Your Morning Dump... Where the C's Have 50 wins, Now Preparing for Wednesday's Matchup vs. Cleveland

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Boston secured its first 50-win season since going 56-26 in 2010-11 and did it easily, shooting 55.6 percent and getting 14 points apiece from Marcus Smart and Al Horford.

“Couple years ago I would’ve thought that that was going to be something that we were really going to have to build for a while to, but I thought that obviously we’ve been lucky to strike on a couple of guys,” coach Brad Stevens said. “Everybody’s got a like mind with regard to the bigger purpose of playing for the Celtics and trying to compete every night.

“So we’re happy, but we’ve got to finish out these next five games well and then get ready for the playoffs and we’ll look at whatever we accomplish at the end of the season at the end of the season.”

ESPN/AP

There were countless reasons to be concerned before yesterday’s Knicks win. Early afternoon start? Check. Trap game possibility? Check. Shaky effort in their previous three games? Check. But Boston dominated from the beginning and collected its 50th win of the season, the highest total since Nenad Kristic, Troy Murphy, and Shaquille O’Neal were on the roster.

Don’t let the 110-94 score fool you. It was more lopsided than the score would suggest, as the Celtics dropped 60 points in the first half and maintained a double digit lead throughout the afternoon. The Knicks seemed uninterested in competing. The Stevens/Isaiah-led Celtics typically make these “easy wins on paper” more interesting than they should be, but they had their sights set on the half century win mark.

Isaiah Thomas (19 points) failed to reach 20 points for only the fourth time this season, but he was one of six Celtics to hit double figures. The team shot 55.6 percent and out-rebounded New York 41-32. Despite not trading for a rebounder at the deadline, the C’s have largely alleviated this issue as the season has progressed.

Page 2: First Place, By Half a Game

The Celtics host the Cavs on Wednesday night, and barring a late-season collapse (or a late-season Cavs surge), a win should secure the Eastern Conference first seed. Cleveland plays at home versus Orlando the night before. With two days of rest, Boston should be in the drivers seat for first place.

There’s been a lot of talk about the significance of the #1 seed. No, it doesn’t guarantee them anything, but if it’s attainable, why shouldn’t the Celtics go for it? Nobody — and certainly not the players or coaches — is throwing a party if they get the #1 seed. However, it’s a significant organizational accomplishment, and it could be an important free agent recruiting tool.

The Cavs have prioritized rest over wins, and in the process, they’ve won only half of their games since the beginning of March. They play the Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back. They just had a double overtime game against Indiana. There’s a small chance Cleveland’s stars will rest. If they don’t, Wednesday’s matchup will be the biggest regular season game of Brad Stevens’ NBA coaching career.

Page 3: Jae Crowder Injury…

After leaving a 110-94 win against the New York Knicks late in the third quarter, Crowder said he will probably undergo an MRI after returning to Boston. X-rays came back negative, but he still doesn’t know the extent of the damage or what caused it.

“A little weird,” Crowder said. “I don’t even know what happened. I don’t even know what play it happened. I just looked down and saw it was swollen, and had to come out of the game.”

Crowder said his elbow “started tingling.”

“Not really, like, excruciating pain,” he said. “It was just a weird type feeling. I’ve never had anything happen like that to my elbow.”

“Just like when I stretch my arm out a little bit, like, a weird tingling feeling,” Crowder added. “How concerned am I? I mean, I’m worried about it. I want to see what they say. The X-ray said pretty much nothing structural so that was a good sign. But it was weird. The doctor was saying it was weird too. Just swelling on the inside of my elbow. I don’t know what it is.”

MassLive

I don’t like this at all. Even if the team isn’t making a big deal about this, I really don’t want to see injuries in April, no matter how small. The Celtics Training Staff is notorious for poorly disclosing injury information. Remember when Bradley was day-to-day, but missed 20 games? This goes back to Kevin Garnett’s knee injury in 2009, where it was initially diagnosed as a minor tweak, but instead he missed the rest of the season.

Crowder had a late-season injury last year and was never 100 percent when he returned for playoff action. The Celtics need Crowder to defend Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the other prolific wing players at the bottom of the East. Besides Crowder, There really aren’t too many options for defending small forwards. Maybe (and hopefully) I’m overreacting to nothing. But an injury to Crowder is not a good start to the playoff run.

Related: CSNNE | ESPN Boston | Herald