Time to say Celtics are NBA Finals bound? Cedric Maxwell weighs in originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Is it time to bet on the Boston Celtics representing the Eastern Conference in this year’s NBA Finals?
The C’s are winners of 23 of their last 27 games. They’re currently riding a five-game win streak with all five victories coming by double-digit points, four by at least 20. Their ridiculous run has them only 1.5 games behind the first-place Miami Heat in the East standings.
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With only eight games left in the regular season, it’s hard not to feel optimistic about Boston’s chances of making a deep playoff run. Celtics great Cedric Maxwell joined Early Edition to share whether he’s ready to say the C’s are Finals bound.
“I’m not prepared yet,” Maxwell said. “I think this is a good team, I think they’re playing well.
“Here’s the thing I believe with them, they don’t have any weaknesses. Everybody said, ‘Well, they don’t have a bench.’ Well, they’re going nine deep. Daniel Theis has played really well coming off the bench. … But you look at (Jayson) Tatum and (Jaylen) Brown, if you look at the defense with Marcus Smart, and you look at Robert Williams, there are so many places right now that this team is spot-on. Bigger than that, the fact this team is young. This is the crazy thing. Your two most dynamic players are in their low 20s.”
Jayson Tatum has made the leap from very good to great over the last couple of months. The 24-year-old is averaging 29.8 points per game since Jan. 23 and 33.6 ppg in March. He’s earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors twice this month and three times during the season.
Tatum has received plenty of help from his supporting cast with Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, among others playing significant roles. The collective effort has helped Boston bounce back after a frustrating start to the campaign.
“This team was just on the bottom, but now they’ve risen, they’ve played well,” Maxwell said. “There shouldn’t be any reason why you would think they wouldn’t be able to (make it to the NBA Finals), but I think matchups are gonna be key, who they meet.
“If they stay healthy, to me, the Boston Celtics right now are one of the teams that should be, I think, especially in the Eastern Conference Finals. A month and a half ago, we weren’t even thinking that. … But there’s also the defending champs right now that are here in the East with you in the Milwaukee Bucks. Don’t sleep on ’em.”
Hear everything Maxwell had to say about the Celtics’ Finals chances in the video above.
