Calm Waters -- For Now
Now, the wait is on
Who thought we would be here?
Hands up.
When Jayson Tatum went down with a torn Achilles tendon.
When Brad Stevens embarked on cost-cutting measures that saw Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis traded.
When Al Horford and Luke Kornet left in free agency.
When Luka Garza, Josh Minott, and Hugo Gonzalez were bought in as replacement talent — ok, Hugo was a draft pick, but go with me here.
When Neemias Queta was elevated from fourth-string big man to starting five.
Who here thought we would be right where we are now?
Talking about the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
Waiting for the result of the play-in tournament to see what the opening round of the playoffs has in store for us.
If you’d asked me at the start of the season, the only point I would have agreed with was that Boston would be waiting on the play-in tournament. Not because they dominated all season and finished first or second in the East. Because that needed to navigate the do-or-die nature of those games to make it into the playoffs.
That’s where my head was at coming into the season.
When Joe Mazzulla’s team went 4-6 over their first 10 games of the season, including three straight losses out of the gate, I was ready to bunker down for a rough year.
A rebuilding year.
That’s what we’d sold ourselves on.
Then, Boston began picking up pace. Between games 11 and 21, the Celtics went 8-2.
Games 22-32 saw the same outcome, 8-2.
By then, we’d begun to believe.
If there’s one thing this Celtics team can do, it’s develop talent. You only have to look at last night’s game for proof of that.
With each passing week, Neemy, Baylor Scheierman and Luka Garza showed improvement to their games. Learning on the fly. Rising to the occasion.
The other developmental guys have also shone. From Jordan Walsh, to Minott (before he was traded), to Ron Harper Jr. and even Amari Williams (although mainly in the G League).
As each of those players improved their game, the Celtics’ talent pool got deeper and deeper and deeper.
From a pool to a pond.
A pond to a lake.
A lake to a river.
A river to a playoff-ready ocean.
The next step is to see whether this version of the Celtics are the sharks or the Orcas.
Hint, we want them to be the Orcas. Because in the real world, Orcas hunt sharks. Not the other way around.
Killer whale offense, remember?
For now, though, the Celtics sit in wait.
You can’t hunt what you can’t see.
We won’t know who their official first-round opponent is going to be until Wednesday night, when one of the Philadelphia 76ers or Orlando Magic secures a win and books their ticket into the first round.
Either way, the Celtics should feel confident about securing a dub. However, there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance — Uncle Drew said that!
With that in mind, Boston is currently floating in calm waters. So, I wanted to share the plan.
Tuesday — We’ll be deep diving the Sixers.
Wednesday — We’ll be deep diving the Magic
Thursday — We get our first look at the Boston vs. X matchup head-to-head
Friday — We’ll be looking at positional matchup battles
Saturday — Potential X Factors
Sunday — There will be a mailbag
Each day, there will also be a podcast episode posted to YouTube, with different angles and ideas stemming from the newsletter. So now would be a good time to subscribe!
Here’s yesterday’s episode to get you up to speed.