10 indelible moments that defined the 2014-2015 Boston Celtics
The Celtics went from bottom-feeder to the playoffs this past season, a result of second-year coach Brad Stevens maximizing his profound coaching skills and squeezing every last drop out of an ever-changing roster. The Celts overachieved and then some, and it sure was fun to watch. Here’s a look at a handful of the most important moments of this most unexpected season.
1. Smart play by Marcus – One night after an ugly home loss to Milwaukee that kept their palyoff hopes in question, the Celtics went to Toronto and put a couple of their most impressive traits of the season on display. First, Stevens unveiled yet another one of his patented after-time-out plays, springing Thomas for a run at the basket with the Celts down on the final possession of overtime. Thomas got swallowed up in the paint, but rookie point guard Marcus Smart was right there to scoop up the loose ball and lay it in for a buzzer-beater. The Celts wouldn’t lose for the remainder of the regular season, but perhaps just as impressive was that this win over Toronto was made them 10-1 on the second night of back-to-backs since Jan. 23, one of the most remarkable stats of the season.
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2. Buzzer-beater against the best – The last game before the All-Star break frequently features some players and teams mailing it in, anxious to get away for a few days. That’s exactly what happened at the Garden on a February Wednesday night when the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks blew a 14-point lead with seven minutes left in the game, allowing Turner to put in another buzzer beater and setting the Celtics on their second-half course.
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3. Rondo on the bench – The first time the Celtics really got a sense of what life would be like without Rajon Rondo came in early December in Washington, D.C. The Celts fell behind by 23 in the third quarter and Rondo sat while Smart, his heir apparent, led a big comeback that ultimately fell short in a 133-132, double overtime loss (not to mention, Rondo’s ex-teammate Paul Pierce moved into 16th place on the all-time NBA scoring list while the point guard sat). The Celtics got 82 points from their bench and a huge, clutch make by Evan Turner to tie the game with less than one second left in regulation, both signs of things to come.
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4. Welcome, Isaiah – Isaiah Thomas’s first appearance for the Celtics didn’t end well – he was ejected late in the game and the Celts lost in overtime to the Lakers. But one night later, just four days after being dealt from the Suns, Thomas found himself back in Phoenix beating his old team for his new one. Thomas scored 21 points, nine of them in the last three minutes, the high point being a four-point play with under two minutes left. The Celtics finally had their go-to guy.
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5. Rondo returns – The Celtics won their first game after trading Rondo then proceeded to lose four in a row, seven out of eight, nine out of 11 and 12 out of 15. It seemed like the Celtics had driven straight back into the tank with Danny Ainge at the wheel. Rondo’s return to Boston, in which he scored 15 first-quarter points en route to a season-high 29 in a 119-101 Mavericks’ win just two weeks after being shipped to Dallas, was the ultimate gut punch of that low stretch.
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6. Crowder clinches the 7-seed – The final home game of the season was another win on the second night of a back-to-back that ended in a buzzer beater against the Raptors. In this one, Jae Crowder ensured the seventh seed in the East for the Celts when he knocked down an off-balance, corner jumper as time expired. It was a nice way to go out on Fan Appreciation Night at the Garden, don’t you think?
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7. Zeller beats the Jazz – The Celtics won three in a row off of Thomas’s big game in the desert, but games against arguably the two best teams in the league – the Warriors and the Cavs — brought them back to earth (that Golden State game earns an honorable mention on this list thanks to the Celts running out to a 26-point lead in the first half that they ultimately couldn’t hold). Then the Jazz came to Boston, and the Celtics couldn’t seem to handle them either despite Utah being nowhere near the level of either Golden State or Cleveland. Luckily, Tyler Zeller was around to add his name to the list of Celtics with game-winners, saving Boston from a three-game losing streak and starting a run of seven wins in eight games.
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8. Gut check time – That nice run sparked by Zeller’s layup against the Jazz came to a screeching halt when the Celts went southwest to Oklahoma City and San Antonio in mid-March. First, Russell Westbrook ran them over, as he did to many teams in the second half of the season, in a Thunder win. Then, the defending-champion Spurs schooled the Celts like they hadn’t been schooled in a long time. Boston fell behind by as many as 25 points, and Smart grew frustrated to the point that he took a swing at mild-mannered veteran Matt Bonner and connected with Bonner’s giblets. The Celts were so unnerved that they came home and suffered a brutal loss to also-ran Detroit that took them out of playoff position two nights later. Maybe their run was coming to an end.
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9. Goodbye, Jeff Green – Probably the most upheaval the Celtics were in on a game day all year. They were on the verge of trading Jeff Green to Memphis, but the deal had yet to be finalized, leaving Green still on the roster but unavailable to play the Pacers that night in Indiana. The Celtics still fought their way to overtime despite being outmanned, but with Green now gone in addition to Rondo, the Celts were out there at 10 games under .500 without a lot for which to be hopeful.
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10. LeBron shuts the door – In what was a nice, tidy microcosm of the Celtics’ playoff series against the Cavs – and maybe even the season as a whole — Turner, perhaps feeling frisky after drilling a 3-pointer that made Game 3 a two-possession contest late in the fourth quarter, decided to take the ball to the rim and try putting LeBron James on a poster. The problem was that LeBron didn’t really feel like playing along and stuffed Turner like he was some kid who won a contest to play pickup with the best player on earth. And that summed it all up in a sense; the Celtics were the upstarts nobody thought actually belonged and the Cavs were the establishment, the favorite there to put the Celts in their place.
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