by Rick Winterson
The Boston Celtics occupy a solid second place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. They were on a streak – six games in a row as of last weekend. They are in the top four of the entire NBA. They had been three games behind the Toronto Raptors. After Saturday’s 110-99 rapping of the Raptors at the TD Garden, the Celts were just two down in the East.
This is with three injured starters out for long periods – Haywood, Irving, and Smart – along with bench backups Daniel Theis and Shane Larkin. Still, five of the remaining Celts hit double figured Saturday night, three of them making 20+ points – Marcus Morris (25), Jayson Tatum (24), and Terry Rozier (21). Led by Brad Stevens’ canny coaching, the team’s “D” held Toronto to just under 100 points.
By the time you read this, the Celts will have played both Milwaukee (41-35) and Toronto (55-21) again. Both will have been “away” games.
Top seed in the East for the Celts? We’ll soon know for sure. As of this morning, there are only four regular season games left to play.
