Boston Celtics Keep Making Strides Despite Injuries

The Boston Celtics made another statement this evening by upending the Chicago Bulls, 71-69, in Boston.

In a very low scoring game (second-lowest scoring game of the season), the Celtics found a way to get hot in the fourth quarter and surged ahead of the Bulls.

The Celtics got contributions from Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, Jason Terry and Avery Bradley. Kevin Garnett then stepped up and hit a huge baseline jumper as the shot clock was expiring to give the Celtics a three point lead with just seconds remaining.

This was the Celtics first game without guard Leandro Barbosa, who suffered a season ending ACL tear in Boston’s last game against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Celtics also suffered a loss to the Bobcats, which was their first since Rajon Rondo suffered an ACL tear of his own just two weeks ago.

Boston has three things in mind as they finish out their regular season schedule.

One, stay healthy. Two, make the playoffs. Three, avoid the dreaded 8^th seed because then they will have to play the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

The Celtics feel if they can do that, and they get favorable match-ups in the playoffs, then anything can happen. They have a great core of veterans who have contributed throughout this stretch run, and Bradley is the defensive stopper that they need to help give his older teammates time to get back defensively in transition.

This was an ugly win, and proves to the Celtics that they can even win games like this against one of the league’s best teams.

These Celtics may be banged up, but they definitely have Celtic Pride.

Follow Bert DeSalvo on Twitter @CoachDeSalvo