Boston Celtics Fear Nothing
The Boston Celtics have become one of the true surprises of the season. An unexpected appearance in the playoffs last year meant they had higher standards this season but they have been blowing all of those away. The Celtics are holding firm onto the three seed in the East and they are making sure whichever team they face off in the first round will be terrified to enter TD Garden.
While having the third best home winning streak, after two teams undefeated at home, will certainly make other teams fear going into Boston, the Celtics will never experience a similar feeling. Brad Stevens has instilled a truly great culture of winning with a group of what is often labelled overachievers and one of the most endearing and important qualities of this group has become their fearlessness.
The Celtics continually have to deal with the media pointing out their lack of a superstar and lower level of talent but all that is doing is adding fuel to their fire. It does not matter if they are against a historically great team in the Warriors or a historically great duo in Durant and Westbrook, they truly fear no one. Even if no one expects the Celtics to be able to compete with these teams, they not only expect to be competitive, but the expect to win.
Brad Stevens has a group of players that cannot be fazed and will never quit, and their fearlessness is starting to have a true impact on the court. Even though the Celtics are told they lack a trusted superstar in clutch moments they, at all times, have five players that can’t wait to have an opportunity in the clutch.
Most recently it has been Jae Crowder who has been other worldly in clutch time, even if it is a small sample size. Crowder has hit 7 of his 9 shot attempts with the game within three points with under one minute to play. Evan Turner, who had his issues last year, also gave them multiple game winners. Avery Bradley also hit one of the biggest shots of the year to send the Cavaliers packing. And, maybe the play of the year for the Celtics, was Isaiah Thomas‘ seemingly impossible pass to an open Crowder to seal the game.
The Celtics play a kind of offense that requires every player to never hesitate when they have a good opportunity, and clutch time is changing nothing. The Celtics feel like they have a lot of doubters to prove wrong and every player wants to be the next one to step up and shut down those critics. Throw in that their already great defense has been taking it to another level to close out games and they are running away form teams in the final minutes.
Their fearlessness goes beyond wanting to take the clutch shots because it is a part of both their defensive and offensive identity. The Celtics have a lot of young and unproven players but that does nothing to impact their confidence. Even after he misses multiple terrible shot attempts, you know Marcus Smart will brush that off and be ready to capitalize on his next opportunity.
Kelly Olynyk has also flourished with more confidence. In previous years he was too tentative with his shots and but that is fully behind him. The only time Olynyk will be passing up on a three pointer is to create a much better opportunity with his great shot fake.
Brad Stevens has instilled an offensive system that features an incredibly high volume of opportunities. That means that there will be a lot of misses. Players cannot be fazed by misses because they lose a big part of their identity if they become hesitant shooters, even when their shots have not been falling.
As important as that fearlessness is to their offense, it come out in full force on defense. The most active and aggressive defensive team in the league welcomes the biggest challenges in the league. Most recently it was one of the hottest players in the league, Damian Lillard, who was shut down. However, he is not alone, just ask Westbrook about the way their guards play defense.
The Celtics are aggressive and even if that gets them into a lot of foul trouble it allows them to force defenses into mistakes. The Celtics have a defense that never backs down. They constantly have five players that are looking to make plays on the defensive end and they make sure to always outwork their opponents. The Celtics have been incredibly successful taking risks on defense. The Celtics are tied for giving up the most free throw attempts per game but that is a product of their activity, which has lead to the Celtics forcing the most turnovers in the league.
The Celtics are fearless on offense and that allows any player at any time to be the one that is going to make a play to win the game. The Celtics are fearless on defense and that is the best way for the them to intimidate and run away from their opponents. The Celtics feel like they are being disrespected by the league and that is adding fuel to the fire. The Celtics are out there to prove that nobody and no team can intimidate them and they will be competitive against any opponent.
Next: Isaiah Thomas is a Franchise Player
So far, the Celtics have been seeing a lot of regular season success largely because of this mentality. The true test, however, is yet to come as they will continue to be disrespected until they find this success in the playoffs.