Boston Celtics: how to evaluate a successful season

The Boston Celtics will have different ways to evaluate their success this season

The Boston Celtics find themselves in a fascinating position this season, balancing the pressure of being a clear favorite in the East, with the inevitability of the Golden State Warriors being impossible to beat.

Normally, the standard for a successful season for a team as good as the Celtics is a championship, but that is simply not the case. At this point, it would be a massive upset if anyone beat the Warriors, and you need to be able to evaluate you success in another way, to make sure you do not make any mistakes because of a fluke assembling of talent.

The Celtics also have absolutely nothing to prove in the regular season. They have taken that number one seed with much worse teams, and no one is really concerned about their regular season success.

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They could win the East in a landslide, and it would not validate anything. Kawhi Leonard on the Raptors makes it a bit more interesting, but dominating the regular season is far from any kind of actual goal the Celtics might have.

When the playoffs start, we will start to see some real things. At this point, however, just winning is not enough. The Celtics need to prove that they are a clear step above these other teams, and come out and dominate in the playoffs.

They need to be able to walk all over the majority of the East, with the Raptors being the only team that should take multiple games off them. The 76ers may have an opportunity to make it competitive. After last season, however, it would be going backwards if the Celtics did not handle them easily in a playoff series.

The Celtics do not have to be perfect, and things never go smoothly throughout. That being said, the first playoff rounds will be an opportunity for the Celtics to show how much better they are than the rest of the East.

Part of having a successful season for the Celtics is about making it clear that the divide between the Celtics and the East is not close, and they can do that by dominating teams in the playoffs.

If the Celtics do that, and represent the East in the Finals, then you cannot say this season is a failure. That being said, they still have to prove something in the Finals. Obviously, winning will validate everything and is a clear success.

With the Warriors, however, the Celtics can be successful without winning the series. The Celtics need to show us that the Warriors need to keep things up. They may not be even now, but the Celtics should continue to get better, while the Warriors will inevitably fall off.

The Celtics can have a successful season if they bring any kind of doubt back to the championship. The Celtics need to be able to put some pressure on the Warriors, to show them that things are not going to be as easy as everyone is predicting.

The Celtics are good enough and have the coach that will be able to make things work. The Celtics may not have an epic seven game series in them, but they have to put up enough resistance to give them hope that they can catch up next season.

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By showing that kind of resistance, the Celtics will know they need to keep everything in tact. If the Celtics come out of this season knowing that they are on their way to catching the Warriors, and are the best competition that super team is going to face, it will be a successful season.

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