A Celtics team that was supposed to be spending the final weeks of the regular season licking its collective wounds enters Saturday night poised to make one final push for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics remain within striking distance of the top spot in the East after a stunning sweep of the four games on their Western Conference swing. And that streak came without their preseason Big 3, their second-leading scorer, their sixth man and their [...]
A Celtics team that was supposed to be spending the final weeks of the regular season licking its collective wounds enters Saturday night poised to make one final push for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics remain within striking distance of the top spot in the East after a stunning sweep of the four games on their Western Conference swing. And that streak came without their preseason Big 3, their second-leading scorer, their sixth man and their top scorer off the bench, plus the kid they signed from Germany nobody had heard of who turned out to be pretty good.
Including the last-second comeback against the Oklahoma City Thunder last Tuesday, a five-game win streak has put Boston three games behind the Toronto Raptors with seven games left in the regular season. The teams now play twice over a five-day span with the Celtics owning the tiebreaker if they can sweep the home-and-home, beginning Saturday night at TD Garden.
The top seed in the East remains a long shot given Boston’s myriad injuries and Toronto’s gaudy record of 31-7 north of the border. But the fact that the Celtics can entertain catching the Raptors this late in the year is a testament to the growth of their youth and the deft button-pushing of Brad Stevens. ►He has coached a depleted roster that has missing three All-Stars and up to six rotation players for the better part of the last three weeks.◄
Stevens was without Kyrie Irving (knee surgery), Gordon Hayward (ankle rehab), Al Horford (sprained ankle), Marcus Morris (sprained ankle), Marcus Smart (thumb surgery) and Daniel Theis (knee surgery). So he went to a zone defense and a big lineup with a frontcourt of Aron Baynes, Greg Monroe and Semi Ojeleye to help overcome a nine-point deficit late in the third quarter Wednesday night in Utah.
The Celtics were still down seven midway through the fourth quarter. But they closed the game on a 9-0 run with Jaylen Brown — returning from missing 17 days following a concussion — drilling the step-back, 3-pointer in the final second of a 97-94 victory. The second-year guard shared the court with two rookies (Jayson Tatum and Ojeleye), a backup point guard (Terry Rozier) and a journeyman guard who wasn’t in the league last year (Shane Larkin) for the winning possession.
It was a thrilling conclusion to a five-game stretch that included rallying from down six in the final minute to beat the Thunder and down 12 in the fourth quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers. The streak also reignites hope that Boston can extend its playoff run long enough for Irving and Smart to come back.
Morris said at the end of the road trip that he plans to play Saturday against Toronto. Horford is day-to-day, while Hayward and Theis remain likely out for the season.
Chatter on the local airwaves said that the franchise might be better taking a long-term view and pull the plug on the comeback bids of Irving and Smart — as well as Hayward once and for all. But with reassuring news in the wake of the “minimally invasive” procedure to remove a tension wire from Irving’s surgically repaired knee, and with Smart saying he is “confident” he will be back on the court this season, the Celtics have vaulted back into the NBA Finals conversation.
They have done it on the back of the resounding improvement of Rozier, the rejuvenation of Brown and Tatum after both experienced some youthful midseason lulls, and the big-shot ability of Morris. A now-healthy Larkin (knee) continues to look like a late-summer steal, Monroe is growing increasingly comfortable with his role on a new team, while rookies Abdel Nader, Guerschon Yabusele and Ojeleye have answered the bell with big shots and key contributions in the streak.
The Raptors have a spotty recent playoff history and the Cleveland Cavaliers look as vulnerable as they have since the celebrated homecoming of LeBron James. So a Celtics team that appeared to be limping toward the finish line may instead be gearing up for an extended playoff run after all.