The Boston Celtics have two crucial opportunities to move above .500 when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks in back-to-back games this week.
Boston sat at 21-22 heading into Wednesday's game against Milwaukee, a team that's won seven straight games.
The Celtics have bounced back from difficult starts in seasons past, and Brad Stevens is hopeful his team will turn things around as it makes a push for the playoffs, even though there isn't a whole lot of time left to right the ship.
"We've never been like this from the standpoint of lack of consistency of lineups since maybe my second year, when we had all those trades in the first part of the season, and it’s just been availability," Stevens told reporters Wednesday. "Obviously, we don't have much time left, when you look at it from a big-picture standpoint, and I'm hopeful that we can get better, get better, get better and peak at the right time. I think that's ultimately our challenge and our task, with the way that the season started, and with our inconsistencies."
Boston recently went through a brutal month-and-a-half stretch where wins were few and far between. The Celtics are 5-5 in their last 10 games and have a tough task in the Bucks. But Stevens explained why playing against them in back-to-backs is a good opportunity for growth.
"Games like this are an unbelievable opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the league," he said. "To do so in consecutive games and challenge that idea of growth, because that's going to be really important if we want to, again, be peaking at the very end."
The Celtics sit ninth in the Eastern Conference beyond the midway point of the season. They could add a piece to their roster at the March 25 trade deadline, but their turnaround needs to start sooner rather than later.
