5 reasons not to discount the Celtics in the NBA playoffs

1. BRAD. STEVENS.

All due respect to Popovich and Kerr, but no coach in the NBA has done more with less over the last few years than Brad Stevens. Since taking over a depleted roster and going 25-57 as a 36-year-old first-year head coach in 2013-14, Stevens has led the Celtics to four straight playoff appearances. Over those four seasons, Boston has compiled a winning percentage above 60 percent.

The 2016-2017 Celtics team might have been the fifth most talented in the Eastern Conference on paper. He led them to the conference’s best regular season record and then to the conference finals where they were eliminated by the Cavaliers.

Under Stevens, game in and game out, the Celtics are as prepared, disciplined, and as balanced at both ends of the court as any team in the league. They consistently have better ball movement, spacing, and shot selection than opponents and have been beating more talented teams with that formula since Stevens arrived.

As an in-game coach, no one uses timeouts or substitutions better and no one draws up better or more creative plays for in-bounds or critical game situations.

It’s a shame Stevens doesn’t have his top two scorers heading into the playoffs because he is as good a coach as anyone in the game and hasn’t won enough in the postseason for many outside of hardcore NBA fans to realize it. But in this situation, with a depleted roster and no one giving his team a chance, he’s one of two or three coaches who are good enough to beat the odds.

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Stevens gives his team a chance every night. Time will tell what they do with those chances and whether or not they can string four wins together in seven games.

But don’t count the Celtics out yet.