{"id":1458347,"date":"2022-04-29T15:14:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T19:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1458347"},"modified":"2022-04-29T15:14:49","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T19:14:49","slug":"the-celtics-are-scary-good-months-after-being-written-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-celtics-are-scary-good-months-after-being-written-off\/","title":{"rendered":"The Celtics Are Scary Good, Months After Being Written Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-celtics-are-scary-good-months-after-being-written-off%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1458347&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1393718506.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>It was not too long ago when the Boston Celtics were buried.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On January 22, the Celtics were 23-24 and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. A play-in berth looked to be Boston\u2019s best hope, a far cry from their three Eastern Conference Finals appearances in the past five years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The message from first-year head coach Ime Udoka clearly was not resonating with his roster, as the offense mainly consisted of a \u201cmy turn, your turn\u201d style between stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Many \u2014 yours truly included \u2014 were ready to throw in the towel on the duo, looking at possible trade destinations for Brown.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And then, everything changed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In late January, the Celtics began to make a run, winning 9 in a row, allowing just 94.1 points per game during the stretch. And yet, there was hesitation with such a small sample size. While Boston beat some good teams during the stretch \u2014 Miami, Brooklyn, Denver, and Philadelphia \u2014 if you looked closely, the wins weren\u2019t as impressive at second glance. Miami was without Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, and Brooklyn was without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. Wins over Charlotte, Orlando, Detroit, and Atlanta were nice, but nothing to get overly excited about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the winning didn\u2019t stop. Boston went 26-6 to end the season, finishing the year as the top defensive team in the league. The Celtics midseason turnaround was historic according to ESPN Stats &#038; Info \u2014 Boston finished with a .622 winning percentage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Celtics through 41 games: 20-21 (.486 win pct)<\/p>\n<p>Thursday: 46-28 (.622 win pct)<\/p>\n<p>The Celtics are on pace to become the 3rd team in league history to be under .500 exactly halfway through the season and finish with a .600+ win percentage. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nzANBTwLtF\">pic.twitter.com\/nzANBTwLtF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESPN Stats &#038; Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ESPNStatsInfo\/status\/1506948945678790663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 24, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>As the final day of the regular season approached, there was much talk about the Celtics avoiding the Brooklyn Nets, who many felt would be capable of making a deep playoff run with their two superstars and the potential of a Ben Simmons sighting in the postseason.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Milwaukee and Philadelphia preferred to throw away their final game in order to avoid the Nets, Boston had no interest in ducking anyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe said it quite openly that we weren\u2019t running from anybody. We wanted to play our best basketball going into [the playoffs],\u201d Udoka <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/boston.cbslocal.com\/2022\/04\/25\/jason-tatum-jaylen-brown-ime-udoka-boston-celtics-sweep-brooklyn-nets-nba-playoffs\/\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cSome teams did what they did on the last day, but we had to win. We aren\u2019t scared of anybody and we aren\u2019t going to run from anybody. If you want to win you have to go through everybody, so I think it was good to get a good test in the first round.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That mentality paid off, as Boston put on a defensive clinic in the first round of the playoffs, sweeping Brooklyn, and sending them into an offseason of uncertainty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Of course, there were those who felt the storyline of the series was the struggles of Durant and Irving, with many on social media saying that Durant was entering a new phase of his career, but that\u2019s for people who aren\u2019t watching basketball the way it should be watched. While yes, Durant and Irving struggled, it was the Celtics defense that deserved all the praise, frustrating Durant to a level NBA fans have never seen from the all-time great.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And now, Boston heads into its series against the Milwaukee Bucks, the defending NBA champions, and the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2022 NBA Finals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Boston caught a major break earlier this week when it was announced that Milwaukee All-Star Khris Middleton is expected to miss the entirety of the series as he recovers from an MCL injury sustained in the Bucks first-round series against Chicago. Celtics big man Robert Williams III will be integrated back into the fold after returning to the court with a knee injury, giving Boston the opportunity to raise the bar defensively another level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There\u2019s no reason to believe that Boston will slow down anytime soon, as defense always travels, continuing an incredible run that started midseason when most had written them off. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/utm.io\/ueuP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member now and join our mission<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was not too long ago when the Boston Celtics were buried.\u00a0On January 22, the Celtics were 23-24 and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. A play-in berth looked<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":1481026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1458347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1458347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1481026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1458347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1458347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1458347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}