Boston Celtics Know They Are Comfortable on Back to Backs
The Boston Celtics should have nothing to worry about against the Bulls on the second night of a back to back
The Boston Celtics are playing their second game of a back to back against the Chicago Bulls tonight. They are coming off a strong victory against the Detroit Pistons, and know there is no reason being on a back to back should do anything to improve to chances of the Bulls.
First of all, Brad Stevens has proven time and time again that he gets his team prepared for back to backs. He always uses a deep rotation, and makes sure that his team has more than enough to get that second victory.
Stevens makes sure the team avoid some of the pitfalls that hurt teams on the back to backs. The Celtics are not on some crazy hard run right now, so this should be a regular day at the office for them.
One great benefit is that Stevens has a lot of freedom with the minutes. He continually limits some of his biggest players, and uses a very deep bench. The biggest problem is that Marcus Morris is still sidelined, but front court depth has not been a concern for this team this season.
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The Celtics should even have the added opportunity of resting these players in the fourth. The bigger concern is how many back to backs the Celtics have over the next two weeks, and handling the Bulls they way they should will allow the top players to stay rested in the fourth quarter.
Even if the Bulls manage to keep this close, which is possible because we have seen the Celtics play down to competition at times, this team is not phased by having to make up for some potential fatigue. The Celtics have fought through injuries to every significant player on this team, and it has not slowed them down.
Stevens has done a masterful job of figuring out exactly what he needs to get out of his players on any given night, and some fatigue against the Bulls is far from his biggest challenge of the season so far.
The Celtics have also been great this year at handling the opponents they need to. They had far too many games that were way closer than they should have been on their great stretch, but they are getting away from that now.
The Celtics have been playing more complete basketball, and the inferior teams are not able to hang with them the way they were early on in the season. The Bulls have their sights set on that number one pick in the draft, and the Celtics should not even need to play their top players their regular minutes to get this win.
The Celtics have more than enough ways to beat the Bulls, and it would take a meltdown in every phase of the game for the Celtics to fall here. Then again, trap games get teams every season, and the Celtics could come in taking a bit for granted given their position.
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Stevens always does a great job of getting his players going, and that alone should be enough to beat the Bulls. These are the games they have to win every single time to make sure they get that number one seed, and a much needed home court advantage in the playoffs.