Boston Celtics with the most impressive road trip of the season
The Boston Celtics just completed the most impressive road trip of the season
The Boston Celtics are on one of the most difficult and improbable runs of the season, and most of it has been happening on the road. The Celtics are winning games they have no business being in, and these young players are looking like legitimate NBA starters, when most thought they were a long ways from that as they sat on the bench for most of the season.
When you look at just the number of injuries themselves, that is enough to secure the argument that this has been the most impressive read trip of the season. Daniel Theis is out for the year, Kyrie Irving is out until the playoffs, Marcus Smart is out until the playoffs, and both Marcus Morris and Al Horford are dealing with ankle injuries.
They have G Leaguers in their starting lineup, and a bench that looks like it should not even be good enough for a lottery team, and yet they are making it work as the number two seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics have won five straight games, and the last four of them came on the road. The Celtics were able to follow up their massive win against the Thunder, with a huge fourth quarter comeback against the Blazers, followed by two more comfortable wins against the Kings and the Suns, all capped off with a thrilling victory against the Jazz.
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The Celtics handled their business against the lottery teams, and they stepped up to the occasion for the playoff teams. The Celtics have nothing to play for in the standings, and they delivered deadly blows to both the Blazers and the Jazz.
The Celtics should not be able to beat these teams with the talent they have available, and they certainly should not be expected to be out there with playoff like intensity, in a game that is almost entirely irrelevant to their seeding.
Absolutely everything that has happened has given the Celtics incentive to take a step back, and when you add on that they had to do it on the road, it might be the most impressive thing we have seen any team do this season.
The best part might be that these do not feel too fluky. The Celtics are being challenged by these teams. They have needed a lot of late heroics, but these young and bench players are proving that they can stay alive no matter who they are playing, and when the clutch moments come, nobody has been better than the Celtics this year, and they are proving that it is not just Irving who can take these shots.
The Celtics have made it clear that it does not matter who they are playing and how many injuries they have, they are never going to give in and they want to win these games as much as anyone. This has been one of the most exciting runs during the Stevens era, and it has kept all eyes on the Celtics, even if there are far more interesting things going on in the standings.
The Celtics are only on a five game winning streak, but these five games have said a lot about this team. Even if their level of play is not quite sustainable, they have showcased the kind of impact Stevens has on these players, and the kind of future they might have when these guys grow and develop into their prime.
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The Celtics will have a much tougher challenge when the playoffs start and teams have to take any roster they put out there seriously, but this run has made all the difference in making sure everyone is confident the Celtics can escape the first round without Irving and Smart.