No. 1: Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics have had two different seasons in one this year. In the first week of January, Boston was near the bottom of the pack in the Eastern Conference standings in 11th. Since then, they have won 22 of their last 26 games and are only one game out of first place. That is thanks to the lethal duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Boston knows how to find young talent and develop them into superstars. Both Tatum and Brown were drafted by the Celtics and have been with the team their entire career. The duo both score 20 points or more per game (Tatum 27.1, Brown 23.4).
Veterans tend to make a huge difference in playoff games, and that is something that Boston is lacking. That doesn’t seem to matter very much as the Celtics are peaking at the right time. You want to be playing your best basketball heading into the playoffs and that is what Boston is currently doing.
In Sunday’s win over Minnesota, the Celtics center Robert Williams tore his meniscus in his left knee. Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said that Williams will require surgery. This is a real blow to the team as Williams was a starter. Veteran Al Horford will have to step up and make a bigger contribution. Daniel Theis will be seeing a lot more playing time to try and help replace the loss of Willaims.
Despite a small bump in the road, the Boston Celtics are not a team to sleep on. They play suffocating defense and can score with the best. The season ends on April 10 and it will be exciting to see which matchups we will be getting out of the east.