The Boston Celtics need to keep rolling against the Sacramento Kings
When Boston Celtics fans see Sacramento Kings up next on the schedule, there is a nice sigh of relief. They have gone through a tough stretch, bouncing back from injuries while playing quality playoff opponents.
The Kings have just one victory on the season, and have their sights set on that number one pick in the draft. They are left with almost no established talent, and are letting some of their young and promising players take on all the responsibility.
That could mean two things. First, the Celtics could have a lot of mistakes to exploit, and more than enough match ups to punish the Kings on every possession.
The other side is that the Kings will play with a lot of energy, and have players that can show flashes of great play. If the Celtics believe that this game is automatic, then they could be the ones making too much mistakes, and not exploiting them with much urgency.
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The Celtics have proven they are comfortable struggling and then closing the game out late, but this is one occasion where the Celtics have no excuse to let the Kings hang around.
Not only are the Celtics on a five game winning streak, but they are also coming off their best victory of the season against their toughest opponent so far.
The Celtics are back atop the Eastern Conference standings, and now look like a favorite to win the East. In this tiny sample size we have to deal with, a loss to the Kings would erase much of what the Celtics have regained since that 0-2 start.
The Celtics are working on chemistry issues, and they need to be playing well and working together to make progress in that respect. If the team descends into a shell because of the opponent, it will just be the individual talent trying to take over.
When that happens the Celtics often get special performances, but there is no way for Brad Stevens to use that in order to get the overall unit functioning better.
The Celtics not letting up in this game is as much about them as it is their opponent. It is not just that the Celtics are not in a place where they can take anyone lightly, but they do not want to threaten the best rhythm they have established on the season.
The Spurs game was the first time things really came together on offense. The defense has been great for a while now, but it is refreshing to see the offense finally catch up, especially considering how high the expectations had been.
The Kings are not a team that will put up much resistance, and that means they should have no problem playing with the kind of fluid ball movement that made them to good against the Kings.
This could be a fun game for Celtics fans, because this is the best position they have been in since the first five minutes of the first game, and it would be difficult to find a better opponent to keep that going against.
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Trap games happen all the time in the NBA, but there is no way anyone on this team can be content after the way they started. They know how much work they have to do on the year, and Brad Stevens should continue to get the best possible effort out of these players, regardless of the opponent.