Celtics face one final obstacle ahead of postseason grind

Nothing has been easy about the Celtics regular season in 2018-19 so it would figure a couple of final speedbumps would arise in the midst of a meaningless Game 81 as Brad Stevens and company had started to find their rhythm.

The Celtics had already locked themselves into the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs ahead of the opening tip on Sunday night following a Pacers loss, immediately taking away some of the urgency those hosts would have had against a hungry Magic team. Orlando was fighting for their playoff lives and they played extremely well in a 116-108 win over Boston to cement their first playoff appearance since the Dwight Howard era (2012).

There is little to be concerned about in this one when it comes to the final result. If Boston had something to play for on paper, it would be a bit discouraging but there was no way this group was going to have the same kind of fight as the Magic given how little was at stake. They looked solid when the depth chart was at full strength and the important guys (Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown in his return from back spasms) all played well. Orlando’s starters outplayed the Celtics bench for most of the second half and that essentially proved to be the deciding factor. We saw lineups tonight we won’t see at all in the postseason, even though Stevens clearly wanted to use this contest as a building block for some of the reserves. He played them with Irving for his usual minutes (35) late in the midst of an impressive 14-point fourth quarter rally that fell short.

Still, amid the meaningless defeat, another pair of potential obstacles piled up for the C’s as Marcus Smart (oblique bruise) and Jayson Tatum (shin contusion) both left the game with ailments. The Smart injury was easy to see on the floor after a collision with Nikola Vucevic and left Smart hobbling initially. In classic Smart form, he tried to tough it out following a timeout but immediately went down in pain seconds after returning to the court after trying to play through it.

“(Trainer) Art (Horne) went over and talked to him and Smart said he was fine,” Stevens explained of Smart remaining in the game initially. “He said he was good to go back. Ran up the court once, ran back down the court, and obviously, he felt like it was spasming on that second trip down the court.”

The good news? Smart’s injuries usually look worse than they are and it sounds like he recovered to some degree after this one.

“Marcus Smart has an oblique bruise, which means he got hit right there,” Stevens said. “And so, I guess that’s better than a strain or whatever, but we’ll see what that looks like tomorrow. He was a little sore but was walking around, which was good, in the locker room.”

BSJ medical expert Dr. Jessica Flynn anticipates an MRI and projects the injury to be a day-to-day situation if it's just a bruise. With one week to rest before the likely playoff opener next Sunday, he should have good odds of being ready to go for Game 1, barring a severe bruise or something worse popping up after further testing.

The dicer situation lies with Tatum, one of the most durable Celtics on the roster. He called for a sub just six minutes into the first quarter after no noticeable contact was made.

“Tatum had a shin contusion that evidently he had before the game,” Stevens explained. “I didn’t know about it, but he just said it felt a little off when he jumped, so, you know, hopefully, it’s nothing major but he’ll get checked out tonight and tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

Clearly, Tatum should not have been on the floor at all for any kind of nagging injury, but that’s not a situation that Stevens was aware of before the game began.

“It was never told to me as it was something that would keep him from playing,” Stevens said of Tatum's shin. “He did the whole shoot-around this morning, he got warmed up, he did his whole workout, he felt great. I don’t know, for whatever reason when he jumped in the first quarter, he felt it. I don’t know what it was.”

It’s obviously too early to fret about these injuries without more testing being done but a common refrain on Sunday night was wondering why exactly was Stevens playing his guys in a contest that didn’t mean anything for the standings. While that type of second guess is understandable to a degree, it’s fairly commonplace for teams at the end of the regular season to try to gain some rhythm ahead of the postseason push. Given the lack of cohesion for most of the year, it’s perhaps just as critical for Boston than any other team as they try to gain some rhythm with their new look lineup and a healthy roster.

“I think the point of tonight was to try to -- because we probably won’t play ‘til Sunday, was to get a true, kind-of, game for some of our starters. And our top seven or eight guys.”

After finally figuring out the right formula (starting Baynes, playing Hayward and Brown more) in the final couple weeks of the regular season, Stevens is still trying to evaluate who he can trust in the postseason right now as well. The Magic were a good test on that front and Stevens took advantage of one last chance to mix and match one final time with a complete roster, something he hasn’t had for much of the year. Some bad luck prevented it from happening when injuries hit, but these reps were understandable. Everyone was going to get a good week of rest after this one so it’s hard to fault Stevens from trying to give this group one last trial run before the stakes are raised.

Now, assuming the C’s dodged some major injury bullets (no sure thing), the focus now shifts toward where this team is at. A 5-2 stretch over the past seven games against hungry competition has created a sense of confidence in the locker room heading into a first-round matchup with the Pacers.

“This whole week has been good for us,” Horford explained after playing 25 minutes and sitting out the fourth quarter. “We’ve been challenged, and I feel like our team has answered and played at a high level like we needed to. Tonight was just another night. I felt like we played really well, but we just came up short.”

“Obviously, there was a choice,” Irving added after playing 35 minutes. “We locked up home court. Just to prove to ourselves that we're in any game, at any point. 14 points with nine minutes left on the clock, we're still in great shape. So go out there and compete and just leave it all out there. We had some chances to take the lead.”

With a reeling Pacers squad looming, the Celtics have a chance now to head into the postseason feeling good about themselves, if their injuries aren't serious. A fully healthy roster is what they are going to need to be to take down the Bucks and Raptors on the road but from a cohesion standpoint, they are finally at peace with where they stand. With the best possible seeding draw, the right starting lineup and the right personnel getting bigger minutes lately, they have given themselves a chance to pull off a very challenging feat (two road playoff series wins to get to the NBA Finals). That’s a scenario no one thought they would have much of a chance at a few weeks ago. Now? With some injury luck, they will be happy to roll the dice in this position after a tumultuous 82 games.