Celtics' Eyeing Playoff Push

 Celtics' Eyeing Playoff Push

    

    I don't think most Celtics' fans came into this season expecting the Celtics to only be 4 games over .500 almost sixty games into the season. But here we are, and we are not in a terrible spot with only fourteen games left. Boston is only a game out of the 4-seed, but is only one loss and a Miami Heat win away from playing in the play-in tourney. So the Celtics really can't afford to have any letdowns over the next month. So first we should dive into their upcoming schedule. 

    To finish out the season the Celtics play a decent schedule, it's very front loaded from here on out. This week we'll see them play both Phoenix and Brooklyn, then they go through a stretch where they will be playing a lot of teams trying to improve their seeding, trying to get out of the play-in tourney, or teams fighting to stay in those 9/10 seeds. Luckily two of our last three games will be against Cleveland and Minnesota, who at that point will most likely be mailing it in. If the Celtics continue to play the same way they have so far in April, we should be in a good spot come playoffs. 

    The Celtics have been injury riddled all year, but this month more than any other it seems the Celtics have finally found an NBA playoff level rotation. In month of April the Celtics had a net rating of 7.1 points per 100 possessions, that is almost double their previous highest net rating they've had any month when they had 3.8 in January. This month they've also had their highest true shooting percentage of any month this season as well as their highest assist percentage. 

    The injury report for tomorrow night's game looks similar to a CVS receipt, so not ideal for a team looking to get back on a winning streak. The good news is Fournier should be back as early as the Brooklyn game on the 23rd. The rest of guys, aside from maybe Rob look to have non-serious injuries that hopefully won't linger into the stretch. Also, Jabari has looked good since joining the team, and Romeo has looked defensively since returning from injury. 

    I do think this team will have the firepower to finish as the 4/5 seed in the east and hopefully match up with the Hawks or Knicks in the first round. I think in a playoff series we have enough quality pieces to compete with every team in the east aside from the Nets.