Thanks to a light upcoming schedule and some team gelling, the Boston Celtics could go on a winning streak.
All of the Eastern Conference teams that aren’t the Boston Celtics were having a whole lot of fun at the Boston Celtics’ expense through the first quarter of the season. Unfortunately for those 14 squads, it seems as though Boston could be getting it together.
The Celtics have won three straight games for just the second time this season, and have won four of their last five contests. Their upcoming schedule is pretty light over their next seven games, which could lead to Boston stringing together several more wins.
The Celtics take on the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, and Phoenix Suns, in order, over the next seven games. Aside from Detroit and New Orleans, all of those teams are well under .500.
If Boston can handle business against a bevy of terrible teams and take just one of the games against actual good teams, the Celtics will be 19-11 and suddenly looking like the top tier team they actually are. In addition to a soft schedule, getting real contributions from Gordon Hayward would be huge for the Celtics moving forward.
If his last game is indicative of how he’s going to play going forward, Boston can expect more from their star forward. Hayward reached both 20 and 30 points for the first time this year, posting 30 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and two steals in less than 30 minutes.
Obviously, Hayward won’t average 30-9-8 for the rest of the season, but getting closer to his usual form will work wonders for a struggling Celtics offense.
Boston was down, but with a lot of regular season and all of the postseason left to go with Celtics are far from out of anything. Don’t be surprised if Boston reaches a top-four seed by 2019.
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