Maybe the Celtics' Opponents Just Aren't Very Good?

A lot has been made about the Celtics' 2018 playoff run.  After a shaky 4-3 series win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Celtics cruised through the conference semifinals with a 4-1 victory over the upstart 76ers and are up 2-0 versus LeBron James and the vaunted Cavaliers. A lot of reasons have been discussed about the Celtics run without their two best players, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, even suiting up, much less putting 20 points up per game.

He really doesn't have anything to do with it.

Brad Stevens is the most important person on this team, some reports have stated.  Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have emerged as the next superstars of the NBA, other reports have exclaimed.  Scary Terry Rozier and Marcus "trash talk" Morris have come out of nowhere to put up huge numbers when just a couple of months ago, they were nice complimentary pieces expected to work 10-15 minutes a game.  But I have it figured out.  And these reasons are not the REAL reason for the Celtics 2018 playoffs.   

Maybe, just maybe, their opponents suck?

Brad Stevens is not any more a coaching genius than I am.  He's a good Xs and Os coach who has good out of bounds plays and can't settle on a rotation to save his life.  Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are good young players.  Of course they will average 18 points a game, though, if they are logging 35-40 minutes on a team that doesn't really have natural scorers.  Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris are having good series as starters, but they are not difference makers.  All the hype though may get us a first round draft pick for Rozier so I won't complain.  Thief Danny will find some lousy team to deal Rozier to in the off season, I'm sure.

But frankly, its the team defense and sharing of the ball that has led to the Celtics' success.  In a league of superstars, me-first mentalities, touches and general selfishness, defense and passing almost seem like novel concepts.  Believe it or not, the closest parallel I can think of is the UConn Women's basketball team.  They practice sharing the ball and defense almost exclusively.  The sets that they run and suffocating defenses they play have led to what seems like 50 years of dominance.  All an NBA team has to do to win in this league is commit to passing the ball and defense.  Maybe this has something to do with Stevens, but that is a mentality that comes with being the underdog because of injuries.

The unselfish passing I'm seeing with this team has been leading to open threes and layups.  the Cavs look old, tired and disinterested in playing defense.  They simply look like they suck.  The best thing I saw in Game 2 was James going off and still losing by 10+ points.  That means that someone else needs to step up to win this series with James.  Won't happen if everyone else sucks.

The suffocating defense has been leading to open jump shots and layups in transition.  It has been leading to terrible shooting and decision making.  That game against the 76ers, where Boston kept stealing the ball during out of bounds plays, was a perfect example of a defense that had something to prove.  Do you think that defense shows up if Irving and Hayward were out there?  Probably not because they don't have anything to prove.  Thee 76ers believed their own hype, but unfortunately, they suck.

So let's win two more games, have the Warriors and Rockets beat the snot out of one another in the Western Conference Finals and finally raise Number 18.