-6 on the night (and every shot was awful) and he couldn’t stop his man (who ended up as the Celtic’s leading scorer).
What was he doing out there?
This was definitely not Dwane Casey’s best night as a coach. If this game was to be a coach of the year referendum, man, Casey choked big time.
Even just setting aside Miles’ poor play, what, exactly, was the Poeltl-Valanciunas frontcourt we saw briefly in the fourth? Why did OG Anunoby see fourth-quarter minutes for pretty much the first time in a non-blowout situation? How do you run out an Anunoby-Miles-Ibaka-DeRozan-Lowry unit that had played all of two minutes together prior to tonight? It wasn’t a night to experiment, and there was no need to “search for something that worked” because the starting unit was working just fine.
The more I think about Brad Stevens NOT being the slam dunk favorite for Coach of the Year, the more pissed off I get.
Casey is a good coach who deserves credit for revamping the Raptors offense. But he’s nowhere close to Stevens.
The rest of the links
Herald – Baynes surprising 3-pointers show evolving game | ESPN – Tracing the key injuries in postseason race | NBC – Bad blood brewing between Cs/Raps
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