Those lucky enough to have a seat Wednesday night at TD Garden witnessed the 2016-17 Boston Celtics fully realized.
Isaiah Thomas, with a game-high 31 points, delivered the star power and clutch buckets. Avery Bradley brought his trademark lock-down defense, with a little help from his ferocious friends Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder. Al Horford contributed a little bit of everything, finishing one point shy of a triple-double. The Celtics knocked down 42 percent of their 3-pointers and tallied assists on 28 of 36 made field goals.
All of that was enough for Boston to knock off the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers in a thrilling 103-99 win. The victory proved a definitive statement: This team, when fully healthy, can beat anyone.
So, what does that tell us about the Celtics’ ceiling in 2017? Is Boston ready to dethrone the Cavs in the Eastern Conference, or at the very least take Cleveland down to the wire in a seven-game playoff series?
Well, not quite.
First, there’s the Cleveland issue. The Cavs are missing two key starters — Kevin Love and J.R. Smith — both of whom are expected to be healthy by the postseason. Andrew Bogut is expected to join them any day, and fellow newcomer Deron Williams still is working off the rust. (He was one wide-open 3-pointer away from spoiling Boston’s party Wednesday night.)
In short: The Cavs only are going to get better come playoff time, meaning the Celtics somehow will have to deliver a better punch than they just threw to dispatch the defending champs.
Wednesday’s game also highlighted some of Boston’s flaws — most notably on the offensive boards, where Cleveland tallied 12 offensive rebounds to the Celtics’ eight. Cavs big man Tristan Thompson had his way with Horford underneath the hoop, highlighted by his offensive board on the game’s final possession that set up Williams’ potential game-winner.
Boston won the defensive rebound battle 39-29, but it’ll need to limit second-chance opportunities if it wants to be successful come May and June. That will be a tall task against a Cavs team welcoming in Bogut or a Toronto Raptors club that just added Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker.
Of course, the Celtics’ win Wednesday proved they can win games without dominating on the boards. But is that sustainable over a seven-game series? Can Thomas shoot 50 percent from the floor every night, like he did Wednesday? Can Thomas’ teammates consistently knock down open shots when he gets double- and triple-teamed, as he’ll likely be come playoff time?
Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks saw the other side of Boston’s coin — they shot just 39 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3-point range, with Thomas going an abysmal 4 for 21. Indeed, poor shooting was what doomed the C’s in last season’s playoff loss to Atlanta; they scored 92 or fewer points three times in the six-game series, losing all three contests.
Boston is better than it was last season. With Bradley back on the court and Horford in the mix, this is a team that should be feared in the postseason, and Wednesday night was all the proof you need.
But the C’s have yet to win a playoff series under head coach Brad Stevens, and will need to duplicate efforts like Wednesday’s on a more consistent basis if they want to change that. Then, they can worry about taking a shot at LeBron’s crown.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
