There’s never a bad time to knock off the best team in your conference. On the eve of a West Coast trip? It doesn’t get much better than that.
That is where the Boston Celtics (39-22) find themselves heading into tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston upset the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers with a 103-99 win at TD Garden on Wednesday.
“Going on the road, a west coast trip, is hard,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told CSNNE.com. “Any victory you can get in this league is important.”
Despite the Lakers (19-42) struggling to win games this season, they are not a team the Celtics can sleep on.
Boston has won the last two matchups, but only by six and seven points, respectively. The last time the Celtics had a chance to win three straight against the Lakers was during the 2001 and 2002 seasons in which Boston won three in a row.
Not surprisingly, most Celtics players see the team’s recent run of success as the perfect motivator for.
“This was big for us,” Boston’s Kelly Olynyk told CSNNE.com following Wednesday’s win. “Especially right before we go on this long West coast road trip.”
Boston has been one of the best road teams in the NBA this season. In fact, the Celtics have won more road games (18) than any team in the Eastern Conference thus far this season.
Boston Celtics
Having an ability to win in hostile environments remains a strength of the Celtics this season. It creates a heightened sense of confidence going forward, the kind of confidence that could factor into tonight’s game.
“It was great to come in and get this win right before the road trip, to know we can go into it with momentum,” Boston’s Jonas Jerebko told CSNNE.com. “It’s a long, tough road trip. We’re playing some good teams. It’s going to be a challenge. It’ll test our team. It was a great win tonight to build some momentum going forward.”