National Basketball Association

The Boston Celtics are heating up, but can they keep streaking in the postseason?

Updated Apr. 18, 2021 7:30 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Timing is everything.

With Boston's 119-114 win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, the Celtics have won six straight and eight of their past nine contests.

The franchise finally seems to be trending in the right direction after a slew of health and safety protocol absences led to two-and-a-half months of struggles after a solid start to the season.

The victory wave the Celtics are riding — along with the addition of Jabari Parker while other teams are succumbing to injury – seems to be pointing toward a deep postseason run for Boston. Can the franchise make it happen?

ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith says yes, the Celtics can. With about four weeks remaining in the regular season, he says they are hitting their stride at the perfect time.

"If the Celtics have this Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum doing what he does ... and then you add Kemba Walker rounding into shape, too. ... We only have a month until the playoffs, but from what we've seen lately, you showed up just in time. The Boston Celtics just may end up being a problem come playoff time."

Walker has been setting the table for a dynamic Boston offense much more as the season has progressed, having dished out at least six assists in his past eight games before Saturday. Against the Warriors, he turned on the scoring, dropping in 26, including this dagger.

In addition, Walker is taking some of the load off of Brown and Tatum. Even so, Brown recently cracked 40 points against the Lakers, nailing 17 of his 20 field goal attempts. That made him just the fourth player since 2010 to shoot at least 85% in a 40-point game, according to The Athletic.

When Brown took the night off Saturday, Tatum picked up the slack, scoring 44 points in 40 minutes.

Since the trade deadline, both Brown and Tatum have been lighting it up.

At 10-3, the Celtics have the Eastern Conference’s best record since the trade deadline, and they just added former No. 2 overall pick Parker to the fold.

Parker should come to Boston fresh. He has played in just three games this season and only nine since the Sacramento Kings picked him up from the Atlanta Hawks at the 2020 trade deadline.

When healthy and given time, Parker has proven himself as a scorer. As recently as last season, he was averaging 15 PPG for the Hawks. In his first six seasons, he has averaged at least 12 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

The Celtics eased Parker into action Saturday, and he chipped in with 11 points in 16 minutes.

There are still problems that need to be addressed in Boston, including ball protection. The Celtics ranked 17th in the NBA, with 14.1 turnovers per game heading into Saturday. They also committed the seventh-most fouls in the league, with 20.5 per contest.

The Celtics have a favorable schedule ahead to potentially push them up the Eastern Conference standings as the playoffs approach. Boston moved ahead of Atlanta for the No. 4 spot with the win over the Warriors on Saturday.

Just four of the team's remaining 15 games come against teams with winning records.

However, even with the trend in the right direction, they have little room to falter. And with a month to go, anything can happen.

For more up-to-date news on all things NBA, click here to register for alerts on the FOX Sports app!

share

Get more from National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

National Basketball Association

Boston Celtics

Kemba Walker

Jayson Tatum

Jaylen Brown

Jabari Parker