3 teams that could realistically threaten the Boston Celtics in the standings
By Mark Nilon
Team that could threaten Boston Celtics No. 2) Atlanta Hawks
Though the Boston Celtics just beat the Atlanta Hawks this past Tuesday night, one mustn’t forget that this was in an outing where Trae Young injured his ankle mid-game which, clearly, wound up affecting him and when neither John Collins nor Lou Williams suited up.
Had these players been full participants, even if Jaylen Brown managed to stave off his ankle injury himself, it likely would have proven to be a challenging matchup for the red-hot Boston Celtics.
Though their season overall has proven to be somewhat of a struggle (29-32; 10th seed in the Eastern Conference), the Hawks have been finding some nice success as of late despite enduring a rather challenging schedule.
Over their last 18 contests, the ball club has squared off against 12 teams that are likely to be heading to the playoffs, and, throughout this span, they’ve only dropped six games.
If this isn’t already a good sign for their chances of making a run at rising in the rankings, then perhaps the fact that they boast one of the easiest schedules (more specifically, the second easiest according to Positive Residual’s metrics) in the entire league moving forward may constitute as such.
Once John Collins comes back from injury (played a major part in their most recent seven-game winning streak), this team could go on to make up for their slow start to the season during this final stretch-run.