The Boston Celtics Should Keep Pressure on the Cavaliers

The Boston Celtics are keeping the pressure on the Cleveland Cavaliers for home court in the playoffs

The moment Kevin Love went down with an injury, the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference became interesting for the first time in the season. The Cleveland Cavaliers were still clearly in a very strong position, but the Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors were all within striking distance.

After struggling a bit after the All Star break, the Celtics were on the brink of seeing their lead over the Raptors and Wizards disappear, while completely destroying any chances to catch the Cavaliers. The Celtics were four games behind prior to their matchup. The Celtics knew that if they lost and fell five games behind, the race would be lost. That being said, they also knew that a victory would keep them within striking distance, making their final meeting a little later on that much more important.

With their back against the walls, coming off of one of the worst three game stretches of the season, the Celtics saved their best for the perfect time. The Celtics looked like a new team with Avery Bradley back in the lineup, and they put forth the kind of effort that could make things a lot more interesting come playoff time.

The Celtics still have an incredibly tough task, and will certainly have to get another victory in their final meeting of the season, but there is no doubting that the pressure is on the Cavaliers. They will not be able to coast into the playoffs like they did last season, and as long as Love is out with an injury, they will be spending a little more time looking over their shoulder.

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One of the biggest advantages for the Celtics is their remaining schedule. They are entering arguably the easiest part of their schedule this season, and they will be in a great position to be stringing a lot of wins together.

The Celtics have one more meeting with the Cavaliers and one meeting with the Warriors, and there is a good chance they will be favored in every other game this season. One game against the Clippers could be problematic, and another crucial meeting against the Wizards. Other than that, the Celtics will only be seeing teams around or below .500, teams that they have done a great job of beating consistently this season.

The Celtics kept themselves within reach with a great victory on Wednesday, and their schedule puts them in a great position, but they need to make sure they keep playing like they did against the Cavaliers.

The Celtics looked awful the three games before that, and they cannot expect to even hold onto the two seed if they revert back to that play. The Celtics maintained their lead over the three seed with their victory, but are still only two games ahead, meaning the pressure will also be on them the rest of the way.

The added bonus is that Bradley will gradually have a bigger impact. The Celtics get better every time Bradley gets more playing time, and if they can get him back to his full work load while staying healthy everywhere else, the Cavaliers will not be able to afford to be resting playing and taking games off without a great risk of losing home court advantage.

Consistency has been an issue all year long, but getting the improved depth by getting Bradley back will go a long ways in helping the second unit with the tendency to blow leads. Bradley will be with the starters, but putting Jaylen Brown next to Marcus Smart will bring a lot more stability now that he can be trusted on both ends.

Even with their injuries, the Cavaliers will not give the Celtics many opportunities to gain ground on them, and they need to consistently win games to keep the pressure on the defending champs.

The Celtics are still a long shot to catch them, but home court advantage would be one of many, many, many conditions that need to be in place if the Celtics have any hopes of upsetting the King, keeping him out of the finals for the first time since he fell to Paul Pierce and the last championship core in Boston

Next: Win Over Cavaliers Shows Resolve of Celtics

Beating the Cavaliers meant that hope could stay alive that they might catch them, but it will still be predicated on the Celtics consistently playing like they did against the Cavaliers, as well as their counter parts giving up a bit of ground. The Celtics cannot miss out on any opportunity to catch the Cavaliers. Three games is a lot better than five games, but it is still a massive mountain to climb for one of the youngest teams in the league.

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