NEW YORK – The Celtics are headed to the second round.
Who would have thought that?
It’s easy to now, of course. Boston has been running roughshod on the NBA for four months. They beat Brooklyn a couple of times in February. They hammered Golden State and Denver by double digits in March. Since Jan. 1, the Celtics led the league in (deep breath) defensive rating, net rating scoring margin, opponent points and opponent field goal percentage, racking up a 34–12 record along the way. In a four-game sweep of Brooklyn they put one of the NBA’s best scorers, Kevin Durant, in a basketball straitjacket.