“Who is the team that can really, really make some noise against (the Milwaukee Bucks),” asked ESPN broadcaster Stephen A. Smith rhetorically on a recent episode of the popular “First Take” show broadcast by the Bristol, Connecticut-based network.
“When I look at Boston, all I am saying is Boston’s on the outside of the four (top seeds in the Eastern Conference) looking in,” he added. “They’re the bottom four, not the top four, but I look at them as a team that can knock off anybody in the top four because of how they defend.” The ESPN host brushed off criticism that they would not be able to play the same in the playoffs, noting the Celtics have a “new system, new coach” since their last several postseason appearances.
Smith is among an increasingly vocal, and increasingly prevalent group of analysts who are buying into this new version of the team.
Head coach Ime Udoka has transformed the team’s style of play while team president Brad Stevens has molded the roster to a modern makeup able to execute Udoka’s switch-heavy style of defense.
Will it be enough to make a deep run? That of course remains to be seen, but even some of Boston’s toughest prior critics like Smith are starting to buy in, which suggests that it isn’t just green-tinted lenses behind Boston’s increasingly bullish projections.
This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
