Surprising Celtics Finally Playing For Something

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4718421/surprising-cs-finally-playing-for-something



Surprising C's finally playing for something
March, 17, 2015
MAR 17 12:02 AM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com



BOSTON -- For the better part of the past decade, the Boston Celtics have celebrated lopsided victories at TD Garden by playing an old American Bandstand clip that features a lanky, bearded dancer in a Gino Vanelli T-shirt. "Gino Time" became a symbol of success during the Big Three era and was beloved by Kevin Garnett, who would stand near the end of the bench and deliriously point at the screen each time the man in the Gino shirt appeared.

It often felt like a nightly ritual the way that team blew out opponents en route to its 2008 championship.

So you couldn't help but feel nostalgic when Brandon Bass, one of the few holdovers from that Big Three era, shuffled down next to Gerald Wallace -- one of the players acquired from Brooklyn in the trade that shipped out Garnett -- and implored him to watch the clip as it ran during the final TV timeout of Monday's 108-89 thrashing of the Philadelphia 76ers.



Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports
Avery Bradley isn't surprised the Celtics are in the playoff mix at this point in the season. "I knew we would have a chance if we set our mind to it," he said.


Bass couldn't get Wallace or anybody else on the sideline to stick with the clip, but his smile was as wide as the one Garnett used to wear. For someone like Bass, who has endured the rigors of the rebuild the past 20 months after tasting playoff basketball in the Big Three era, Boston's recent rejuvenation is something to savor.

The Celtics won their fifth straight game on Monday night, their longest win streak since hiring coach Brad Stevens. Boston has won seven of its past eight and 10 of its past 13 and now sits in a virtual three-way tie for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Nobody could have seen this coming, right?

"I saw that we were improving every single game and I knew we would have a chance if we set our mind to it," said eternal optimist Avery Bradley, the longest tenured member of the Celtics at the ripe age of 24. "We never thought we didn't have a chance to make the playoffs, now we're right there."

Two months ago, these perpetually changing Celtics, having traded away both Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green, were 13 games under .500 and embarking on a six-game road trip out West that was supposed to ensure their spot in the high lottery. Boston pulled off a pair of one-point victories in Portland and Denver and everything changed.

Boston is 17-10 since that point. It was still 13 games under .500 after an overtime loss to the Lakers a month ago, but has really turned things around since that point, posting a 10-3 mark over the past month.

"Obviously, we're judged on wins and losses, but I don't really know about the total number [of wins] or how many games out of how many games," Stevens said. "I just think I knew we were on the right track. Even when we were losing earlier in the year, I felt like we had made a lot of progress, tactically and technically, on both sides of the ball. It was just a matter of getting us over the hump. And we found a group that's really connected and playing well and we're fortunate that they've continued to play well with guys out.

"I mean, four straight [wins] without Isaiah [Thomas] now, and three straight before without Avery. It's not easy to play without basically your two leading scorers, not even including [injured Jared] Sullinger in that. So it's been good, and the next man stepped up."

The Celtics will spend the final 16 games of the regular season jockeying with Indiana, Miami, and Charlotte for the final two spots in the East. Boston has one head-to-head matchup left against each team, all of which comes in an eight-day span from March 25-April 1.

Boston took care of business Monday night by opening a 20-point lead over the 76ers after one quarter, then got a rare chance to set the cruise control. That alone showed progress for a team that couldn't stop fumbling away big leads earlier in the season (and the Celtics' only loss in the past eight games came when they blew a 20-point advantage in Orlando).

After Monday's game, Stevens was bombarded with questions about progress and playoff potential. He did his best to keep the hype at arm's length.

"We're going on a tough road trip; that's really all I'm thinking about right now," he offered while referencing a trip that will see the Celtics make stops in Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

Stevens has encouraged his team to embrace the idea of a playoff run, even before the players really injected themselves with this recent surge. He's maintained that, as members of a team with 17 championship banners hanging above their home court, the Celtics should have an expectation of making the playoffs.

Obviously, Boston is being aided by a dreadful Eastern Conference. But this team doesn't worry about what's beyond its control. All these Celtics know is that in a season that's featured 11 trades and 40 total roster players, this team now has a very real chance to extend its season when no one would have believed that possible a couple months ago.

"It's a lot of fun," said Tyler Zeller, who scored a career-high 26 points in Monday's win over the 76ers. "The whole year, we've been changing. I think [Celtics president of basketball operations] Danny [Ainge has] done a great job putting together the team that we've got. We've been playing with different players every night and finally have a team where we've settled in, playing with the same players every night, and it's fun to go to battle that way. We do a great job of playing hard and playing together."

The Celtics need a healthy Thomas back in their lineup for a true playoff push, but he's expected to be sidelined for the road trip because of swelling in his back from a hard fall last Monday in Miami. Stevens admitted Monday that, "We're a better team with Isaiah." But these Celtics have faced far greater adversity this season and just keep moving forward.

Boston has won nine of its past 10 games at the Garden -- its lone loss coming when it kicked away a 26-point lead against the league-leading Golden State Warriors. Most of those victories have been of the nail-biting variety, but Monday's triumph offered a rare chance to remember how it used to feel around here.

The Garden roared as Boston built its early lead, fans shouted "Gigi!" each time cult-hero-in-the-making Luigi Datome touched the ball (and damn near imploded the building when he produced three blocks in the game), then danced their way to the exits with Gino.

There's still plenty of work to be done to get into the playoffs, but the real drudgery of the rebuilding process might finally be in the rearview mirror. These Celtics know they are playing for something now and, more importantly, into the future.

A future they hope includes a bit more Gino Time.



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From a media point of view, a streak—winning or losing—can result in repetitive writing.  But winning is better.

Sam