Is anyone else pinching themselves because of how well the team is playing?

[colincb]

Cs are 26-7 over the last 33 games since the NYK game Ime (and Smart, ironically since he had been brutal up to then) called out the team.

The improvement has been on both sides of the ball as the Cs improved by 4.5 PPG offensively and 7.3 PPG defensively and have had a 12.7 PPG net margin during that stretch. By comparison, PHX has the season's best margin at 8.4.

Cs OPP-PPG during that stretch has been 99.6 which is 11.5 PPG better than the NBA's median for the season. We're the best defensive team in the NBA right now by far. Ime's installed defense, TL's emergence, and the trades at the deadline changed a good defense into an elite one.

[gouki88]

[RodyTur10]

It's really incredible and I did NOT predict this in any way. Strategically, I'm looking at the standings and think we could end up in the #2 seed and play Brooklyn with Durant, Irving and Simmons in the first round. Always the pessimist in me. But that would be a bad first round match-up. You'd much rather play Cleveland, Toronto or Chicago.

[Kernewek]

All the recent success is clearly fool's gold, there's a snowball's chance in hell that we do anything of note in the postseason, all the rational basketball minds are united in the fact that the only true way forward is to trade Tatum and Brown for picks that may never turn out to be as good as those two are right now.

[Surferdad]

All the recent success is clearly fool's gold, there's a snowball's chance in hell that we do anything of note in the postseason, all the rational basketball minds are united in the fact that the only true way forward is to trade Tatum and Brown for picks that may never turn out to be as good as those two are right now.

     

[jambr380]

The thing is, we were so bad in close games in the beginning of the season, that we were always better than our record. This recent surge has been crazy and the team is shutting the door on letting the majority of these games get anywhere close.

The pessimist in me is still a little worried about how we will fare in close games once we start the playoffs. Some of our rare recent losses against DAL, DET, and POR have been reminiscent of those early season close out struggles. But our team is clearly firing on all cylinders and I am more than ready to see them steamroll the competition on their way to the Finals. I was so frustrated watching the team earlier this year, but now I can't imagine missing a minute of any game.

[Vermont Green]

Basketball is a sport of hot streaks and cold streaks, in a game, in a season, in quarter.  Rarely is a team "hot" the whole season or even a whole game.  There are only 5 players on the court at a time so if one of your best 5 is injured and not playing or not playing 100%, it makes a big difference.  All teams have had more than normal injuries or COVID absences this season so this variability is higher then normal.  Plus there is an element of chance with every shot.  Close games can go either way based on a shot falling or not.

Right now, there is no doubt that the Celtics are the team that is hot, that is putting it all together at the right time, that is "clicking".  Even Brown now appears to be past his most recent injury that was slowing him down a bit.  We have positioned ourselves to be the team that no one wants to play in the playoffs.  But we need to just keep it going.  Every game, every quarter, every possession.

I am not that concerned about rest.  We don't want to be stupid with playing time but at this point in the season, I say play hard every game, or it could spoil the mojo.  Maybe give Al Horford some extra rest but he really looks fine.  To me, maintaining the mojo, the momentum, is more important than rest.  Someone may get injured.  Nothing you can do about that.  But they can get injured in 20 min per game or 30 min per game.

Keep this train rolling.  Full steam ahead.  Don't worry about standings either.  Don't get cute and try to maneuver for a particular seed.  That could spoil the mojo too.

[Roy H.]

It's hard not to be excited.  This is probably the best we've played since the first couple months of 2018.

The crazy thing that I keep thinking back on is that the 2008 team played like this for basically a full season.

Also interesting, the 2008, 2018 and 2022 team all had one thing in common:  the #1 defense in the NBA.

[Donoghus]

This team is playing incredible basketball right now.

They stay healthy & they're a legit title contender.

[footey]

It's hard not to be excited.  This is probably the best we've played since the first couple months of 2018.

The crazy thing that I keep thinking back on is that the 2008 team played like this for basically a full season.

Also interesting, the 2008, 2018 and 2022 team all had one thing in common:  the #1 defense in the NBA.

IIRC, there were a lot of close games during that 2018 streak.  This team seems more dominant to me. 

[Celtics2021]

It's really incredible and I did NOT predict this in any way. Strategically, I'm looking at the standings and think we could end up in the #2 seed and play Brooklyn with Durant, Irving and Simmons in the first round. Always the pessimist in me. But that would be a bad first round match-up. You'd much rather play Cleveland, Toronto or Chicago.

I've been saying this for a month, and I'll keep it up -- Brooklyn will not be the 7th seed.  They'll be the 8th seed or they'll miss the playoffs.  I think people worry too much about Brooklyn in general, but the only reason to worry about them in the first round is if you think the Celtics will catch the Heat.

[gift]

Also interesting, the 2008, 2018 and 2022 team all had one thing in common: the #1 defense in the NBA.

More than anything, this is the one fact that legitimizes the hot streak and the playoff potential for me.

[slamtheking]

It's really incredible and I did NOT predict this in any way. Strategically, I'm looking at the standings and think we could end up in the #2 seed and play Brooklyn with Durant, Irving and Simmons in the first round. Always the pessimist in me. But that would be a bad first round match-up. You'd much rather play Cleveland, Toronto or Chicago.

I've been saying this for a month, and I'll keep it up -- Brooklyn will not be the 7th seed.  They'll be the 8th seed or they'll miss the playoffs.  I think people worry too much about Brooklyn in general, but the only reason to worry about them in the first round is if you think the Celtics will catch the Heat.

agree - Brooklyn is looking like it'll lock in at 8 for the play-in.  they should win that and whoever ends up with the 7th seed figures to win their game (I think Toronto passes both Chicago and Cleveland to get to 5 and the weaker performer of Chi/Cle drops to the playin) so Brooklyn stays 8.  Brooklyn at 8 means they get Miami in the first real round of the playoffs.  Boston gets either Chi or Cle which are the 2 weakest teams in the playoffs this year (or at least this time of the year)

[wikkid1]

All the recent success is clearly fool's gold, there's a snowball's chance in hell that we do anything of note in the postseason, all the rational basketball minds are united in the fact that the only true way forward is to trade Tatum and Brown for picks that may never turn out to be as good as those two are right now.

I like what you did there.  Almost had me going until that second part.

[ozgod]

Been watching sports for over 40 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen what we’re witnessing right now.  Can you believe that the team we saw earlier this year is positively steamrolling teams right now?  We ARE the best team in the league right now; bar none.

I’m not guaranteeing a title or anything like that, but please no one wake me up from the dream.  The playoffs can’t get here soon enough.

I think it has really rammed home to us fans the maxim "it's a marathon not a sprint". We were all slitting wrists after the first couple of months, not realizing the entire season was still ahead of us and that they had the capacity to improve, acclimatize to a new coach and a new system. Probably because a) we've been disappointed in the past with this group; and b) fans are short for fanatics, and tend to overreact to things