The regular season is over.
Well, there are 14 games left, but there's nothing left in it for the Celtics. They are 7.5 games behind the Cavs and 6 games ahead of the New York Knicks. Barring the most stunning collapse in history coupled with an epic run somewhere, the Celtics will go into the playoffs as the East’s second seed.
The only mystery left for Boston is who they’ll face in the first round. The odds are it will be either Atlanta or Orlando, the current seventh and eighth seeds. If they hang on, they’ll play each other in the play-in tournament with Boston taking on the winner.
That's still about five weeks away, giving the Celtics a long time to get their team ready for a run to the Finals. Here are a few of the things I want to see from the team over that time.
- Getting guys right.
I’ll get this out of the way because I know I’ve been harping on it every game. This is a great opportunity to get some strategic rest for everyone on the roster.
I’m seeing a lot of knee contusions and tendinopathy on the injury report. Giving guys the time off they need to get some rest and ease all that inflammation will be helpful. Identify the games to maximize that, like tomorrow’s game vs. Brooklyn at home, and force the players’ hands to save them from themselves.
- Getting Kristaps Porzingis where he needs to be.
I feel bad for his lungs. They’ve taken a beating with his respiratory infection and now they're going to get pushed to their limits to maximize their capacity.
This is a delicate balance of pushing his limits but not subjecting him to injury. There was one play in the Brooklyn game where his legs didn’t do everything he’s used to them doing, and he landed awkwardly. So they have to be mindful of getting his cardio up without increasing his risk for injury.
Maybe it’s shorter stints and shorter rest. I’m not a fan of him playing the full fourth quarter the other night, but whatever the plan is, the Celtics have to get Porzingis ready for the playoff grind.
The good news is that they probably won’t need him to advance past the first or even the second round. They can make sure the cardio plan is airtight. If the Celtics head into Game 1 of the Conference Finals with Porzingis at his max, they’ll repeat as champions.
- Prepare for the worst.
Against OKC, Sean Grande said it was less of a game and more of a laboratory. I loved that because it’s exactly where the C’s should be right now.
Whether it’s new plays, new wrinkles, or new lineups, these next 14 games are a chance to throw stuff out there that Boston might never use, but would love to perfect just in case.
This is why I really liked Jrue Holiday handling a lot of the play initiation in the fourth quarter against Brooklyn. There may be a game in the playoffs where Jaylen Brown has fouled out and Jayson Tatum sprained an ankle, so why not run some unique lineups just to work through any unexpected kinks?
I don’t want to overstate this part because Holiday and Derrick White are incredible basketball players who can slide in and run the point at any time. But there's still a different cadence to everyone’s game, so these moments are nice reminders to everyone of little idiosyncrasies.
How White, Holiday, Tatum, and Brown decide to handle pick-and-rolls is slightly different, even if they're all making the same decision. Tatum likes to side-step his 3-pointers while White pulls quickly. How Holiday passes out of those situations is different than how and when Brown does. Tatum fades away on mid-range shots, Brown tries to get all the way to the rim and fades if he’s shut off, Holiday likes to go left, and White likes to shoot floaters.
That all impacts how bigs roll, how shooters rotate, and how people crash for offensive rebounds.
- MORE TORREY CRAIG!
Along these same lines, I really want to see Craig get some extended minutes over these next few weeks. Treat this like a training camp for him, let him play through some mistakes, and get him fully up to speed on what the C’s need from him.
Again, you never know when there will be a reckless closeout where someone lands on a foot and has to leave the game. Even if it’s for a short time, a few minutes without Tatum or Brown could swing a critical game and, therefore, a series.
Five minutes of Craig can be what wins or loses a game. Maybe that situation will never happen, but it’s not out of the question. There are 14 games to get him the time he needs.
This is a unique opportunity for the Celtics. They have a lot of time to accomplish some important goals, even though the results of these games don’t matter much. They can’t waste this chance to button things up.
