Celtics surprise contenders

As I prepare to make like a bird and migrate south for spring break (Miami Beach, here I come!), I am shocked to see that with little more than a month left in the NBA regular season, the Boston Celtics are fighting for a playoff birth.

I can't believe it. The Celtics, who weren't a particularly good team before trading away their best players, are somehow vying for the eighth seed in the East, two games back as of yesterday afternoon. In a year where they were supposed to tank (again), they're seriously contending for a postseason spot.

As much as I hate to say it, that says a lot more about how weak the Eastern Conference is than it does about how good the Boston Celtics are. Because let's face it: the Celtics are not good, nor should they be anybody's idea of a playoff team. They've allowed more points than they've scored and have lost 10 games more than they've won. Their best starter right now is probably Brandon Bass, a power forward averaging 10.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.  They're woefully short on veteran talent, with eight of their 15 players 25-years-old or younger.

Boston's roster is not only exceptionally young, but also has been severely depleted by trades and injuries.Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green, easily the Celtics' two best players, were dealt months ago. Emerging power forward Jared Sullinger was lost for the season on Feb. 19 with a stress fracture in his left foot. Leading scorer Avery Bradley is currently battling a shoulder injury that has consistently nagged him the past few seasons.

But through it all, the Celtics have persevered. They have continued to fight when everybody expected them to (or hoped they would) quit. Boston has already surpassed its win total from last year with 20 games to go.

The Celtics' success is a testament to the coaching ability of Brad Stevens, now in his second year at the helm. A lesser coach would have mailed in this season a long time ago and just let the kids play, but Stevens is always coaching to win. He may not have the personnel to do it, but the expert strategist gets the most of his meager roster day-in and day-out. Should the Celtics reach the playoffs, he ought to win Coach of the Year.

But with five weeks remaining in the regular season, Boston still has a long way to go. The Celts need to sustain their remarkable run, during which they have won 10 of their past 16 games to vault themselves into contention.They've been sparked by the stellar play of point guard Isaiah Thomas, who arrived via a three-way trade with the Phoenix Suns and Detroit Pistons on Feb. 19 -- the day of the trade deadline. He's been a revelation in his brief time with the C's, averaging 21.4 points and 5.4 assists per game coming off the bench. Thomas is playing the best basketball of his life, injecting much-needed life and offense into a team lacking capable scorers. If he keeps it up, he just might single-handedly propel Boston to the postseason.

What's more important is that for the first time in a long time, the Celtics are worth keeping an eye on. Last season they were hopelessly out of contention by this point, but this year they've managed to at least stay relevant up to the three-quarter mark. Even if they crash and burn, at least they provided their fans some excitement and reminded us, however briefly, what it's like to follow a winning basketball team again.