While Everyone Was Tanking, The Celtics Became A Playoff Team

While everyone was tanking, the Celtics became a playoff team

By: NATE SCOTT 9 hours ago






Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports



There was once a dream that was the 2015 Boston Celtics playoff run. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish … it was so fragile.

It started as text messages from friends in Boston. Nothing too big, just saying that head coach Brad Stevens had the young roster playing well. An email asking if I saw the way Marcus Smart was playing lately. Small things, as if no one wanted to get too excited. As late as Friday Bill Simmons could only post the Eastern Conference standings with the caption “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….”

The whispers are gone. The Celtics were up 26 points on the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night. They ended up losing to the best team in the NBA, but only barely, after the Warriors made an incredible late run to win the game. It didn’t matter. On Sunday night this team of castoffs, a team everyone considered a tank job, hung around with the best in the NBA. They showed they belonged in the playoffs.

In the fourth quarter, I got a message from a friend of mine from Boston. It read: “Finals preview.”

He was joking. Mostly.




Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports


While teams all around them lose game after game, jockeying for position in the NBA lottery, the Celtics keep winning. It’s often said that tanking isn’t done by the teams on the floor but rather the GMs who set the teams up to lose. Elsewhere, teams are living that out. Danny Ainge hasn’t done Brad Stevens and the Celtics any favors, but here they are. After losing 11 of the first 15 games of the season, the Celtics look primed for a run at the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference.

How on earth did they get here?


Brad Stevens is awesome





Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports


It’s incredible what a coach can do in the league. Stevens has a roster filled with little elite NBA talent. Evan Turner plays over 25 minutes a game for this team. Their best big man, Jared Sullinger, is done for the season with an injury. On Friday night, during the Celtics introduction to the fans, Marcus Smart (!) was the last name called.

This team doesn’t have a lot of talent. But Stevens has the players believing in the system. They work hard on defense. They pass the ball.

On top of that, Stevens has two or three plays a game, either out of the halfcourt offense or on inbound plays, that get the Celtics great looks at the basket. Those six points they get from those plays can be the difference in a game.


Isaiah Thomas gives them a legit closer






Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports


When GM Danny Ainge traded for point guard Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline, I thought Thomas would bring a nice playmaking ability to the young Celtics team. I didn’t think he’d go off like this.


Sean Grande        ✔ @SeanGrandePBP
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Isaiah Thomas has scored his first 100 points a a Celtic...

...it took him 116 minutes.
3:41 PM - 1 Mar 2015 Boston, MA, United States


The biggest thing that the 5-foot-9 Thomas does is give the Celtics someone on the team who can create his own shot at the end of a tight game, when teams really lock down on defense. The Celtics had played games tight all year this season, but when opponents locked down on defense, they didn’t have anyone on the team who could make a basket out of nothing.

Thomas showed off that ability when the Celtics played the Suns last week, and he was able to constantly get good looks and get to the hoop in crunch time. He was able to get the baskets needed, and the Celtics won the game.


There are totally random guys on the team who are hilarious




Jonas Jerebko (Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports)
Jonas Jerebko (Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports)


This has nothing to do with the success of the Celtics and is more just about how fun it is to watch them. Sweden’s own Jonas Jerebko plays minutes for this team. I’ll give you a minute to go Google him. Jae Crowder got 27 minutes on Sunday night. The Celtics have someone on the team from Italy named Luigi Datome, who apparently was on the Pistons for two years before joining the Celtics. Watching the team, you learn something new every time.

Will the Celtics nab the 8th seed? It’s still an outside shot. They don’t have a ton of talent, they’re still rebuilding, and I don’t think GM Danny Ainge cares if they make it much one way or the other.

But for fans of Boston basketball, this is going to be a lot of fun. And they don’t have to whisper anymore. This Celtics team is fun to watch. Spread the word.






bob



.

Another writer who throws the word "tank" around like he's playing a game of darts.  He says everybody was considering them a tank job.  Well, I believe I'm somebody, and I never once figure them for a tank job.

But, aside from being somewhat patronizing (I don't think I'll have to google Jerebko to know who he is), at least he's sort of complimentary to the Celtics' growth pattern.

Sam