Boston Celtics: Time for fortitude to shine through

Boston Celtics: The final five

Writing this article on Saturday, there appears to be a good chance the Celtics will be playing with a full lineup on Sunday:

This is exactly what the Celtics need as this regular season comes to a close, with huge back-to-back home games against the Miami Heat starting the week off.

The Heat (36-31) are currently in sixth place in the East. Boston already owns one win over Miami this season, and a split of the next two games would guarantee the Celtics the tiebreaker.

Of course, a sweep of the Heat would be even nicer. Plus it’s the last two regular season home games (5/9, 5/11) for Boston and they’ll want to go out in style.

Two winnable games against teams out of playoff contention follow the Miami set. First up on 5/12 is a game in Cleveland. The Celtics have split with the Cavs this season, with a 38-point win and a seven-point loss in the books.

On 5/15, Boston travels to Minnesota. The Celtics defeated the Timberwolves back on April 9 by five points in overtime.

Closing out the regular season a week from Sunday (5/16), the game against New York could carry huge implications, could be meaningless, or could be a preview of an opening round playoff series. Boston and New York have split two games, with the Knicks winning by 30 and the Celtics taking a two-point win in April, one that kicked off a six-game winning streak.

Staying healthy is a plus, and that especially goes for a player who has been lighting it up as of late.