Injuries have not prevented the Celtics from compiling a 52-23 record heading into Saturday night’s game with the Toronto Raptors and a lot of the credit should go to the fifth-year coach.
In his first four years with the Celtics, Brad Stevens received a combined total of 14 first-place votes for the NBA coach of the year award.
It is safe to say that Stevens will be exceeding that number when 100 media members cast their ballots this season.
The Celtics have had only three winners of the top coaching honor since it was initiated in the 1962-63 season, but Stevens is going to be in the running to join Red Auerbach (1964-65), Tommy Heinsohn (1972-73) and Bill Fitch (1979-80).
Stevens would certainly be a worthy recipient of the league’s Red Auerbach Trophy, given the way he has guided the Celtics through a season that took a bad turn less than six minutes into opening night.
That is when Gordon Hayward, the prize free agent who reunited with his college coach last summer, went down with a gruesome ankle injury against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
All the planning that had been done after the Celtics signed Hayward and obtained Kyrie Irving in an August trade went out the window in a split second, but Stevens got the Celtics right back on course.
Following a 0-2 start, the Celtics put together a 16-game winning streak and led the Eastern Conference for a while until the Toronto Raptors took over the top spot.
Heading down the stretch, the Celtics (52-23) trail the Raptors (55-20) by three games with seven to play. And the two teams are squaring off twice in a five-day span beginning Saturday at the TD Garden (7:35 p.m., TV: NBC Sports Boston; radio: WBZ-FM/98.5) with a rematch Wednesday in Canada.
It was impressive enough that Stevens put the Celtics on the right path after the injury to Hayward last Oct. 17.
What has also been remarkable is the way the Celtics have kept going late in the season when surgeries have left them without Irving (knee), Marcus Smart (thumb) and Daniel Theis (knee).
That makes it two starters and two key reserves unable to play, yet the Celtics have the fourth-best record in the NBA and are one win away from equaling last season’s total. Irving and Smart could be back by the second round of the playoffs while Theis is finished until next season.
Credit Stevens with making it all work despite the obstacles. The team is 11-4 without Irving, and Stevens has plugged that hole with Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin.
He has used 16 different starting lineups and has maneuvered a roster that includes five rookies plus two other first-year players on two-way contracts with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA G League.
Incredibly, the Celtics went 4-0 on their recent western swing despite having Marcus Morris miss two of the games and Al Horford sit out against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
The trip included a win over the Portland Trail Blazers, one of the hottest teams in the NBA, and the Jazz, who are battling for one of the last playoff spots in the Western Conference.
The shorthanded Celtics rallied to beat the Jazz despite not having both Horford and Morris and used a starting lineup of rookies Jayson Tatum and Guerschon Yabusele, Aron Baynes, Jaylen Brown and Rozier, with a bench of rookies Abdel Nader, Semi Ojeleye plus Larkin and Greg Monroe.
Stevens pushes all the right buttons, getting the most out of what he has, just like he did in the past with the Celtics.
Brown and Tatum are developing into something special, Rozier’s game has grown immensely and Larkin, who was in Spain last season, contributes whenever he is needed.
There are plenty of quality candidates for the coach of the year award.
In the East, Dwane Casey has led the Raptors to a 55-20 record, Brett Brown has the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and Nate McMillan has helped the Indiana Pacers flourish despite losing Paul George.
In the West, last year’s winner, Mike D’Antoni, has the Houston Rockets with the NBA’s best record, Terry Stotts has the Trail Blazers third in the conference, Quin Snyder has the Jazz winning despite losing Hayward to free agency while Alvin Gentry and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame the loss of DeMarcus Cousins.
None of those coaches, however, has had to do the juggling act that Stevens has mastered this season.
After finishing fourth in the voting when the Celtics had the best record in the East last year, Stevens deserves the top coaching prize for the way he has kept a shorthanded team going this season.
Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.