Celtics End Season Living Up To Expectations

The 2015-16 Boston Celtics ended their season in a Game 6 104-92 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, as the C’s were defeated 4-2 in this Eastern Conference First Round playoff series. Fortunately, Atlanta stood no chance in the next round, as they took on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in which they were swept four games to none.

It was the second consecutive game the Hawks beat the C’s by double-digits, as their defense and consistent three-point shooting was the difference in this first round series. Sure the loss of Avery Bradley was a big influence of why the Celtics lost this series, but honestly the green were 0-5 in at Phillips Arena in Atlanta this year and all five losses outside of Game 1 were no contest.

The Celtics “go-to” player on offense outside of Isaiah Thomas was Marcus Smart who although has proven himself as a dynamic player on defense, has been a disappointment on offense this season.

It seemed like in the C’s four losses during this series, one part of their game would just go to trash. Including their 7-point 1st quarter in Game 2 and a total defensive breakdown in Game 6 allowing Atlanta to shoot over 50% from the field.

The series was a tough one for the C’s and Head Coach Brad Stevens, as they had far more expectations for themselves than any critic out their. “I think we should give the Hawks credit. They’re better right now,” Stevens said. “It pains me to say that, it’s a sour ending. But they just proved it over six games. That’s just kind of how my world works.

There’s a scoreboard and if you’re on the losing end then you’re not as good as the other team.”.NBA At the end of the day, the Celtics won 48 games this year which was an eight games better than 2015 so they have showed signs of improvement, but next year will be the key test from going from a good team to perhaps a great one.

What We Learned

This first round series had a lot of good that came out of it, more importantly the Celtics two game home stretch where they tied the series at the time is what we can take out of this series as a positive. Player’s that didn’t really have that much impact in the regular season, made the most of their minutes in these six games.

Celtics Forward Jonas Jerebko was at the back-end of the rotation as he was not hitting his shots like he has done earlier in his career, and was a big liability getting torched night in and night out during the regular season on defense. If it wasn’t for Jerebko in these two victories in Game 3 and 4, I could have realistically seen the green being swept for the second straight year, the Sweden-born product had a double-double in each game and was a real presence on defense during crunch time.

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On the other hand, I mentioned Smart was a big player for the Celtics this series, and I stand by it as the second-year guard had his best game in a Celtics uniform in Game 4 with a playoff-high 20 points.

Smart was the difference in Game 4, but not just for his offense but for what he did in the closing minutes defending Atlanta Forward Paul Millsap. Millsap had 45 points on the night and was determined to put the Hawks up 3-1 games at the time, but was denied as Smart allowed Millsap to shoot 1-for-5 in the closing minutes to hold on to a key victory that people thought would give the C’s enough momentum to capture this series win.

Unfortunately we were wrong, as the C’s got smacked up and down the court by the Hawks in Game 5 and 6 to capture the series. In my point of view it was because no one could be of help to star guard Isaiah Thomas, the guard averaged 24.3 PPG in this series and had no one to bail him out if his offensive game wasn’t right.

Thomas had a playoff-low 7 points in Game 5, the game turned out to be the biggest blowout in a 110-83 thrashing by the Hawks. I completely understand that not having Bradley was a big deal as he was the second greatest threat for the green, but in the future doesn’t General Manager Danny Ainge have to think that the Celtics need a superstar to compliment this scoring threat?

The Future

This offseason might be the most important for the Celtics since 2007, where they acquired legends Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and won the NBA championship the following season. Their has already been a lot of buzz in Boston about the need of a 4-5 star free agent, when I mention this I’m obviously talked about the star in OKC 6-foot-9 small forward Kevin Durant. Durant has been one of the best players this league has ever seen, and already has an MVP award in 2014.

Every-time the 27-year-old has visited TD Garden he has always complimented saying it is an “electrifying atmosphere”, and as you see the Oklahoma City Thunder getting throttled by the San Antonio Spurs 124-92 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi’s you start to see more doubt creeping in about the Thunder being able to get the job done and championship talks are beginning to dwell.

After the season, Durant will be an unrestricted free agent and has to think deep-down “Am I going to win a championship going through this conference?”, where you have teams like the Spurs and the Golden State in the way of reaching greatness. While in the East, the thrones ran by LeBron and the Cavaliers, it seems way more realistic of a chance to knock them down rather than two teams in the West that both lost under 15 games this regular season. So will Durant, make his way toward the Eastern Conference and perhaps be in green next year? Only time will tell.

Another big name that the Celtics would benefit from in free agency is veteran Center Dwight Howard. Howard averaged 14.9 PPG, 12.0 RPG this season for the Houston Rockets, although he may no longer be the top center in the game, teams like the C’s will be lining up for his services as he will “most likely” opted out of his contract this summer.

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Other unrestricted free agents the Celtics will have their eyes on will be Atlanta center Al Horford, who had a great season averaging 15.3 PPG and 7.3 RPG. The Celtics will also have their eye on a pair of Chicago Bulls, as veteran forward Pau Gasol (player option) and Center Joakim Noah will also test free agency.

The Celtics needs are real simple, size and scoring and Gasol is coming off a better year than in recent past with 16.9 PPG, 10.9 RPG, and 1.9 BPG. Noah on the other hand has gone through some career issues this season, while only averaging 4.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG had a rough year for the Bulls, first he loses his starting job, then gets injured. Noah if put in the right opportunity, could very well put his career back on the right path.

Draft Day

Again, the 2016 NBA Draft will be one of the most important Draft’s since 2007 where Ainge built a team to win the NBA Championship. The Celtics have a lottery pick (Brooklyn’s pick), as the Nets finished as the third worst team in the NBA. This pick will more than likely clinch a top 5 pick, which will be assessed at the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery May 19th where the C’s will have the 3rd best chance behind Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers in obtaining that #1 overall pick.

On June 25th the NBA Draft will begin as the Celtics have this lottery pick along with the 16th (from Dallas), 23rd (this year’s first round pick), 31st (from PHI), 35th (from Minnesota), 45th (from Memphis), 51st (from MIA), and 58th (from CLE).

These eight draft picks will be crucial for the Celtics future, although it is highly unlikely that they will keep all eight picks as I could see Ainge trading some picks for some key role players, or perhaps a pleasant surprise like when they traded for Garnett in 07′. If they get a top 2 pick, player’s such as LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram come to mind as the most talented players in this years NBA Draft.

Overall, this year’s NBA Draft could “make or break” the Celtics future, from what we’ve seen from GM Danny Ainge with his moves and transactions in the past I could see June 25th one of the more important days for the city of Boston in terms of professional sports in quite some time.

Next: Celtics Offseason Outlook

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