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With a 117-108 road win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, the Boston Celtics became the second team in the league to confirm a playoff berth.
Currently owning a record of 46-20, the Celtics are ahead of the rest of their Conference rivals by a margin of at least 7 games with 16 left to play. The blockbuster Kyrie Irving trade seems to have been a genuine shot in the arm for the Celtics, as the point guard continues to leave opponents with broken ankles with the same dexterity that he displayed in the first 6 seasons of his career.
Losing Gordon Hayward within the first five minutes of their regular season campaign has not slowed the Celtics down by the least bit, as their record suggests. They have won high-voltage encounters against the Warriors, Rockets, Cavaliers and Raptors - who comprise the rest of the NBA's elite based on this season's evidence, so it is clear that their success is not a fluke either.
Let's take a look at the 5 most important reasons why the Celtics are a genuine threat to wrest the NBA championship from the Warriors:
#5 A deep rotation
Among the many deciding aspects of playoff basketball is the number of players a coach can field against his opponent through the course of a seven-game series. The deeper a team goes in its rotation, the more it can save its starters from unnecessary mileage through the course of both regular season play, as well as 2nd and 3rd quarters of playoff games.
The Celtics are one of the deepest teams in the league. They have three legitimate point guards - Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart would possibly be starters on other NBA teams. They were able to efficiently deal with the injury to Gordon Hayward because of the depth of their swingman rotation - players like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were able to absorb many of the minutes which were supposed to go to the 8th year stud from Butler University.
Daniel Theis, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes and Greg Monroe are 4 above-average NBA frontcourt players, all with different skillsets and the ability to hold their own against most NBA opposition. Any of the 4 could be paired with Al Horford based on whichever matchup would give them the greatest advantage in the game.
#4 Brad Stevens
One of the primary reasons why the Boston Celtics remained in the lottery for just one season after the departure of their big three of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett is the fact that they have one of the two best coaches in the NBA.
Brad Stevens has been a revelation ever since signing a 6-year, $22-million deal in July 2013 with the Celtics. Under Stevens' stewardship, the Celtics improved from 12th in 2013-14 to 7th the following season and were right at the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 53-29 last season.
Stevens' forte is his ability to write effective ATO (after timeout) plays - he is by far the best in the league at it. Other than this, he is a coach under whom many young players have shown markedly improved skillsets. In nearly five years at the helm, he has proved his ability to maximize the available talent on the roster.
This is clearly the best team he has ever coached in the league. The Celtics made the Conference Finals last season. With Stevens at the helm, who is to say if Stevens can't coach them to go two steps better this season?
#3 Clutch play
The Celtics embarked on a 16-game run to improve to a 16-2 record at the beginning of the season based on their solid play in clutch time. Despite being down by double digits against the Thunder (18), the Hornets (18), the Warriors (17), the Hawks (16) and the Mavericks (13), they came back to win all those games to consolidate what was then the best record in the league.
Their ball movement and offensive sets are noticeably improved in clutch periods when every player is locked in on both sides of the court. Their field goal percentage shoots up 6.6% (from 45.1% through the length of a normal game to 51.7%) and their net rating jumps up from 4.3 to 5.6 during money time.
In close games, a well-written play can often be the difference between defeat and victory. Expect Brad Stevens to always have a trick or two up his sleeve in clutch time.
#2 Star power
Every playoff series devolves into a series of matchups between specific players on the two sides of the court. Because of the 2 All-Stars in their starting lineup, the Celtics can genuinely be one-up on most possible opponents they face in the playoffs.
Kyrie Irving is the complete offensive point guard in the game other than Stephen Curry. Such is his scoring punch during the playoffs, he made All-NBA defender Avery Bradley look like toast in the Eastern Conference Finals last year, putting up 35.4 points per game at a staggering 62.2% field goal percentage. Playing on a loaded Celtics, expect him to be at least as destructive.
Al Horford is one of the best big men in the game mainly because of his ability to do it all at a high level. He is a good facilitator, a force on the boards, a good help defender and on-ball defender and can get his own buckets. Expect him to be at his best come playoff time.
#1 Defense
The Boston Celtics are the best defensive team in the league, bar none. Under Stevens' stewardship, the Cs are putting up a defensive rating of 101.4 points conceded per 100 possessions - this mark leads the league by a 1-point margin over the San Antonio Spurs who are rated second.
Their defense passes the eye test as well. They held the Golden State Warriors to just 88 points on their home court, and in their December matchup against the Rockets, they held the Houston franchise to just 36 points in the entire second half to emerge with a 1-point victory.
Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Al Horford are 5 elite defenders they can throw on the court at any time, and they also have the length provided by Aron Baynes at the center position and Marcus Morris at the power forward slot. Expect them to be locked in every night come playoff time and suffocate teams whenever they seem to be making a run.
