How The Boston Celtics Have Surprised Everyone This Season
The Boston Celtics have been one of the better surprises in the NBA this season, and they’re not done yet
When the 2014-15 NBA season began for the Boston Celtics, hope was limited. They finished the previous season with just 25 wins and the 3rd worst winning percentage in the history of the franchise, behind the dreadful 2006-07 and 1996-97 seasons, both of which ended with a top-5 draft pick.
The stints of those two draft picks were non-existent. Chauncey Billups was traded after 51 games because he didn’t mesh well with the team in 1998 and Jeff Green was traded on draft night for Ray Allen in 2007.
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Like the last time the C’s had a disappointing season, they’re hoping to bounce back and make the playoffs. But unlike before, they won’t do it at the top like during the 07-08 season. They will do it, most likely, as the 8th seed.
The Celtics have clawed their way into the race for 8th in the East. As of now, they have the same win percentage as the Heat and Pacers, who are the 8th and 7th seed respectively. And can we honestly be surprised if they somehow made the playoffs?
During the month of March, the Celtics haven’t played well offensively. They’re in the bottom-10 in terms of points per game, 9th place to be exact, and own the 4th worst field goal percentage this month. They have a middle of the pack in terms of defensing rating and allow the 10th highest field goal percentage at the rim.
Yet, they’re 7-3 in March, tied with Utah for the 2nd most wins this month, behind only the Warriors.
The Celtics play as a team. They’re not an exceptional scoring squad, especially late in games and they can’t protect the rim. But their rebounding has improved and they share the ball — a lot. As a matter of fact, they’re 9th in terms of passes per game and 5th in total assists.
The Celtics have had their setbacks as well. They traded Jeff Green, who then led the team in scoring and Jared Sullinger is out for the season due to a stress fracture in his foot. Their leading scorer now is Isaiah Thomas, who happens to be coming off the bench.
Having your sixth man lead you in scoring isn’t a horrible thing for a bottom feeder team, but when your team has a chance to compete in the playoffs, it’s not good. Sixth men are almost always heat-check guys, with some recent exceptions such as Jarrett Jack in the 2012-13 season, who not only scored efficiently but also dished out a lot of assists, and Lamar Odom, who did a bunch of everything. And heat-check guys shouldn’t be your go-to option in close games. But the Celtics may not have a choice.
In addition, Evan Turner isn’t a very good ball handler. He turns the ball over a lot and hasn’t shown that he can be a capable creator. He’s not the best at scoring at the rim, as his shooting percentage from 0-3 feet is within the bottom 20 in the league, as is his offensive rating.
But they have some bright spots on offense, too. Tyler Zeller is sneakily one of the best pick-and-roll men in the league. Out of all the players that have taken at least 100 shots as the roll man, Zeller has the highest field goal percentage at 61.6 percent, a full four percent higher than the guy in second place, Anthony Davis.
He also scores in at the 88th percentile, which also leads the league.
Brad Stevens, who’s only in his second season as coach of the Boston Celtics, has established himself as one of the five best coaches in the NBA. His ability to draw up great plays late in games has been one of the main reasons why the Celtics have been great this year. And he’s also only 38, the youngest coach in the league.
If the Celtics were to somehow make the playoffs, they would probably get swept, or at best lose in 5 games. But that doesn’t matter. For the Celtics, there were no real expectations for this year. They were expected to be a lottery team, possibly within the top-5.
Now, there is a legit chance they make the playoffs. Feel good story of the NBA? Probably not because of what the Bucks are doing this year after what they went through last season. But you can’t help but admire what the Boston Celtics have done the past couple of weeks.