Boston Celtics: Are Playoff Expectations Too High?

The Celtics still have a chance at home-court advantage, but are hopes too high for this young team?

The Boston Celtics have been on a downward spiral since their exciting victory over the Golden State Warriors. They’ve gone 3-2 since then, however, there’s no question they haven’t looked like the same team. Entering the final three games of the season, Boston held their fate in their own hands. They’ve since dropped two games, yet still can clinch home-court advantage in the first round with a win over the Miami Heat tomorrow night.

Still, with all the disappointing results and performances the Celtics have had over the past couple of weeks, the expectations are high for this young team heading into the playoffs. The Celtics have given their fans and everyone around the NBA good reason to be hopeful for their future after the way they’ve played this season, however, could we be jumping the gun by expecting anything more than a hard-fought first round?

The concern after their three wins over non-playoff teams was that they weren’t focused enough against weaker opponents. Now it has switched to wondering if this team will be able to hang with the top teams in the East next week.

Boston’s past two defeats weren’t just tough to watch, they were everything you don’t want to see from a team with the postseason right around the corner.

While many people thought the Atlanta Hawks would win the other night, their loss to the Charlotte Hornets was anything but up-lifting. Besides the fact they managed to lose a game they held the rebounding edge in, or the fact that R.J. Hunter stole the show at the end, the Celtics’ play was atrocious.

After leading after the first quarter 28-24, they allowed Jeremy Lin to take over. It was Linsanity Part 2. Lin finished with a godly 25 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and five steals on the night. He stole the show in the second quarter and made the Celtics look like anything but a playoff team.

On offense, Boston wasn’t able to drive the lane and relied on Marcus Smart and Evan Turner‘s shooting – since they were left open. The Celtics’ strengths and weaknesses aren’t hard to figure out, and Atlanta and Charlotte cracked the code. Relying on outside shooting rarely works in Boston’s favor, and it’s been a tough couple of games as they were forced to do so.

The fact of the matter is, Boston hasn’t looked like a playoff-caliber team since they defeated the Warriors. They haven’t even gone through a good stretch of basketball since last month. In fact, the Celtics have only gone 15-11 since the all-star break, which would put them ninth in the Eastern Conference.

If you take out the 10-2 stretch they had leading up to the all-star break, Boston is 37-32 on the season. This is still the same team that was 19-19 at one point and 22-21 before their amazing stretch. Not to say that they haven’t improved, however, it seems that the Celtics peaked at the wrong time.

The fact of the matter is, besides the great stretch of basketball they had in late January and early February, Boston has barely been over .500 this season. They don’t shoot well, aren’t exceptional on defense, and rebound poorly due to the lack of size. All are ingredients to disaster come playoff time.

More from Hardwood Houdini

Also, a lot of the Celtics roster’s only playoff experience is getting swept by Cleveland last year. While Isaiah Thomas probably won’t shoot 33.3 percent from the field again this postseason, it doesn’t take away from their inexperience. Sure, Boston has a couple of players with more playoff experience than last season but a lot of their roster hasn’t experienced a playoff win.

Brad Stevens could get his team focused in their last regular season game and have them go in firing, however, as it stands right now, Boston is looking at another first round exit. The thought of how well this team played during their 10-2 stretch or when they defeated Golden State still lingers, but the reality is this team struggled against the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers.

Next: Tyler Zeller Has Impressed When Given Playing Time

Right now, Boston isn’t near the level that Atlanta, Charlotte, or Miami is playing at, let alone Cleveland or Toronto. This isn’t a team built for a deep playoff run and, as the regular season dwindled down, they showed that.

Home/Celtics News