Toronto Raptors: Boston Celtics are still the biggest obstacle to winning Eastern Conference

The Boston Celtics are back-on-track. Despite their early-season struggles, the Celtics are still the Toronto Raptors biggest obstacle in the Eastern Conference.

The Toronto Raptors are the best team in the Eastern Conference. They have the best record, the deepest roster, and the most playoff experience. (Don’t laugh. Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green account for more playoff success than all the other Eastern Conference contenders combined.)

They belong in a “top tier” of the East which seems to be a cut above the rest: The Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers. Apologizes to the Indiana Pacers, but I’m just not there yet.

According to the standings, Milwaukee and Philadelphia appear to be the biggest threats outside of Canada. However, despite what the standings say, the Boston Celtics are still the Raptors’ biggest obstacle to winning the Eastern Conference. The Celtics are deeper, coached better, and have more top-end talent than the other Eastern Conference foes, and after a slow start to the season, they are starting to find their footing.

Boston started the season .500 through the first 20 games. Defensively, they were fine, if not better than expected.  On the other side of the ball, they struggled. Boston had just the 27th ranked offense in the NBA. That sounds bad to hear. It sounds worse when you consider they were sandwiched between the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns.

We all knew it would take some time for the Celtics to gel, but patience is much easier to preach than to practice, and after twenty games in folks started to panic.

Brad Stevens, cool calm and collected as ever, noticed the team wasn’t broken, but just needed a changeup. The starting lineup, while extremely skilled and talented, was a little soft. Not irredeemably soft but a little perimeter oriented and lacking a little fire.

Insert the Marcuses

Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart bring nothing but fire. You might remember Marcus Morris as the self-proclaimed “LeBron Stopper.” Meanwhile, Marcus Smart is the only 30-percent three-point shooter in the NBA who feels the need for a heat-check.

Smart and Morris aren’t better than the players they are replacing– Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown—  they’re better fits. Since their addition to the starting lineup, the Celtics have come alive.

Since November 26th, the first game of the official lineup change, Boston is 1st in the NBA in offense with an offensive rating of 123.4 up from 104.6 prior to the change. A difference of nearly 20 points per 100 possession or 19.1 points per game. That’s not turning from the Bulls into the Warriors, that’s turning from the G-League to the Warriors.

During that same time, their defense has improved as well, albeit only slightly. Their defensive rating jumped from 102.8 to 101.4. Hey, it’s a lot easier to improve in an area ranked near the bottom of the league than one at the top.

They’ve received some help from the scheduling gods as well. It’s easy to improve your team statistics when beating the ever-living snot out of the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers. Zero of their last seven opponents have a winning record.

But not all of their recent success can be attributed to easier opponents. Boston played easier opponents earlier in the season, they didn’t destroy them like this.

Will it last?

They won’t continue at this current pace. No team could. A net-rating of 22.0 is more than double any other teams is during that same span. A couple of players will come back down to earth and the schedule will stiffen back up.

However, there’s no reason to believe they can’t establish a top-five offense AND a top-five defense. Boston is talented, deep, and well coached. Those factors generally lead to pretty successful teams.

Will Stevens continue to bring a max-player and one of the Celtics prized-prospects off the bench? Probably not. My guess is that one of either Hayward or Brown will manage to work themselves back into the rotation.

Hayward is continuing to improve as he recovers from a gruesome leg injury and Jaylen Brown loses value as a trade piece with every non-start. Its very likely one moves into the lineup eventually. I’d lean Hayward at this time.

Regardless of who works back into the starting lineup, Boston has found itself over these past couple of games. They’re still the team that pushed the Cavaliers to a seven-game series without their superstars. They’re still the best (American) team in the East.