Celtics are defying the odds with back-to-back winning streak
The Celtics will play games on back-to-back nights 18 times during the 2015-16 NBA season. It’s a tough stretch of the schedule for any squad since it usually involves travel to a new city, fatigue from playing the night before, and limited preparation time in the roughly 20 hours before tipoff and the end of first contest.
Those circumstances translate into subpar winning percentages for teams facing back-to-backs. Just 43 percent of teams won matchups on the second night of back-to-back games last season, and that number dropped to 35 percent when the second game of the back-to-back came on the road.
Those odds, combined with a disappointing and draining loss against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night in double overtime, appeared to set up the Celtics team for failure on the road Saturday night. The Celtics were forced to travel to Charlotte to face a Hornets squad that was riding a four-game winning steak on the second half of a brutal back-to-back.
Incredibly, Boston fought back from a first half deficit and escaped with a 98-93 win, in large part due to 21 points and a career-high 13 assists from Isaiah Thomas.
“I feel like we’ve been pretty tough-minded on those back to backs and on those times when things hadn’t gone our way,’’ Brad Stevens said of the win at practice Monday. “It would have been really interesting if we would have pulled the Golden State game out how we would have played on Saturday. So there’s always challenges that you have to face, whether you’re having success or going through a tough one and that’s a part about coaching is, every day is a little bit different.’’
Challenging road wins like Saturday’s on back-to-backs have proven to be the exception rather than the norm around the league for most NBA clubs. For the Celtics though, the opposite has actually been true since last February. Saturday’s win was the team’s tenth consecutive win on the second half of a road back-to-back, highlighting an incredible stretch, as noted by Celtics radio play-by-play voice Sean Grande.
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Kelly Olynyk attributed the incredible streak of success on those back-to-backs to the team’s coaching staff and immense depth.
“Coach Stevens stresses being able to bounce back and play well on back-to-backs,’’ Olynyk said Monday. “I think it helps we have a deep team with lots of bodies who can do stuff on any given night. But it’s definitely something we take pride in: being able to bounce back and not letting one loss turn into two or three. That’s a big thing in the NBA when you play every other day, every day basically. It’s not letting them snowball and pile up. When you have one, you cut it there.’’
Jae Crowder echoed that very sentiment at Monday’s practice of the team needing to have a short memory when it comes to tough losses.
“We’re trying to build that relentless attitude,’’ Crowder explained. “We’re trying to be relentless and not feel sorry for ourselves when things don’t go our way. I think every guy’s being accountable. We’re just trying to build each and every day and work together to achieve a goal.’’
The streak and Boston’s focus will be tested once again on Wednesday night in Detroit on a back-to-back following Tuesday’s loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Celtics’ stretch of road success on the tail end of back-to-backs is not the kind of streak that will get much attention in NBA circles. However, with the Warriors’ undefeated start coming to an end Saturday night, it may very well be the best streak going right now in the league. At the very least, it is another promising sign of progress for the franchise in the third year of the Stevens era.
Behind the scenes during Steph Curry’s day in Boston
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