The Boston Celtics are playing arguably their worst basketball of the season– and the playoffs are just around the corner.
Heading into the final stage of the regular season is one of the most untimely stretches for a team to come unhinged, and that is exactly what happened to the Celtics over the month of February.
They had a pair of inexcusable losses against the two teams from Los Angeles, and ended the month losing four in a row.
Kicking off March with a 107-96 home victory over the Washington Wizards is a solid first step towards righting the ship, but taking care of the upcoming four-game road trip against all Western Conference teams is a daunting task.
The first contest is also the toughest, with the C’s scheduled for a date with the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry and company took the first game between the two 115-111, but the two contenders have gone back and forth in recent history.
Their next game will be against the young, yet talented Sacramento Kings. But the final half is where Marcus Morris and the rest of the squad will need to back up their quotes with strong, unselfish basketball.
“We’re gonna get this s*** together,” Morris said in a recent interview at practice. “We’re gonna have a better attitude. We owe each other to play better, man.”
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Well Marcus, there’s no time like the present. Boston wraps up the roadstand with rematches against the Lakers and Clippers; both teams that recently clawed back from a 20-plus point deficit and embarrassed the Celtics on their home court.
Road Struggles
Playing at a high level consistently has been hard to do in general for this year’s Celtics, but doing so away from the comforts of home seems like a pipe dream at this point. Through 30 road games, the Celtics own a 14-16 record and have lost their last three.
The road-versus-home split goes back to last postseason in particular, when the injury-ridden Celtics went 10-1 at home, compared to 1-7 on the road. That proved to not be too much of an issue, considering Boston entered the playoffs as the two seed.
Top-ranked Toronto was eliminated in the Conference Semifinals by LeBron James in his final season with the Cavaliers, so the Celtics had home court advantage in every round.
This season, the luxury of home court is one that could evade the C’s — at least after the first round. As of now, Boston is the fifth seed, sitting two and a half games behind Philadelphia and three behind Indiana. Even if they overtake the Sixers or Pacers, it’s unlikely to move all the way into the top three with under 20 games left to play.
If the Celtics are serious about gearing up for a deep playoff run in what is sure to hold plenty of burdensome series’, the time is now to start proving it. If they continue to wait, it will be too late and all hopes of banner 18 are good as dead.
