Celtics Season Hinges on Next 7-Game Stretch - Can They Rise Up?
Photo by Brian Fluharty-Pool | Getty Images
Every NBA season always seems to come down to a certain stretch of games that can determine playoff position or if there will be playoffs at all. For the Boston Celtics, that time is now.
Despite all of the 2020-21 season struggles, the Green Gang still controls their playoff lives with 26 games remaining. We as Celtics Nation don’t know which Boston team we will see. Will it be the one who started 8-3? Will it be the one that has went 15-14 from that start? Will it be the one that won 4 straight before the All-Star break? Or will it be the team that we saw from the second half of the first Bucks game through last night’s comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder? Inquiring minds want to know…
Brad Stevens has to be somewhat encouraged by what has taken place from Wednesday to Saturday. This included a win on the second night of a back-to-back that allowed his team to get back to .500 at 23-23. That second-half rally in the first Milwaukee game has to be encouraging. The Celtics' energy in the second game had to light his fire a little (although the late run by the Bucks to make it a single-digit win is cause for a little pause).
The 35-14 fourth quarter against the Thunder must have Stevens thinking that maybe things are beginning to turn. I know, I know - we had that same feeling going into the All-Star break only to have the Celtics come out afterward flatter than a pancake at IHOP and lose 6 of 8 going into the second Bucks game Friday.
But something happened on Friday. Boston shot 46.8% from 3 and totally outplayed Milwaukee for 40 minutes. They then carried the momentum from Wednesday and found that same momentum in the fourth quarter against OKC the other night. Ainge and Stevens have to be hoping that this is the time; that now is the point in the season where maybe, just maybe, this team has figured something out.
Once Tristan Thompson and Romeo Langford clear health and safety protocols, the Celtics will be as healthy as they can be. Add a healthy Semi Ojeleye to that mix, and Stevens will have his entire roster at his disposal for this stretch run of the season. These next seven games at TD Garden (which begins tomorrow night against a Pelicans team that the Celtics blew a 25-point lead and lost in overtime to on February 21) will give these players time to sleep in their own beds for 10 days despite having a back-to-back on April 6 (Philadelphia) and April 7 (NY Knicks). It may also give them a little more time to work on some of the little things that constant travel and no real practice time have made next to impossible.
It can also help Fournier, Luke Kornet, and Mo Wagner acclimate to their new team and new system. All in all, it is a chance to recharge their batteries while home and get everything in order to climb as high in the Eastern Conference standings as they can. They have to get ready for what is sure to be a tough postseason journey. While conventional wisdom is that this team cannot make it back to the conference finals, there is a reason why the games are played on the court and not on paper or social media.
Does the outcome of the season depend on what happens at TD Garden over the next 13 days? Only time and effort can answer that question, and we hope it is a resounding YES!
