The one query extra standard today than whether or not there are extra doorways or wheels is whether or not or not the Celtics are title contenders.

Whereas the reply to the primary query is clearly wheels and the second is clearly sure, generally it’s refreshing to simply settle for that we don’t know one thing and let the shortage of readability peacefully exist.

In just a few months, the playoffs will unfold nonetheless they do, and the fan with the Celtics 2022 NBA Champions tattoo will both seem like a genius or a idiot. Oftentimes as sports activities followers, it’s tempting to focus solely on the tip end result. Nonetheless, it’s refreshing and worthwhile to understand the journey and the upward trajectory that it took to get to that pinnacle.

Some seasons are completely different, after all. In a real championship or bust 12 months just like the 2007 Patriots or the 2016 Warriors, the place something wanting a title is a disappointment, having tunnel imaginative and prescient is considerably inevitable. As these seasons confirmed, although, nothing is a assure.

For a crew on the opposite finish of the spectrum, like this Celtics squad – one which was pretty dismissed and thought of sure for the play-in event – it’s extra fruitful to sit down again and benefit from the trip.

The Celtics are enjoying a few of the most aesthetically pleasing basketball they’ve because the Large Three period. That is arguably their most riveting common season since that period as properly, together with maybe 2016-17 when Isaiah Thomas improbably willed them to the #1 seed within the Jap Convention.

That season had drama, intrigue and organically produced a magical storyline, and this one is unfolding in its personal spectacular method. If somebody mentioned again in late January that the then-25-25 Celtics could be in competition for the highest spot in a really aggressive convention with 9 video games left, it will have been honest to take a look at that individual like that they had two heads.

It wasn’t that it appeared unlikely. It appeared unattainable. This has been one of the dramatic turnarounds in NBA historical past and Boston sports activities historical past. Successful 21 of 24 video games (87.5 %) is absurd for any crew, by no means thoughts a crew that was caught at .500 earlier than the run started. For context, the Warriors’ win share in that record-setting season was 89.

The Celtics play as a crew, play arduous and play with conviction. They play protection, they transfer the ball they usually flip down good pictures for nice ones. Watching them underachieve as soon as felt like a chore, and now it looks like a privilege. The standard of basketball brings pure pleasure, and it’s an awfully enjoyable technique to spend just a few hours. Whether or not they find yourself changing into champions or not, they’re enjoying like champions proper now. It is a crew Tommy Heinsohn would have beloved and one which embodies what Boston is all about.

Now that the bar is about excessive, it’s pure to count on greatness within the playoffs. It’s honest to partially measure this season by how the Celtics do within the postseason, however no matter the way it all shakes out, this common season must be celebrated as one of the scintillating in franchise historical past.

Celtics followers ought to take pleasure in these final 9 video games, as Boston fights for a 1-seed that appeared laughably unattainable only a few months in the past. It’s enjoyable to foretell the longer term, however don’t neglect to cherish the current alongside the way in which. There could by no means be one other common season fairly like this one.