The Boston Celtics are playing in an unsustainable way, but that does not mean they cannot keep up the success
The Boston Celtics are doing things this season that should be impossible. They have seen all three of their star players on the sideline for injuries, including the devastation of losing Gordon Hayward for the season. They have responded with their biggest winning streak in years, and are having more success than anyone else in the NBA.
The Celtics are doing this with three rookies playing key roles and a roster overhaul they left them with just four returning members, and two of them, Marcus Smart and Al Horford, have been a part of this injury madness this season.
The Celtics are winning in unprecedented ways this season, and nothing about what is happening looks sustainable at all. That being said, this has looked unsustainable since they strung together those first three wins, and it is getting harder to doubt this team, no matter what is happening. The circumstances could not get worse, and that makes this one of the most unique situations possible, as it has done nothing to stop the winning.
It sounds foolish to think that this success is sustainable for the Celtics, because they are getting so many phenomenal contributions from players that many thought would be non factors. They have transformed into one of the best interior teams in the league. They are winning with rebounding, while only having one traditional seven footer, and have lost some of the ball movement edge that made them successful last year.
More from Hardwood Houdini
- Boston Celtics’ two-way contract decision will be made after training camp
- Proposed trade sends Boston Celtics playoff killer to the Cs from rival
- ‘Face of Germany’s stunning run’ in FIBA World Cup not the only ex-Boston Celtics player to win gold
- Proposed Boston Celtics trade target pitched for reunion with fired coach
- Battle For Banner 18: Will Boston Celtics battle historical foe in 2024 Finals?
It is almost impossible to pinpoint how this run has been possible for the Celtics, and it feels like if one thing goes wrong, everything will break down. The problem is that things continue to go wrong, and somehow Brad Stevens is holding things together.
If the question is whether or not the Celtics can sustain this kind of success the same way they have been winning, the answer is no. The Celtics will not hold onto that top seed because of rookies like Semi Ojeleye and Daniel Theis playing over their head, and the likes of Shane Larkin and Terry Rozier taking over late in games.
The good news is the Celtics do not need that to sustain their success. The most remarkable part of this run is how many different ways they are overcoming injuries, and poor performances. We are seeing how many different ways this team can win games, and yet we are yet to see them at their actual best.
If the question is whether or not winning in general is sustainable for the Celtics, the answer is absolutely yes. The Celtics are being successful in worst case scenarios. They will eventually run out of ways to bail out injuries and poor performances on offense, but things literally cannot get worse. The unsustainable part is how difficult it is for the Celtics to win games these ways. The difference is that they will not have to take the hard way the entire season.
From this point, where Hayward, Horford and Kyrie Irving are all sidelined, things can only get easier. That is not to say they will never lose another game, because there will always be the outliers, but the Celtics are setting themselves up to dominate the regular season no matter what obstacles come in their way. They have learned to do things the impossibly hard way before the easier way, and that will put them in a much better position as the season goes on.
The Celtics do not have a single game with their roster at full strength, and their offense is no where near what we believe it can be. The Celtics are winning at an unprecedented rate this season, and that has been without what many thought would be the biggest advantage of this team.
The number one reason why this kind of winning is sustainable for the Celtics is defense. We have seen what happens to the offense when the top players are out, but that has not mattered because of the remarkable job every single player on this roster is doing on defense.
The Celtics make things impossible for every opponent because there is not a single liability for them to attack. The Celtics have confidence in each and every defender on the court, and as long as that stays true they will be one of the toughest teams to beat in the NBA. Add on that every single player on this team plays with unlimited confidence on defense, and everyone is becoming a play maker on that end, without fearing any matchup they may be assigned.
When you start to think of what will happen when the offense catches up to the defense, you realize that it should be expected of the Celtics to maintain this kind of success. It feels as though the Celtics have been in a rut this entire season, putting together very few complete performances. Once those complete performances come, teams are really going to start to fear playing this Celtics team.
Next: Brad Stevens being pushed to the limit
The Celtics know that they cannot keep winning they way they have needed to during this stretch, but there is no reason to believe they will have to. Once the injuries settle a bit, the team will finally be able to develop the offensive chemistry they need, and when the Celtics discover that balance we all know is possible, that is when we will see the real ceiling of this team.