Winners of four consecutive games — and five of their last six — the Boston Celtics are finally starting to look like the team we all envisioned them to be this past summer. An offense that has been mired in mediocrity for much of the year is suddenly firing on all cylinders; the Celtics haven’t scored fewer than 113 points in any game during the run, and they lead the NBA in net rating (+15.2) over that span of time.
The schedule has helped, of course. Though they’ve scored impressive wins over the playoff-hopeful New Orleans Pelicans and Minnesota Timberwolves, the other three have come against teams more concerned with Zion Williamson than playing basketball in May: the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.