The atlantic division has been the talk of the nba over the past week, but the hottest team in that division—and in the nba at the moment—hasn’t been part of those headlines.
the boston celtics haven’t lost a game since late january, with their nine-game winning streak culminating tuesday night in a 48-point beatdown of the 76ers in philadelphia. yes, the sixers were without james harden, who hasn’t suited up since the deadline-day trade from brooklyn. but the celtics were without starting center robert williams and lost marcus smart in the first half to an ankle injury.
it didn’t matter. the celtics have found a variety of ways to win during this streak, which has turned around a season that was previously looking to end in the morass of .500 teams heading into a summer of questions about whether they should split up brown and jayson tatum. most close observers of the team realize the two long two-way wings actually complement each other very well, but that wouldn’t have stopped the talk from starting up if they lost in the play-in after last year’s first-round exit.
brown and tatum combined for 57 points on tuesday, but that hasn’t always been the case. in fact, both star wings have been slumping somewhat during the streak. they’ve found other ways to get it done. they’ve won comfortably, they’ve won close, they’ve won shootouts, they’ve won with defense.
a little under the radar next to the earth-shaking trade in their division, the celtics got a bit of a vibes reset at the deadline. without giving up anything that could be described as a core piece, they upgraded backup centers from enes freedom to daniel theis, and backup guards from dennis schroder and josh richardson to derrick white, who brings the combined strengths of those two players without the weaknesses. it was a nice bit of work from president of basketball operations brad stevens to shore up a few areas of need just as his team was already on a bit of a hot streak.
and now an eastern conference playoff race that already had six teams who could lay legitimate claim to being threats to make a deep run can credibly add a seventh. by the letter of the standings, the celtics may still end up in the play-in (which of miami, chicago, milwaukee, cleveland, brooklyn or philadelphia will be if they’re not?), but it’s become pretty clear that they aren’t a play-in caliber team.
michael dwyer/associated press
first-year head coach ime udoka appears to be growing into the role he took over when stevens transitioned into the front office over the summer. as dispiriting losses, both close ones and lopsided ones, piled up during the first part of the season, udoka would routinely call out his team’s effort. now, it appears everyone is buying in. boston has the league’s second-best defense, giving up just 105 points per 100 possessions.
the public infighting appears to be gone, too. near the beginning of the season, smart raised eyebrows with public comments about brown and tatum being ball-stoppers. amid tatum’s slow start and the growing pains of a rookie coach, they had the look of a team that had been together for too long and grown stale. it turns out, all they needed were a few roster tweaks and some time to adjust to a new voice at the head of the bench.
white, who has long been one of the best defensive guards in the league in san antonio, should make them even more dangerous at that end of the floor. if the calf injury that kept williams out tuesday isn’t a lingering issue, and smart recovers quickly from the ankle sprain that took him out of that game, what has rounded into a championship-level defense as we head into the all-star break could take the celtics much further once the playoffs start than anybody would have thought who watched them even as recently as a month ago.
“the energy is about to shift,” brown tweeted following the boston celtics’ 30-point blowout win over the miami heat on jan. 31.
two weeks later, it’s beginning to look like he called his shot.
