Danny Green has seen the Celtics periodically this season, and the Philadelphia 76ers vet knows they have the potential to be the real deal.
While much of the chatter around the NBA this season most often has focused on the Bucks, 76ers, Heat or Nets coming out of the Eastern Conference, the Celtics have stormed into the higher reaches of the standings.
Since pretty much Christmas, the Celtics have morphed from a middling, underachieving team to one that could do some serious damage this postseason.
Green admitted on his podcast “Inside the Green Room with Danny Green” that the Celtics have the makings of a legit contender.
“Boston has been hooping,” Green said. “I think they are one of the teams to fear in the East. Whenever one of those top teams matches up with them, they’re not in the top three right now, but if any one of us – Miami, Milwaukee, (Philly), Brooklyn – meet with Boston, I think that’s a team that might be the sleeper that comes out or gets to the Eastern Conference Finals when people don’t expect them to because they’ve been hooping, they’ve been playing defense. Their offense has helped their defense because they’ve been playing a lot smoother, more together, which was interesting to me.
“We played them before James (Harden) got a chance to play, it got ugly on TNT, and for a reason, they were hooping," Green added. "I said if they keep playing like this, they’re going to be the team to beat. But we’re still figuring it out, other teams are figuring it out and waiting to see if people get healthy, but I do think Boston is one of the sleeper teams that could sneak into the Eastern Conference Finals if not the Finals.”
Green’s assessment is obviously predicated on the Celtics continuing to play at their current level. While Boston has shown few signs of slowing down, the current run of success ultimately might not be sustainable over the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs when you consider how poorly they've performed at times this campaign.
Time will tell. If the playoffs started Wednesday the Celtics would be facing the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. But a lot can change between now and the end of the regular season, and the Celtics sit just 2.5 games out of first in the East right now, so they might be sitting even prettier once the playoffs begin.
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