Boston Celtics Righting The Ship as Road Trip Looms
The Boston Celtics are getting their groove back just in time to hit the road on an important road trip.
The Celtics defeated the Orlando Magic 107-96 on Monday night, winning their second straight game behind 28 points and 7 assists from Isaiah Thomas and another strong outing from Amir Johnson (11 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocked shots).
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Barring a complete meltdown over the season’s final weeks, the Celtics appear to be on a path to meet either the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat or the Charlotte Hornets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The four teams are currently locked in a dead heat for positions three through six in the Eastern Conference.
Boston has bounced between third and sixth over the past couple of weeks. A four-game losing streak temporarily dropped them to sixth. After tonight’s victory, they trail the third-place Heat by mere percentage points.
The Toronto Raptors are currently sitting in second, a secure 8.5 games ahead of the Celtics. The Indiana Pacers are currently in seventh, 3.5 games behind Boston.
Losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Pacers, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Raptors have even briefly relegated the Celtics down a few notches in recent power rankings.
On the horizon for the Celtics is a five-game road trip. A collapse on the road might doom Boston to the seventh or eighth seed, meaning a first-round matchup against the Cavs or Raptors. A successful road trip and Boston will have served noticed they are not about to go away so quietly into the night.
Two of the five games are very winnable, with contests against the Lakers (Kobe’s last game against the Celtics) and the Suns. The Raptors are first up on the trip, with Boston also playing the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers in the next ten days.
The good news? Jae Crowder, who has been out for nearly two weeks, is traveling with the team on the road trip. Crowder has been noticeably absent, especially during the losing streak when the Celtics were outworked on the glass.
Thomas continues to place this team on his shoulders, even getting encouragement from the college head coaching ranks. And Johnson has averaged 10.8 points and 9.2 rebounds to go along with 7 blocks over the past five games. Performances like this will be needed more and more as the season creeps towards April.
Even better news is on the horizon as the Celtics will play four out of their last five games at home, including Charlotte and Miami to finish the season.
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The Celtics are getting healthy at the right time, finishing the season at home and are building a little momentum. The stars are aligning for a first round series in which the Celtics get home court advantage. Now it’s up to them to take care of the rest.