After a stunning come-from-behind win over the dominating Denver Nuggets, the Boston Celtics have now won five of their last six contests. Sitting eight and a half games out of 1st in 7th place, the Celtics really have to kick it into overdrive for the final stretch of the season in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Believe it or not, this team has historically been defined by incredible three-point shooters such as Larry Bird, Ray Allen and Danny Ainge and have found more success as of late by moving in and driving to the basket.
The main thing the team needs to focus on going forward in the season, is shooting less three-pointers. Over the stretch of their last six games, the Celtics have only shot above 40% from beyond the arc in one game. The C’s tend to find more success when they play aggressive and drive to the net.
“We didn’t feel like we played that well. We just talked about cleaning some things up.” said Celtics forward Jayson Tatum during the postgame press conference. “We didn’t shoot the ball that well the first two and a half quarters.”
While momentum can be a big factor for a team’s performance, especially in the later parts of the season, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens understands that it’s not about what’s in the past, but what is in front of the team instead.
“Well, each game is its own entity. It doesn’t matter how many you lost in a row, won in a row, whatever.” said Stevens when asked about how to continue the momentum the Celtics have found in their recent success. “The next game won’t have anything to do with what we did in the past, we have to prepare to play it well. This trip gives a chance to compete against good teams on a tough stretch. Hopefully we can respond like we did tonight.”
As long as the C’s are able to maintain this momentum and keep their eyes on what is ahead rather than focus on the past, as well as tighten up their shooting and work on their aggressiveness when going to the hoop, they should be able to solidify their playoff spot and try to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
