BOSTON (WHDH) — The final three seeds in the East — the Bulls, Celtics and Bucks — are separated by just four games, and each of them are closing out the season with plenty of road games.
The Celtics have certainly dealt with their fair share of injuries this season, but in adjusting for player absences, the C's may have stumbled into a winning combination: a bigger lineup with Jeff Green inserted into the starting five.
“When you put me and Jeff out there, especially, you have to make a decision on who’s going to guard — the smaller guy’s always going to have to guard one of us. And knowing that both of us are strong a strong post-up presence, and good finishers at the basket, it causes a dilemma,” said Paul Pierce, Celtics captain.
The bigger lineup could give the Celtics an advantage come playoffs. But Paul Pierce is confident his team can pull it together to make another deep post-season run regardless of who is out there to start or finish the game.
“Throughout the year, we’ve shown the ability to beat the teams at the top. The only main concern is maintaining that level of play for a consistent amount of games,” Pierce said.
“Consistent teams in this league, they are the difference between good teams and bad teams. The consistent teams that do everything — know their system, run their system, know what they’re doing every night — those are usually the teams that are doing very well in our league,” said Kevin Garnett, Celtics center.
So the C's know how they need to be playing come playoffs.
“I think our guys — they know it’s coming, the playoffs are coming, you can see they’re getting more focused, they’re getting excited about it,” said Doc Rivers, Celtics head coach.