See you (maybe) later
C’s handle potential playoff foe
With Milwaukee (twice) and a hot Miami team on the upcoming home schedule, the Celtics have a chance to try on different potential playoff opponents.
But last night they came out of the fitting room with what, based on a 109-100 win over Indiana, looks like a particularly favorable playoff matchup. The Celtics completed a 3-0 season sweep of the Pacers.
“It’s gonna be good for us. We’re playing the right way right now,” Avery Bradley said of the potential playoff previews. “Every team is playing hard right now, and it’s our job to continue to keep playing the right way and try to prepare for the playoffs. We’re almost there; it’s close. We’re playing the right way and we have to continue to build on it. We can’t let teams keep coming back. If we’re able to do that, we’re going to be a very good team.”
The Celtics, who remained 21⁄ games ahead of thirdplace Washington in the conference standings, also received encouraging news from Denver, where the Cavaliers lost to the Pistons. The Celtics woke up this morning one game behind top-seeded Cleveland, with an April 5 game at the Garden remaining against the Cavs.
But as Bradley admitted, the Celtics are prone to selfindulgence in this regard, and devoting too much attention to the standings and playoff seeding picture.
“Last week all we did was look at the standings, but we were losing games. We weren’t focused,” he said of Sunday’s loss in Philadelphia. “So we came together as a group and said we can’t worry about where we are. We’ll worry about that when the time is right — where we want to be in the seedings. Right now we just have to focus on every game, focus on getting better as a team.
“We need to take care of home,” Bradley said. “Having a chance to be here and play in front of the fans in this stretch is not only good for them, it’s good for us. We are looking for homecourt advantage, and with the way we’re playing it could carry over to the playoffs. It’s our job to continue to play the right way.”
It didn’t start out that way last night, of course. The Celtics opened with 14 firsthalf turnovers that Indiana converted into 17 points, including back-to-back second quarter 3-pointers by Paul George off throwaways.
Brad Stevens let his team know about it at halftime.
“Brad got on us. I’ll just say he said we need to stop turning the ball over,” said Bradley, who with 18 points and 39 minutes on the floor was the most obviously taxed Celtic.
“And I’m not even tired,” he said, despite drawing the lion’s share of time on George, who was also guarded by Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder.
George still sprung for 37 points on 11-for-26 shooting, including five 3-pointers.
Isaiah Thomas, too, had to work hard for his 25 points, with the Pacers blitzing the Celtics point guard with physical play at every turn. But Thomas stressed that a lot of help came his way, with Kelly Olynyk, Al Horford and Bradley all making big offensive plays down the stretch.
“Now it’s like, guys are really playing well in the fourth and it’s not just me,” Thomas said. “Teams are really trying to stack up against me in the fourth quarter to stop me, but other guys are stepping up and that’s what it’s about, other guys making plays and not just looking for me to go out there and make plays. I’m just trying to take what the defense gives me. I’m still trying to be aggressive but things are a little different from what it was in January and February.”
Thomas, with his 63rd 20-plus points performance of the season, became the first Celtic to break the barrier that many times since 2005-06, when Paul Pierce amassed 66 such games.
And with 10 games left in the regular season, Thomas is looking forward to a chain of possible playoff previews.
“It’s good. We’ve been playing (these teams) all year but definitely playing them toward the end of the season (is good), when everybody is really trying to win and buckle down and get their rotations and things right,” he said. “We’re locked in though. We’re ready for whoever comes in here and wherever we gotta go. We’re ready for that.”