Don’t let anyone tell you that the Boston Celtics catching the Cleveland Cavaliers at the top of the Eastern Conference standings isn’t a huge deal, even if it’s only a temporary circumstance. The Celtics have been grinding away for a while now in that regard. But as big a deal as it might be in some circles, the Celtics are focused on the bigger picture, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald:
The Celtics moved into a virtual tie with Cleveland for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last night, and that term is quite appropriate.
Virtually no one in the Celtic dressing room cares much about it. Some of the C’s were talking earlier in the week about going after the Cavaliers, but now as the postseason comes into sharper view, more important matters have emerged.
The 112-108 victory over Miami improved the North End quintet to 48-26. But because the Celts have played two more games than the Cavaliers and are just a .500 team in said outings, the math still has them four one-hundredths behind the LeBron Jameses, .653 to .649.
But, hey, if you look in the GB column, there is a dash next to Boston. The C’s are no games behind the Cavs. They are in a first-place tie. So, yee-hah, right?
Well, not exactly.
The dry dress shirt Brad Stevens wore to his postgame press conference was not because he had changed after being doused with a bucket of ice.
So there was no big celebration?
“Nope,” said Marcus Smart.
No cutting down the nets?
“Nope.”
No throwing water on anybody?
“Nope,” said a smart Marcus. “Another game.”
Even Isaiah Thomas — who lives for this kind of stuff, who admits he looks at the standings each day — realizes seeding is not as important as getting the Celtics in the proper groove with eight games left until the real ones begin.
“No, nobody talks about that,” said Thomas of catching Cleveland. “Hopefully we can secure that spot and be No. 1, but we’ve just got to control what we can control and take it game by game. We can’t really worry about what Cleveland’s doing and what other teams are doing. We control our own destiny at this point.”
If we’re looking at this through any prism of reality, unless the Celtics improve, the most that earning the top seed will get them is an extra home date of revenue.
And while it’s always nice to have intermediate goals, even newcomers understand that there are different standards in these parts.
Al Horford laughed when asked about the postgame party.
“Hey, we’re the Celtics, man,” he said. “C’mon. You know better than that.”
