On January 14th, the Boston Celtics were in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings with a sub .500 record of 21-22. Marcus Smart was out with COVID and was scheduled to miss the next couple of games.
Fast forward to today, and the Boston Celtics are in ninth place with a record of 28-25 and with such a tight race in the East, that only sets them five games behind the first-place Chicago Bulls.
It may not seem like it, but since the C’s loss to the 76ers, they’ve been playing great basketball. They look like a whole new team and, with the trade deadline coming up next week, it is definitely going to make things interesting.
During their last ten games, Boston is a comfortable 7-3 and they have been getting production from everyone, despite their short bench. During this stretch, they’re leading the league in +/- with a +11.3 per game.
The next closest is the league’s best ball club, the Phoenix Suns, with a +8.9.
Something else that’s important to keep an eye out for is the C’s stunning defense recently.
In this same span of ten games, the Boston Celtics are limiting their opponents to a 42.3% field goal percentage, the best in the entire association.
Their defensive rating is sitting at number one in the league during this stretch with a rating of 102.2.
While the shamrocks have been firing on all cylinders during this stretch, there are 4 key players who have really been stepping it up.
In this piece, we will go into those players and how they have individually contributed during this recent surge: