The NBA regular season has come to an end and the play-offs are set to begin.  The Play In tournament is set to begin Tuesday.  The Celtics had a hell of a regular season and have reached the end pretty damn healthy and ready to make a run at Banner 18.  They finished the season with a 64-18 record.  Tops in the East by a hefty 14 games.  They lead the league by 7 games.  They were second in the league in points per game and were 5th in opponents points per game.  They lead the league with a +11 scoring differential which was 4 points higher than the second place team.   They had three guys, Tatum, Brown, and Porzingis, all average over 20 a game with Tatum leading the way at 26.9 per.  Their other two starters averaged 15 and 12.5.  Their 8 man rotation was rounded out by Pritchard, Houser and Horford who averaged 9.6, 9.0, and 8.6 respectfully.  They had more 30 point leads than they had 10 point deficits.  This team is good.  Very good.

So now the play-offs begin.  Because the NBA is dumb, the Celtic won’t know who they play until Friday night so I can’t get into specific match ups. It’s most likely going to be the loser of the Heat vs. 76ers game.  Not the best match up they could have asked for in the opening round.  It’s hard to get this good of a team, especially a rival, right off the bat and not be able to ease into the play-offs.  The Celtics did something I did not agree with at the end of the season.  They sat their top players for the last two games of the regular season.  Now, given, they had mailed in the regular season after they clinched the best record in basketball, which is fine.  However, they don’t play game 1 until Sunday.  This means the starters will not have played a game in 10 days.  While I am all for resting up and getting, and staying healthy, (Browns wrist being exhibit A) that’s along time between games.  It’s even longer for them to have played a competitive game.   There is always an argument between rest vs rust.  I think health is everything in sports so I lean towards rest.  With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised by a slow start by the Green Team in game 1.  Might be a game where Mazzulla might want to play the bench a little early and often to get then energy and intensity up and give the starters a chance to get back into the swing of things.   

I will say this though, I really do not fear any team in the East.  Well, that’s not necessarily true.  I fear the Knicks.  The Celtics got very lucky that Julius Randle was lost for the season after having shoulder surgery.  Even with out their 20/10 power forward, the Knicks are by far and away the second-best team in the East.   As someone who bet the over on their wins for the season, I saw as a good team this season.  However, they made a trade mid-season that balanced out their line up and they really exploded at that point.  They then had a rash of injuries that slowed them down but then have since become healthy, with the exception of Randle, and look as good as they did when they first made the trades.  At the deadline they strengthened their bench and were able to work all the way up to the 2^nd seed in the East.   The worst part is the Knicks are built to take advantage of the Celtics weak spots.  They play hard every minute of the game and they never give up.  Having a big lead against them is meaningless.  They will fight their way back into the game, especially if you let up at all. They also attack the offensive boards.  Giving up offensive rebounds is the biggest weakness of the Celtics, not the three point shooting everyone thinks it is.  Statistically they do fine, if not very good on the defensive boards but, when you win 64 games, the stats are going to be in your favor.  In games where they struggled it was usually because they gave up a ton of offensive rebounds.  It’s the reason a lot of lesser teams were able to hang around during the regular season. It will be a lot harder to overcome against play-off caliber teams. And it’s not even that they will give up a lot of rebounds but they will give up big ones in close games.  That will kill you in the play-offs were every possession is big, especially in the 4th quarter.  The best thing I think that can happen for the Celtics is that the Knicks get taken out before the Eastern Conference Finals. 

The only teams I fear in the West are Denver and well, Golden State.  Denver are the defending champs.  They know how to get it done.  They have arguably the best player in the league, they will execute perfectly down the stretch in close games, and they have beaten the Celtics both times they played.  Hopefully the Celtics won’t have to face them.  As for Golden State, I just would much rather not have to deal with Curry.  He will always scare me.  A healthy Clippers team could be a real threat to the Celtics as well.  They have the swing men to match up with the Jays and are a pretty deep team.  Luckily the Celtics will only have to deal with one of these teams and that won’t be until the Finals, if they get there. 

The Celtics played as well as they could have in the regular season.  They are as healthy as they could reasonably be.  The additions they made in the offseason have fit in perfectly.  Porzingis has given them another dimension on offense and great rim protection on defense.  Holliday has combined with White to be the best defensive backcourt in the league.  Their entire starting five is capable of making huge plays or having huge games.  And their bench has rounded into a really effective unit.  They probably won’t go particularly deep into the bench during the play-offs but if they have to, or want to, they can have total confidence in the level of play they are going to get from whomever they put into the game. 

This is pretty much going to come down to health.  Remember last year the Celtics lost game 7 to the Heat because Jason Tatum sprained his ankle 3 minutes into the game.  If the Celtics starters can stay healthy, there’s a very good chance duck boats will be parading through Boston this June.