Counting Down in Beantown

After a loss against Dallas over the weekend, some people were worried, but the Celtics rebounded as they have been during the second half of the season. A trouncing of the Warriors shows Boston's continued to make strides towards a successful playoff outing. Even with a loss on the night of the great Kevin Garnett's jersey retirement, Boston just finds ways to solve problems as quickly as possible.

The Celtics' top-eight players are better than most of their opponents in the Eastern Conference. Derrick White is the perfect sixth man for the Ime Udoka led squad this season. Grant Williams is shooting at an elite level, and Pritchard provides the bench shooting and play-making that it desperately needs.

Even though these players failed to execute against the Mavericks last weekend, the talent is without a doubt there. Tatum came back to the normal numbers against Dallas, but seeing him have so many contests in a row with elite offensive performances demonstrates to the Celtics that it could happen at any moment. Ime Udoka has to be in contention for rookie of the year, and Jaylen Brown continues to fly under the radar during a career season. His dunk right in front of Kevin Garnett was just a glimpse of what this man can do, the problem is the lack of coverage a great player like him gets.

Last week the Celtics found themselves on top of the CBS NBA Weekly Power Rankings. The team rose seven spots from CBS's previous rankings and sat ahead of the defending champion Bucks, and the squad with the best record in the league, the Phoenix Suns. This power rankings list could be a slight exaggeration, but this Boston team has shown this season it can find its way through any challenges it comes its way.

After a win back in February of 2022, the veteran big man Al Horford stated, "Just real impressed with our group and like coach said, the focus...That’s one of the things he talked about and he emphasized for us and I think it all started with that practice. I felt like we had a really good practice and we were all really engaged, committed to what we needed to do."

Boston's defense continues to impress, after holding one of the best teams in the Western Conference to under 100 points. The Celtics are top three in almost every defensive category, including opponents' field goal percentage, opponent's three-point percentage, and opponent's field goals made per contest.

The offense struggled mightily against Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks, but a squad that is fifth in offensive rating in the last 15 games should keep their eyes towards the future of what can be. Tatum has risen to a whole new level as a star in the league and has continued to show signs of someone who can lead a championship contender.

The Celtics have been one of those teams with a whole list of players that have been overlooked during their careers. The focus has always been on elite NBA stars like LeBron, Giannis, and Embiid, but Tatum has always been some of those players who just keeps his head down and works. While head coach Steve Kerr is complaining about the injury on Curry, Boston continued about its business. The Warriors will be just fine, but as each game gets checked off the schedule, the health of the Celtics is going to be the reason why this team either sinks or swims.

Smart was never thought of as a point guard in the league, and Boston was always told that it needed a point guard, and after two tries of getting one, it had the right one right under its feet. Against the Warriors to start the road trip, Smart was dialed in from beyond the arc and was the anchor of the Celtic defense that held a top-11 offense to just 88 points. It was Golden State's fourth-lowest scoring output in 2022. A few losses here and there should not deter the progress of this team with less than a month left in the 2021-2022 regular season.

The end of the season looks like it is going to be a tough go with the Bucks, Bulls, and Grizzlies to close it out. By then, hopefully, the Celtics have clinched or secured a seed already in the playoffs or there is no fear of going down in the standings. Critics continued to talk about how Boston has not won a game against a quality opponent but wins over Durant and the Nets, as well as the Grizzlies, squashed that idea.

With less than 12 games remaining on the schedule, the Celtics know two things, their defense is hands down elite, and Tatum is going to have to carry this team when it comes down to big games. The supporting cast is miles better than the ones of the past that were put in place to surround Tatum and Brown. With players keying in on Tatum, he has to continue to find open teammates and share the basketball using his elevated vision, and court awareness this season.

The final countdown of important basketball games is beginning to start. A team that was thought to be mediocre at best in the months of November and December has flipped the entire season on its head. Boston is now one of the teams that many are picking as a dark horse contender heading into the playoffs. Even though some say the regular season does not matter, the truth is, it does. Getting out of the play-in tournament, and a bad first-round matchup has to be on the minds of the Celtics.

Maintaining a sixth seed or higher for the rest of the season is crucial, but winning as many games as they can to try to avoid some of the best teams in the East like the Bucks, and maybe the Sixers in the second round is salient as well. The postseason is all about matchups, and that is what the last few weeks are coming down to for Boston. The turnaround was impressive, but now it is time for Udoka and company to finish the job heading into the months of the NBA season that matter more than the rest.

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