When you win 53 games and clinch the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, expectations should be high.
So, here they are, the Boston Celtics, as the top team in the East. They'll begin the playoffs on Sunday at the TD Garden, hosting the No. 8 seed Chicago Bulls.
If you're looking ahead, the winner of this first-round series will play the winner of the No. 4 seed Washington Wizards and No. 5 seed Atlanta Hawks in the second round. And if you're looking ahead even further, the winner of that second-round series will play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Putting Cleveland in that spot already is my own personal prediction, but it's not really going out on a limb either. The No. 2 seed Cavs will beat the No. 7 seed Indiana Pacers in the first round, and will then defeat either the No. 3 seed Toronto Raptors or the No. 6 seed Milwaukee Bucks in the second round.
Many in Boston have told me I shouldn't be looking ahead to the Eastern Conference Finals just yet. This group of Celtics needs to win one playoff series first, they say.
OK, fine. Fair enough. But back to those expectations.
I've never in my life seen a No. 1 seed be questioned as much as this year's Celtics team. Granted, the Cavaliers resting their top players at the end of the season played a role in the C's acquiring the top spot in the East. But like I said, 53 wins is 53 wins.
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Some will then spew, "Yeah, but they don't have a star player."
Well, if being third in the NBA in scoring with 28.9 points per game -- behind Russell Westbrook (31.6) and James Harden (29.1) -- is the sign of an average player, then consider Isaiah Thomas the best average player in the history of the game.
Thomas played in 76 games this season, and without him the Celtics would have finished the year with 23 wins, maybe less than that. The East can look like a pedestrian conference at times, but if one player can take your team from being one of the worst in the league to the No. 1 seed in your conference, then, well, that player deserves to be in the conversation for MVP.
In fact, it's the games Thomas didn't play -- including a late-season loss to the Philadelphia 76ers -- that should prove Thomas is worthy of being in that MVP discussion. So, like it or not -- and it feels like some around here don't -- the Celtics do have a star player.
And a team with 53 wins that's the No. 1 seed in the conference, with one of the league's best scorers, should be able to get to the Conference Finals. Those are my expectations, which, in fact, is meant to give them the ultimate praise I believe they deserve.
Losing in the first round to the Bulls would be embarrassing. Losing in the second round to either the Wizards or Hawks would be disappointing. Losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cavaliers would be understandable.
The No. 1 seed does add some intrigue to a potential seven-game series with Cleveland. It gives the Celtics home-court advantage, which is better than no advantage at all.
But if LeBron James is able to advance to his seventh straight NBA Finals, I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it. It's pretty much what I expect to happen. Much like I expect the Celtics to win two rounds and be one of last four teams standing. To some, those might be some high expectations.
They're right. But that's exactly what the expectations should be for one of the best teams in the NBA.
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