EPISODE 31 | Brooklyn is officially in the rearview. It was about as fun and competitive as 4 game sweeps get. Let's take a few minutes to reflect then move on to the next opponent. The Milwaukee Bucks come to town Sunday to kick of round 2 for the Celtics. This will be a very different challenge for the C's and should be a chess match between two good coaches. How does Chuddy see this one playing out?

The Celtics made a statement to the NBA in their first round series, and Monday night they put the exclamation point on that statement by completing a four game sweep of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and the Brooklyn Nets. Boston continued their defensive dominance, smothering the Nets all night, and road the two way brilliance of Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown to a 116-112 game 4 victory.

The series shifted to Brooklyn on Saturday night, but almost everything else seemed to stay the same. The old adage, ‘defense travels’ was proven to be true as the Celtics defense was able to smother the Brooklyn Nets yet again, en route to a 109-103 victory. The win gave the Celtics a 3-0 series lead over the Nets, and moved them to within one win of a series victory and advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

EPISODE 30 | No adjustments needed for the Celtics, no adjustments made by the Nets, the same outcome… It’s getting a bit repetitive, but there really isn’t much more to say about the Celtics suffocating defense and the confidence this team is playing with. Will the brooms come out on Monday?

Fans left TD Garden feeling elated on Wednesday night after witnessing the Celtics overcome a 17 point deficit en route to a 114-107 victory over the Nets to take a 2-0 lead in their first round series. Boston dug themselves into a big hole early but they were able to rally around their defense for a dominant second half and fourth quarter especially. The Celtics now take a commanding 2-0 lead on the road to Brooklyn for games 3 and 4. In NBA playoff history there have been 435 series to start off 2-0 and the team with the lead has gone onto win 92.9% of the time; so the math is definitely in Boston’s favor.

EPISODE 28 | Another incredible game with the same result... a gutsy, resilient win for the Celtics. There wasn't a buzzer beater this time, but just as much drama and a wide range of emotions. What went right, what went wrong, and what's in store for Game 3? Let's ask Chuddy.

EPISODE 28 | Wow. And that was just Game 1... What way to start the series! It was a roller coast of emotions as you would expect from the Celtics, but they showed resiliency and pulled it out in the last seconds. You have to feel good about the win, but has your confidence level wavered at all regarding the series?

We finally did it folks. On Monday afternoon, Marcus Smart was officially named the 2021-22 Kia Defensive Player of the Year for the NBA. It’s been a long time coming for Smart, who has made his bones on defense throughout his eight year career in Boston. He has twice been named first team all-defense with a third nod appearing to be a virtual lock this season, but this award means so much more.

It’s rare for a game to get all the hype and attention for days, and then actually live up to it, but that is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon in TD Garden. The Celtics first round series against the Nets has taken over the entire NBA landscape, billed as a matchup of the East’s best in round one, and at least for one game, it did not disappoint. The Nets came into the Garden on Easter Sunday, intent on making a statement and stealing home court advantage but the Celtics had other ideas. In a back and forth affair that saw comebacks, blown leads, and more, the Boston Celtics prevailed at the final buzzer to take a 1-0 series lead, 115-114.

The dust has settled and the chips have fallen where they may, and the Celtics are set up for a date with the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Nets took care of the Cavaliers on Tuesday night, 115-108, paving the way for a rematch of last year’s 2/7 Eastern playoff series. Only this time, the roles are reversed, as the Celtics are the 2 seed, the favorites, and will play host to the Nets starting with Game 1 this Sunday at 3:30 in the afternoon.

The play-in tournament is over and now the games get underway this afternoon. We’ve got a full four game slate Saturday and Sunday and it’ll be full steam ahead from there. Get ready for a couple of magic months of basketball and hopefully a long run for the Celtics. If you want a full breakdown of the Celtics/Nets series check out the podcast here, or watch the main blog page for a full breakdown to come. But for posterity, here are my predictions for every series of the playoffs:

EPISODE 27 | The regular season is officially in the rearview, now the real work begins. The Celtics decided to finish strong and secure home court through the ECSF instead of losing in an attempt to avoid Brooklyn in Round 1. But was it the right decision…?

The NBA regular season came to a close on Sunday, April 10th, but there is still plenty left to be determined. Of course there’s the play-in tournament, and then the NBA playoffs, and that will wrap up with the NBA Finals in mid June. Shortly after the Finals, the league will shift gears into draft and offseason mode. But mixed in there will be an awards ceremony and the players who have shined the brightest this regular season will be honored. So now I will dig into every award, and reveal my ballot for each. As a reminder, these are NOT my predictions of what will happen, these are my picks for what I think SHOULD happen. So without further ado…

Tuesday night the NBA postseason will get underway with another installment of the play-in tournament. If you’re unfamiliar with the specifics, or you just need a refresher, here’s what you need to know:

Coming into the final day of the regular season, there were big questions about what the Celtics would, and should do, in terms of jockeying for position in the standings. After losing to the Bucks on Thursday night it appeared that Boston would be locked into the 3 or 4 seed. But things changed when the Bucks decided to rest their starters on Sunday against Cleveland, re-opening the door for the C’s to steal the 2 seed. Now the question became, do the Celtics actually want the 2 seed? And the answer was a resounding ‘yes’, as Boston played their regulars and beat up on the Grizzlies backups, 139-110.

The Celtics were in a precarious position on Thursday night as they traveled to Milwaukee to face Giannis Antetounkoumpos and the defending champion, Milwaukee Bucks. Boston was on the second night of a back to back, having beaten the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday. Add that to some questions about desire to win for seeding, and there was some speculation that the Celtics may rest some key players, sacrificing a win and the #2 seed in the East, for a more favorable first round playoff matchup. Sure enough, we found out Thursday afternoon that both Jayson Tatum and Al Horford would miss the game due to nagging soreness in various body parts (getting some rest). Having said that, after watching the Celtics who did take the floor in Milwaukee, there was no question about their desire to win. Still missing Robert Williams of course, what was left of the Celtics took on the fully healthy and fully rested Milwaukee Bucks in their arena, and went toe to toe with the defending NBA champions, finally falling 127-121.

EPISODE 26 | The Celtics continue to win, even without Timelord. It’s looking like a strong finish to the season with playoff seeding still very much up in the air. There are two games remaining, will the Celtics start to rest or will they keep rolling?

After starting the season 16-19, the Boston Celtics have now won their 50th game of the season with two games to spare. It’s a truly historic in season turnaround that seemed impossible in early January. The organization deserves an immense amount of praise, from Brad Stevens and the front office, to Ime Udoka and the coaching staff, to the players who have been dominating the NBA since the turn of the calendar. And that praise has come and will keep coming. But for now, the Celtics aren’t worried about any of that praise, and 50 wins is just a number. This team has bigger goals and aspirations, and they were on full display Wednesday night as the Celtics traveled to Chicago and obliterated the Bulls, 117-94.

Though the Celtics only have three games left to play in the 2021-22 regular season, their seeding and first round opponent are still completely up in the air. Mathematically speaking, the Celts could still finish anywhere from #1-6 in the final Eastern Conference standings, which means they could potentially face any of the other nine potential East postseason teams given the right outcomes. But it seems increasingly likely that Boston will at least secure a top 4 seed, so for the sake of this column, I am going to assume that they finish as a top 4 seed, thus excluding them from facing Miami, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia in the first round. That still leaves six possible opponents for the Celtics, ranging from play-in teams to pseudo-contenders (and one that may be both…).

There was a time when a 1 PM Sunday afternoon Celtics tip off would have induced nightmares, but the team was anything but sleepwalking as they exploded for a 144-102 whalloping of the Washington Wizards. The Celtics surged to an early lead with hot shooting, but the defense gave up a lot of good looks and let the Wizards hang around, leading by only 11 at the break. However, the second half was complete Celtics domination on both ends, drubbing the Wizards to the tune of 74-43 after the break to win going away.