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Boston Celtics aren’t your average backups

By Joshua Bateman

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 30: Boston Celtics Aron Baynes, left, celebrates with teammate Terry Rozier III, right, after Rozier hit a three pointer to give Boston a 112-94 lead during the fourth quarter. The Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers in Game One of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden in Boston on April 30, 2018. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 30: Boston Celtics Aron Baynes, left, celebrates with teammate Terry Rozier III, right, after Rozier hit a three pointer to give Boston a 112-94 lead during the fourth quarter. The Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers in Game One of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden in Boston on April 30, 2018. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /
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The Boston Celtics might be dealing with a lot of injuries, but they are still playing starting caliber players

Very few people are giving the Boston Celtics any chance to survive their injuries, and there is good reason. With their two best players out of the lineup, and Jaylen Brown also missing game one, it felt like the Celtics did not have the talent to keep up with the Philadelphia 76ers, and they proved everyone wrong.

One of the problems people are running into is making assumptions about the backup talent of the Celtics. You can look at what the 76ers have been doing and look at the injuries suffered by Boston, and it is hard to reconcile them being talented enough to win this series. The Celtics, however, are not fielding any normal backups, and are making sure the injury drop off is not nearly as steep as people thought it would be.

The Celtics always have Al Horford, who is playing as well as anyone not named LeBron James and Anthony Davis in these playoffs, and he is surrounded by Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Brown and Jayson Tatum, who are all proving that they are every day starters in this league, even if there may not be room for that with a fully healthy roster.

These are supremely talented young players that have grown tremendously this season, and have been waiting for this kind of opportunity to showcase their abilities. People still do not know exactly what we can expect from these young players, and we are starting to see how good these players can be these playoffs.

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It may not happen again this series, but it is not a total fluke that Rozier and Tatum outperformed Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and the defensive assignments favor Boston’s young talent. The Celtics have a lot of young players that want to prove they are making the leap as a high quality NBA starter, and they become incredibly dangerous when multiple options come together like they did in game one.

The Celtics have backup players that are capable of a lot more than any other backups in the NBA, and that can transform what you should expect from a team that has suffered so many injuries. There is no doubt that the 76ers have better talent right now, but the Celtics have a better idea of how to use their pieces to be in the best position, and the 76ers did not have enough of a talent edge to make up for what they were able to do.

Consistency is always the biggest problem with the young talent on the Celtics, and that is the biggest problem. We saw high end potential in game one, and they may not be able to repeat that on a regular basis. What we did learn, however, is that if Boston’s active talent plays to the potential that they have shown in flashes, the 76ers will not get anything else in this series, and cannot afford any of their top players to have a bad performance.

The Celtics have a lot of players that are hungry to prove how good they can be, but none of them let it get in the way of the bigger picture. These guys use their talent to come together in a special way, and their execution has to be a strength against a 76ers team that may take some time to figure out how to get the most out of their talent, the way the Celtics did in game one.

Next: Boston Celtics welcome the 76ers to the playoffs

The Celtics are missing too much talent to be real title contenders, but they have made it clear that the players they have remaining are being underrated. They are capable of special things and the more teams take them lightly, and assume their talent will always be better, the more likely they are to break you down like the Celtics did to the 76ers in game one.

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