I think we can do it. This team is playing its best basketball in the Brad Stevens era. Just have to continue to play the way they've been playing.
Agree. This is the first extended stretch where both the starters AND the bench are performing well on a consistent basis.
Last Spring, the starters would get us in a hole and the bench would dig us out. For much of this year, the starters would build leads, the bench would blow them and the starters would sometimes pull them back out.
Over this recent stretch, the starters have continued to play strong and the bench has not only been able to hold leads, but as often as not, extend them.
Two things are very promising about the rotation for this team:
A strong correlation with being a top team is winning 3rd periods. Ever since stumbling in the initial weeks of the season, we have been very good at coming out of half time and putting up points and winning the 3rd period.
In addition, over the last few weeks, we have been really good at winning the critical stretch from the very end of the 3rd and into the middle of the 4th. For much of the earlier part of the year, that was a huge terror zone for us, as teams would routinely destroy any leads we had or pull away from us if it was close. The improved, more consistent play of Kelly, Evan, Zeller, Smart & Jerebko during that stretch has been huge. Having at least 3 players who can stretch the floor around him is a critical thing for Evan to have success and Brad is finally getting that.
My prediction last summer was for 48 wins. We currently are at a .585 win percentage, which would be ... 48 wins. Given how much better the team is playing right now, it is not at all a unreasonable to hope we can pull out 2+ more wins above that.