Who Do the Celtics Want to Face in the First Round?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Each of the three Celtics’ potential first-round opponents, the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, will most likely enter the 2016 playoffs without one of the players that was part of their rotation entering this season: Tiago Splitter, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Chris Bosh, respectively.

Meanwhile, the C’s have been very fortunate on the injury front this season, as they are fully healthy entering the last week of the season. In fact, six of their top seven minutes-per-game producers have played more than 70 games this season. In addition, Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk would finish with an average of 65 games played if each play in the final two contests.

But, how confident should the Celtics feel with one of the lowest strengths of schedule in the NBA this season? On Saturday, Boston fell to the Hawks, with the loss giving Atlanta the season series, and therefore, the tiebreaker in the standings. The C’s are seeking to sweep their season series against the Hornets and Heat, as they host those squads at TD Garden on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

So, who should Boston be hoping to draw in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs? Let's take a look at the candidates.

Celtics Look to Stay Afloat Amid Injuries and Shooting Woes

Jae Crowder has been a bright spot, but the Celtics need to get healthy and find some touch beyond the arc.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Wednesday was not a very strong night for the Avery Bradley-less Celtics, as they fell back to below .500 by losing to Paul George and the Indiana Pacers for already the second time this season.

In his pink sneakers, George extended his career-long streak of scoring at least 25 points to five games in the Pacers’ 102-91 win on Veterans Day, moving Indiana to 5-4 and dropping Boston to 3-4.

On the first night of the back-to-back, the visiting Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in front of a small crowd, in spite of some weak 3-point shooting by the green. However, the C’s needed to sink more shots from downtown to win the next night against the Pacers, who were more effective from 3-point land. Tuesday and Wednesday were two of the Celtics’ three worst 3-point shooting nights of the young season.

Although it is a small sample size, when Boston shoots 20.7 percent or worse from 3-point, they are 0-2. While it's already happened twice this year, the C’s shot that poorly from 3-point only twice in their 82 regular season games last season.

The 2014-15 Celtics Season in Review: A Bridge Year Unlike Any Other

Can Marcus Smart, Brad Stevens and the rest of the Celtics take the next step in 2015-16?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

The 2014-15 Boston Celtics season was officially the second one for Brad Stevens as the team’s head coach, but was it really?

Did he actually have a full-fledged basketball roster for more than a few months since replacing NBA champion Doc Rivers? Was Stevens drawing up out-of-bounds plays for the same players each year? Did the former Butler Bulldogs coach even have a semblance of consistency with his NBA team?

In a game fraught was one-and-dones, like most of the high-caliber college basketball programs today, he sure did have a consistent roster from year to year in the Horizon League. His freshman became sophomores, who mostly became juniors, and a lot stayed around for their senior seasons.

Matt Howard, Ronald Nored and Andrew Smith all played four years with their head coach, and Shelvin Mack played three seasons for the Bulldogs.

Stevens, self-admittedly, is not a salesman, so drawing free agents to Boston will be challenging on the surface no matter what, even if Kelly Olynyk’s one-game-suspension armbar squandered the green’s chances of signing Kevin Love (it did not). The Celtics’ next phase truly has not begun, because the team has shifted depth charts more often in the last two seasons than a Celtics fan has dropped F-bombs at LeBron James at TD Garden in the 2015 playoffs.

Love, Cookies, and The Celtics

When will the Celtics find their next banner?

By Shaun Whalen (@TheSPFW)

I am young(ish), broke, don’t have a girlfriend, and am entering my first year as a season ticket holder for a Boston Celtics team that can best be described as “feisty”, “defensive minded”, and “at least they’re not the Sixers.”

I bought the tickets on as much of a whim as you can when you spend that much money. Caught in the rally of optimism that Danny Ainge would find a way to lure Kevin Love to The Bean, my soon-to-be roommate (who doubles as a Lucky the Leprechaun doppelganger) and I decided to buy the tickets “as an investment”. This decision took less than thirty minutes from inception to him piling the cost on his credit card and stealing all the reward points that came with that exorbitant figure. It helped the ticket rep we both spoke to “sounded REALLY hot.”  (She is, by the way.)

Needless to say, KLove didn’t find his way to Boston. And when he does finally make it to play the Celts, Lucky and I have decided to sell those tickets because we are just so broke. His girlfriend—to her credit—has maintained decorum and not yelled at us for this investment. She will undoubtedly make her way to a game or four, continually yell at Kelly Olynyk for his MMBop hair, and generally put up with our basketball nonsense.

But why?