Since the Celtics long locked up the number one spot in their conference, the angst from the fans and the media is primarily based in their collective angst. The “boring” part of the season where the Celtics are not one of the teams scratching and clawing like the others, merely going through the motions with relative ease.
Though close defeats at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks inspired a bevy of concerns, the numbers are still encouraging as is the teams history.
They’re now 21-4 in their last 25 games.
16 of the wins by 10+ points.
The 4 losses by 10 points…combined.
With 8 games left, Boston’s magic number is now 3 to clinch the NBA’s best record for the first time since 2008.
Given previous years you can count on the Celtics at least making it to round three. The worry is will they do it the way we want them to, or will they dig themselves into holes that’ll leave them vulnerable? History suggests it’ll be the latter. The day the Celtics easily despatch the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers or Miami Heat in a potential round 1 matchup is the day pigs fly.
The Celtics are masochists. The type of people who go to their landlord and demand their rents be raised because that’s how much they believe in the hustle.
I wish they’d stop doing that and just flat out run away with a game and series. It’s likelier the bottom gives out than the former happens.
Even as I write this my mind races with scenarios catastrophizing how it’ll inevitably go wrong for Boston. When you’re a team that needs however many breaks to make the NBA Finals you can be sure your luck will run sooner or later.
But that’s been the reality of the eastern conference since LeBron James left in 2018. The Toronto Raptors snuck by the 76ers by the slimmest of margins, were down 0-2 to the presumed champion Milwaukee Bucks, then Fred VanVleet became a father, the Golden State Warriors fell to a bevy of injuries and voila! You have an outlier NBA champion.
In 2020 the Bucks played at a 70-win pace before the pandemic shut the league down for four months. They came back sluggish and it left the door open for them to be slapped by Miami. Then Gordon Hayward gets hurt, Tyler Herro turns into ‘96 Michael Jordan and you have an improbable finals run.
The list goes on… 2021, Kevin Durant’s feet are too big and the Brooklyn Nets bow out to the Bucks who all game appeared ready to fold. 2022, Jimmy Butler uncharacteristically misses a would-be game-winning shot in Game 7. In 2023, Jayson Tatum sprains his ankle mere minutes into Game 7 and Miami wins in a anti-climactic fashion.
Luck. Every eastern conference team needs it. Even Miami in last year’s series shot an insane outlier percentage from deep and Caleb Martin became what Victor Oladipo was supposed to be, and Duncan Robinson magically became a rotation player again. This was like if the Celtics this year suddenly got carried to the finals off the backs of Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard.
Admittedly, I am handwringing over who’ll be their first round opponent. Though their core is made up of disappointing misfits, the Hawks proven themselves to be a sore matchup for the Celtics. De’Andre Hunter and Dejounte Murray providing size and shooting from deep that’ll off-set any Celtics attempt to maintain momentum. Timely baskets are a killer and when the games are close that’s when you concern yourself with the fact the Celtics have the slowest pace of any team in the clutch.
That all being said, it shouldn’t go more than six in favor of the Celtics. If it does, then heads will roll.
Miami is their historical foe and seems to bitterly be seeking out the Celtics. Performing well enough to remain in the play-in, but not so much that they’ll rise to the sixth seed and face a weak Cavaliers team. No, they want the Celtics. Deranged, sick people.
But I don’t know. There’s a cautious optimism when I think about a potential matchup with the Heat. Boston’s won all three of their regular season matchups against them, though a close February game came without Jimmy Butler. Boston smashed Miami with no one of real consequence missing in action by 33, on January 25th. Kevin Love and Jaimie Jaquez are fine players, but they’re not making up that much ground when the Celtics play like this.
The issues with Miami primarily are Bam Adebayo guarding Tatum or Brown and deterring shots near the rim without much way of dragging him away. Robert Williams was never a floor spacer, and Al Horford wasn’t consistent enough. Kristaps Porzingis is hopefully the solution to the dilemma “what do the Celtics do when the threes stop falling?”
I’m not doing the Chicago Bulls because they’re a normal playoff bottom feeder team. I like Colby White. Alex Caruso is way too overqualified yo play for this team. And I have a soft spot and still fear DeMar DeRozan.
Lastly, the 76ers with a potentially returning Joel Embiid. I don’t know if he’ll be 100% or 70%. He’s coming off a left meniscus injury that required surgery and is expected to play before the playoffs start. Embiid will undoubtedly have a game that inspires fear, but can he sustain it in a playoff setting?
Regardless, Philly knows everything they need to know about the Celtics to be as pesky as possible. Especially with Kyle Lowry now on the team who always turns the clock back when he sees green and white laundry.
Good Time Basketball 