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“It starts off the court,” Marcus Smart said after the Celtics’ 116-93 win over the Blazers. “We like each other off the court as individuals, we’re all considered friends. And we look at each other that way. So, when you have that type of bond, that chemistry off the court, it transfers onto the court.
Watching the Celtics, you can see them playing as a team and not a bunch of individuals. There are no hard feelings when a starter is taken out for a bench player, or vice versa. The defense has become contagious, and the ball is whipping around the court in hopes for the best shot.
“No one’s getting upset with anybody when they take a shot,” Smart said. “We just stay encouraging each other and we’re all playing for one another. When you have a group of guys, the five on the court, then you have the rest of the guys on the bench who are cheering them on and shouting down the stretch, things like that, it makes the team much stronger.
With every win, with every day that takes us closer to the playoffs and the end of the season, the more confident we can be as fans that we’re looking at the “real” Celtics. That this is not only who they are now, but who they’ll be the rest of the year.
Fifty wins is not out of the question–in fact, it should be the minimum expectation at this point. Landing the number two seed in the East is not unfathomable. Reaching the Eastern Conference Finals is within the realm of possibility, and on a very clear day, you can even see the Celtics giving Lebron fits four years after he thought he’d exorcised those demons for good.
That’s not to say that anything beyond a second round playoff appearance is likely, but this is a team that knows who it is, that has gelled into a very cohesive unit over the past month and a half, and which is peaking at the right time to potentially make a deep playoff run.
Page 2: Where Mike Gorman says the Celtics are like a college team
“Guys like playing for him. The exit interviews, every one of them, to a man, they say that they’re a better basketball player when they left than when they got here, and would come back in a heartbeat to play for this guy again.
“It’s like a very good college program that the Celtics have going on right now in the NBA and it’s working. The longer he is with a group, the better that group gets.
CSNNE (transcribed interview)
Mike Gorman echoing comments made by yours truly a week ago. This Celtics team plays like Stevens’ Butler teams, despite Brad bringing over nothing from college in terms of rotations, sets, schemes, etc. That’s a credit to Stevens’ ability at the parts of coaching that have nothing to do with drawing up plays.
If you haven’t listened to Chris Mannix’s podcast with Brad Stevens, I strongly recommend doing so as soon as you’ve got a half an hour free.
Finally: The RJ Hunter/Isaiah Thomas feud is over.
That ain’t ittttt lol RT @Jared_Sully0: Damn @Isaiah_Thomas you forgot about rook @RJHunter22 https://t.co/FuNhZMrRk5
— Isaiah Thomas (@Isaiah_Thomas) March 3, 2016
@RJHunter22 damn I didn’t mean to do my guy like that. It will never happen again bro bro LOL “my cheese”
— Isaiah Thomas (@Isaiah_Thomas) March 3, 2016
Whew. I’m glad that got straightened out. That’s the kind of thing that can tear a team apart.
The rest of the links:
CSNNE: Ryan: Celtics not the NBA’s best, but a good story | Stevens: Olynyk could ‘up his activity’ Monday | Gorman: Refs going crazy when hearing Tommy praised them | Gorman: ‘I think there’s a chance the Cavs could self-destruct’
MassLive: Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas jokes he wants to go to space after astronaut grows 2 inches
Boston.com: How the Celtics win
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