3 teams that could realistically threaten the Boston Celtics in the standings
By Mark Nilon
The Boston Celtics have been steadily making their way up the Eastern Conference totem pole since the flip of the calendar year to 2022 and, as a result, they sit soundly in the sixth seed in the standings.
After having gone 20-9 from January 2nd on, the C’s now find themselves boasting an overall record of 37-27, placing them just one win behind the fifth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and four wins behind the top-seeded Miami Heat.
For the first time in what seems like forever, the conference crown appears to be entirely up for grabs, for the race out east is tightly contested, as the eighth seed and the first seed are separated by a mere nine wins.
On the one hand, because of this “anyone’s game” type of situation, the shamrocks have a realistic chance of passing a few of their formidable foes on the leaderboard should they find themselves continuing their hot streak through the second half of the season.
On the other, however, because of how small of a gap there is between each playoff/ play-in hopeful, there’s a real possibility that a few teams behind Ime Udoka’s squad could wind up catching up with a hot streak of their own.
With this in mind, today we pinpoint 3 teams that could realistically threaten the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings:
Team that could threaten Boston Celtics No. 1) Toronto Raptors
As we’ve said already, the race out east is tightly contested, meaning one slip up for a team followed by a string of wins for another could wind up shifting the balance of the standings as a whole.
Naturally, the biggest threat to one’s position on the leaderboard is the team right behind them and, for the Boston Celtics, that team is their Atlantic Division rival, the Toronto Raptors.
Should the season end today, Toronto would be slated to take part in the play-in tournament, as they fall into that seven through ten seed qualification, while the C’s, who are just a mere three games ahead of them, would be an auto-lock for the postseason.
Because of this, during this next month and a half stretch of the season, the Raptors will almost certainly be looking to put all their energy into locking up a top-six seed, and the first roadblock that they’ll need to get by is, of course, Boston.
Like the Celtics, Nick Nurse’s squad has also been on an absolute tear since the start of January, as they’re now 19-10 over their last 29 games and 11-4 over their last 15.
During this stretch, All-Star point guard, Fred VanVleet, has continued his high-end level of play (22.6 points, 7.2 assists on 40 percent shooting from deep), former All-Star forward, Pascal Siakam, has seemingly had a resurgence (21.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists on nearly 50 percent shooting from the floor), and stand-out rookie, Scottie Barnes, has only continued to impress in virtually every aspect of the game (14 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals, and just over half a block).
With how the team as a whole has been producing of late, they’re bound to make a run up the standings during this second-half stretch, and Boston better hope that they, too, continue to stay hot for, if they don’t, the positioning out east between these two teams could easily wind up being flipped.