Ingram over Simmons?

                                                    (Photo courtesy of cbssports.com)

With the end of the NBA and college seasons coming to an end, NBA draft talks have been heating up. With the Celtics in contention for the top pick, green-teamers should be keeping an eye on some of the top prospects.

Early in the year, it seemed to be a one man race for the number one overall pick in the draft. Ben Simmons had already secured that spot in many peoples eyes before he ever stepped on the court at LSU. Since then, things have gotten a little more interesting. Simmons' character has come into question after academic problems caused him to miss a game and he withdrew from classes just days after LSU's season ended without a NCAA tournament bid.

One player who's name is gaining some momentum is Brandon Ingram from Duke. Unlike Simmons, Ingram proved to be a reliable leader on his teams NCAA tournament run. His tall but lanky frame and scoring ability have drawn comparisons to Kevin Durant. I can't stand Duke basketball, but even I like this kid. That's how you know he is the real deal.

As a Celtics fan, I kind of hope that the Celtics end up with the second pick so that they don't have to choose between Simmons and Ingram. Simmons still looks like he is going to be a big time talent in the league. However, Greg Oden seemed like a better choice than Durant going into the 2007 draft. You never know.

Crowder expected return tonight for Celtics

                                                 (Photo courtesy of bostonherald.com)

Small Forward Jae Crowder is expected to return to action tonight for the Boston Celtics when they take on the Trail Blazers in Portland. Crowder has been absent from the Celtics lineup since March 11 with a high ankle sprain. Since that time, the Celtics have recorded a 4-4 record. The Celtics stood alone as the third place team in the Eastern Conference at that time, but are now in a three way tie with the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets for fourth place.

Crowder's return should give the team an immediate boost, if he is completely healthy. The Celtics are just one game back from the Atlanta Hawks for third place. With eight games left, it will be nice for Brad Stevens to have his full rotation in his repertoire. The biggest game remaining on the schedule is in Atlanta against the Hawks on April 9.

Celtics head west for tough road trip

                                                (photo courtesy of bostonbigfour.com)

After the Celtics win on Wednesday night, the Celtics ended their brief home stand. The team will now embark on an eleven day, five game west coast road trip. The team will travel roughly 7,000 miles before they return to Boston once again.

The Celtics will start off the trip against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday in a game that Boston should probably win. The Suns season has been dismal at times, and Isaiah Thomas should be motivated by being back in Phoenix to play the team that traded him to Boston just over one year ago. It would be big for the Celtics to get a win in the first game of the road trip.

The Celtics will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers. The Celtics won in a tight overtime game when the teams played in February, led by one of Isaiah Thomas' best performances of the season. I expect the Clippers to seek for revenge, specifically Chris Paul, who was outperformed by Thomas.

The Celtics will then head North to take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. The Celtics ran Portland out of the gym earlier this month when the Trail Blazers came to Boston. Still, Portland is still fighting for good playoff seeding, so this game will mean just as much to them as it will to Boston. Look for Damian Lillard to have a big night.

The Celtics will face probably the toughest test of the season when they enter the Oracle Arena to face the Golden State Warriors. First of all, Golden State has not lost a home game all season. Second of all, they are extremely motivated by their opportunity to finish the season with the best regular season record in NBA history. It's safe to say that this is as close to a no win situation as there could be for the Celtics.

The Celtics will finish the road trip with a much less intimidating opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Los Angeles did steal a win from the Celtics in Boston in December. Be on the lookout for the Kobe show. I can picture him putting up 40 shots in his final game against Boston.

Realistically, it would expect to see the Celtics win three of these games. The Suns and Lakers are teams that the Celtics should be able to beat at this point in the season. I also think that the Celtics could steal a game against the Trail Blazers or the Clippers. A win against the Warriors, however, might be wishful thinking.

Celtics get important win over Raptors

                                                       (Photo courtesy of nba.com)

The Boston Celtics defeated the red hot Toronto Raptors 91-79 on Wednesday night. The Celtics caught a break right before game time, as the Raptors announced that their All-Star Point Guard Kyle Lowry would not play due to his sore elbow. Isaiah Thomas was the high scorer in the game, scoring 23 points for the Celtics on a night where scoring was at a premium. Evan Turner scored 13 of his 17 points in the third quarter. Toronto was able to pull within one point in the fourth quarter when the score read 69-68. The Celtics pulled away from that point, and secured their third win in a row.

The win was a big one for Boston, considering Toronto is in second place in the Eastern Conference, and Toronto won when the teams played in Toronto last week. Wednesday's win moved the Celtics over the Heat for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. The third through sixth spots in the Eastern Conference are separated by only half a game. This means that one loss at the wrong time could drop the Celtics all the way down to sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics will be back in action on Saturday night when they play the Suns in Phoenix. The Raptors will be in Houston to take on the Rockets Friday night.

Thunder roll over Celtics

                                                       (Photo courtesy of nesn.com)

The Celtics continued their fall in the Eastern conference standings on Wednesday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder came into town and dominated the Celtics in a 130-109 win. Isaiah Thomas was the high scorer in the game with 29 points, but the rest of the Celtics did not give him enough help to combat the 52 combined points from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

With the loss, the Celtics have dropped three games in a row and are now tied for fourth place in the East with the Atlanta Hawks. Jae Crowder's absence due to his high ankle sprain has a lot to do with the teams struggles. The Celtics especially missed Crowder in the past two games when they went up against two of the best Small Forward's in the league, Paul George and Kevin Durant.

Many Celtics fans were excited to see the Thunder roll into town. Kevin Durant is the big name in the is upcoming off-season's free agency pool, and some of his recent comments made to ESPN reporters created some buzz about his potential interest in Boston. 

"They're some of the best fans in the world and definitely support their team," added Durant. "I like the city a lot. It's cold, but they love sports here. This is a family atmosphere [that] I feel when I walk around the city. So yeah, I like it a lot."

Durant appeared to be very interested in the history of the Celtics organization.

"You can feel the tradition walking in here. You see all the [Celtics legends] plastered on the walls as you walk into the locker room," said Durant. "The tradition of being a Boston Celtic is second to none. So it's amazing playing here. The fans, they're very energetic and they cheer for their team. It's amazing to see as a player, to have fans that care about the game so much. It's an amazing sports town and they have a great team to cheer for."

Despite what Durant has said, I would not get too excited as a Celtics fan. The team did not exactly put together an appealing product against Durant and the Thunder on Wednesday night.

Celtics enter tough stretch of schedule

                                               (Photo courtesy of boston.cbslocal.com)

With 20 games left in their regular season schedule, the Boston Celtics are entering a tough stretch. It starts on Saturday, when the Celtics will travel to Cleveland for the second game of a back to back to face the Eastern Conference leading Cavaliers. The Cavaliers have not been playing all that well as of late, but history has demonstrated that LeBron James typically steps his game up when the haters come out. Cleveland will also be looking for revenge after Boston squeaked by last time they were in Cleveland with an Avery Bradley buzzer beater being the difference.

The Celtics will play the Toronto Raptors twice in five days near the end of March. Toronto is 4.5 games ahead of the Celtics for the lead in the Atlantic Division, and is in second place in the Eastern Conference. These will surely be good games as both teams will be looking to see how they matchup against one another before the playoffs start. Toronto is also not totally out of reach for Boston, so two wins against the Raptors would be a big boost for the Celtics.

The Celtics will also see their fair share of Western Conference contenders in this stretch. The Oklahoma City Thunder will be coming to Boston in March, and the Celtics will also travel to play the Los Angeles Clippers and league best Golden State Warriors before the season is over.

With all of these top tier opponents left on the schedule, Boston Celtics fans will probably have a good idea of just how legit of a contender their team is before the playoffs roll around.

Celtics extend home winning streak to 12

                                                     (Photo courtesy of redsarmy.com)

The Boston Celtics extended their home winning streak to 12 games with their 116-93 blowout win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. The win was one of the most impressive of the streak, considering Portland has also been overachieving lately and Damian Lillard has been one one of the hottest offensive players since the All-Star break. The Celtics were able to hold Lillard to 20 points in the game. Boston has a good chance of extending the streak to 13 when they play host to the ice cold New York Knicks on Friday night.

The streak began with a win against the Indiana Pacers on January 13th. At that time, most Boston sports fans were still more excited about the Patriots, who were hosting the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round of the playoffs that week. Now that I think about it, I was still on Winter break at that time. I start Spring break tomorrow and the Celtics did not lose a home game in that time in-between.  That's pretty impressive.

There have been a few close calls on the way, like the comeback overtime win against the Los Angeles Clippers on the last game before the All-Star break, or the games against the Utah Jazz and the Milwaukee Bucks which the Celtics both won by five. Celtics fans will be more than okay with these close games, though, as long as their team keeps winning them.