Celtics Continue to Overachieve

The Boston Celtics continued their winning streak to 4 on Wednesday night with a 111-103  victory over the Denver Nuggets. The Celtics are now in 5th place in the Eastern Conference. Their record stands at 26-21during a season in which many counted the Celtics out of.

Boston just barely snuck into the playoffs last year as a 7th seed with a losing record of 40-42. The Celtics followed the 2014-2015 season up with a very underwhelming offseason. Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge made phone calls to other GM's hoping to move up in the draft, but nobody was interested. Boston hoped to land an all-star player in free agency, but struck out and had to settle for acquisitions like Amir Johnson and David Lee. The Celtics acquired some key role players, but they did not make the splash that green teamers hoped for. As a result fans and critics started to doubt the Celtics chances of returning to the playoffs this year, considering the wide spread improvement of the Eastern Conference.

Fast forward halfway through the 2015-2016 season, and the Celtics are right in the thick of the playoff race. Boston is in 5th place, and is only game behind Atlanta for 3rd place. Not bad for a team who many thought would take a step back. 

The doubters most likely overlooked the values of keeping a core group of players together. The Celtics made 9 different trades last year and were still able to make the playoffs. Players like Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder seem to have finally settled in with the Celtics and exceeded expectations in the process. 

You also can not overlook the man in charge, Head Coach Brad Stevens. Although he is one of the youngest Head Coaches in the league at 39, Stevens has already gained the respect of many within the NBA. Even LeBron James had nothing but compliments for Stevens after sweeping the Celtics in the first round of last years playoffs. It seems as if everybody on the Celtics team has bought into the system in their roles. Stevens does not need star players to succeed, he just needs scrappy defenders like Jae Crowder or Avery Bradley who are also willing to move the ball on offense. 

The future looks bright for Boston. Although the team has proven that it does not need a star player in order to compete, they have all the pieces in place to acquire one. Boston will have an abundance of salary cap space this offseason. They also could potentially have 9 first round draft picks in the next four years. If the Celtics can turn one of those picks into a star, they could be competing for their 18th NBA championship very soon.

Isaiah Thomas on the outside looking in

The NBA All-Star starters were announced on Tuesday. Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas was left off of the list, which is not all that surprising. The real shocker is that he is not even expected to make the team at all. When fan voting closed, Thomas had only received the ninth most votes amongst Eastern Conference guards.

Nobody is arguing that Thomas should be a starter in the game, but he certainly deserves some recognition. The undersized Celtics guard is averaging a career high 21.7 points per game. Thomas is also sharing the ball better than ever before, posting another career high in assists per game with 6.7. Despite having a career year, Thomas is not surprised by the lack of attention he is getting.

"I've been gypped all my life," said Thomas, "Put my numbers up against anybody in the NBA and they're right there. It's only questionable because I'm 5-9."

Thomas has always been overlooked, often because of his size. He was drafted with the last pick (60th overall) in the 2011 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. He signed with the Phoenix Suns in the 2014 offseason, and became frustrated when he was not given a starting position. The Celtics traded for him a the trade deadline last season and seems to have finally found a team that really appreciates his skills.

I'm not saying that Thomas is the best point guard in the league. I will say, however, that if Kyrie Irving earns a spot on the All-Star team after only playing 15 games in the first half of this season, then Isaiah Thomas also deserves a spot.