Three Keys to the Celtics’ Postseason Hopes
The Celtics may have a losing record, but 2014-2015 doesn’t have to be a lost season. Thanks in part to coach Brad Stevens’ refusal to wave the white flag and the dismal state of the NBA’s Eastern Conference, the Celtics will be in the mix for a playoff berth over the finals weeks of the season.
Here are three of the most important keys to the Celtics’ pursuit of a spot in the postseason:
1. Keep the backcourt on the court – After Isaiah Thomas arrived from Phoenix at the NBA trade deadline, the Celtics have surged into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff chase. Thomas joined Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley in a revamped and dynamic backourt that will likely need to lead the way into the postseason. With Thomas shipping to Boston around the time forward Jared Sullinger went down for the year, the Celtics became more backcourt-oriented bunch by design as well as circumstance.
For these talented guards to continue pacing the push, they need to actually be on the court. But there have been a couple of road blocks lately, starting with Thomas’s back injury and continuing with Smart earning a one-game suspension for a low blow against the San Antonio Spurs.
Even though the Celtics have managed fine without him, Thomas’s impending return will be crucial for the C’s down the stretch. Smart, meanwhile, needs to avoid any more lapses in judgment or “freak accidents’’ in order to stay on the court. He has been a assessed a pair of flagrant 2 fouls in two weeks, giving him four “flagrant points’’ on the year. This leaves him two shy of an automatic one-game suspension. Reserve guard Phil Pressey has performed admirably with Thomas out, but few teams can afford to have one of their most dynamic scoring options unavailable during a playoff race.
“It’s important he knows what he did impacts our team,’’ Celtics coach Brad Stevens said before Smart served his one-game ban.
2. Consistent play from Kelly Olynyk – Halloween was nearly five months ago, but the second-year big man is still trick-or-treating. While the Celtics don’t need him to go for 20 every night to keep in the playoff race, it would be helpful if he doesn’t submit another week in which he chips in just one made field goal combined in three of four games.
In the Celtics’ win over Memphis on March 11, he scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting while tallying six rebounds, three assists and three steals in 20 minutes. He followed that up with 13 points and five boards in victory over Orlando on March 13. He then posted a paltry three points on 1-of-12 shooting to go along with eight total rebounds against Indiana and Philly, combined.
The former Gonzaga star bounced back with 20 points (shooting 7 of 13 from the floor) in a March 18 loss at Oklahoma City, but retreated into his cave against the Spurs, with zero points and zero rebounds in 16 minutes. Since returning March 4 from an 18-game absence due to an ankle injury suffered Jan. 22 in Portland, his minutes are down (17.8 per game since his return) due in part to both Tyler Zeller’s consistency and overall superior play and the team’s success playing smaller and faster since the trade deadline.
3. Beat the direct competition – The Celtics will play all five teams they are in direct competition with for the final three playoff spots in the East. They visit Brooklyn, host the Heat, travel to Charlotte, welcome the Pacers to the Garden on April Fools’ Day and then the free-falling Milwaukee Bucks (4-13 since the trade deadline) come to town after that. All five these teams began play on March 22 within five games of each other in the standings. Three of these teams likely reach the postseason, while two will be left to lament their lack of ping pong balls in the upcoming draft lottery. During that stretch, the Celtics also have winnable games against the going-nowhere Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks.
With the exception of Miami, which has been getting some vintage work from Dwyane Wade to help stay afloat, there isn’t a single team among that group in the mix for those last playoff spots on anything resembling a hot streak. All the fumbling around by Indiana and Charlotte allowed the Celts to hang tight in the eighth spot despite losing to Oklahoma and San Antonio on their recent, brief southwest sojourn. Moving forward, the Celtics are in the enviable position of only having to worry about themselves. It certainly helps that both Indiana and Charlotte’s remaining opponents have a higher combined winning percentage than those of the Celtics.
The results in these games against their fellow bubble dwellers are crucial as the Celtics also have a pair of games against Cleveland on the schedule in the last week of the season, home and road games against the playoff-bound Toronto Raptors and a visit from Doc Rivers’ Los Angeles Clippers.
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