How the Celtics overcame a slow start to become best in the East

NEW YORK – The Boston Celtics did what they were supposed to do Sunday, demolishing the host Knicks in a 110-94 wire-to-wire blowout.

By doing so, the Celtics also did what they were not supposed to do: become the first team in the Eastern Conference to win 50 games this season.

"It is nice," said Boston point guard Isaiah Thomas, who ranks third in the NBA in scoring at 29.1 points per game, and is one of the main reasons the Celtics have reached the 50-win plateau. "I have never won 50 games in my NBA career. It definitely was an individual goal of mine to win 50 games. (But) we still have a lot more work to do."

Some of Boston's rise to the top of the East has to do with the slump endured by the defending-champion Cleveland Cavaliers, who haven't won more than back-to-back games since a four-game streak from Feb. 11-23. It would be foolish, though, to sell short what the Celtics have done, as this was a team that was barely over .500 for the first third of the season.

The Celtics were 13-12 after their 108-101 loss in San Antonio on Dec. 14, which not only put them 5 1/2 games behind the Cavs - and seventh in the East - but also a game behind the Knicks, who were 14-11 then and have gone 15-37 since. Boston has gone 37-15 over the same stretch.

"Something nobody ever talks about, the schedule was murder up to that point," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "We got here Christmas Day (with a 17-13 record) after playing basically three different stints against Western Conference opponents on the road in December. Then a back-to-back 36 hours before.

"Sometimes you just have parts of your schedule like that, and that's why ... you can't get the whole picture until the whole picture's done, and that's why, even now, we're still in the moment to try to keep playing well. There's a lot that goes into whether or not you're having success. I think we've played better since then, but I also think sometimes - we'd played 19 road games and 12 home games at that time, too. There's a lot of factors."

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

The Celtics have five games left as they try to win their first Atlantic Division title since 2012 and lock up the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2008, when they won their last NBA title. After Wednesday’s showdown with the Cavs in Boston, the Celtics travel to Atlanta and Charlotte before wrapping up the season at home against the Nets and Bucks.

Wherever their final record and playoff seed wind up, the Celtics' play over the past three-and-a-half months has established them as a real contender in the East, along with Cleveland, Toronto, and Washington. It's not happenstance, but a sign of steady progress since Stevens became Boston's coach.

The Celtics went 25-57 in his first season at the helm, then 40-42 with a trip to the playoffs - and a first-round sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers - in 2014-15. Last season, Boston moved up to 48-34, returning to the playoffs to lose a hard-fought six-game series to the Hawks in the opening round.

The next steps are surpassing the 50-win plateau and winning a playoff series. One is done, and, barring a huge upset, the other will be, so why not think bigger?

"One of the things that I looked at coming here was the potential," said center Al Horford, who came to the Celtics from the Hawks as a free agent last summer. "But, you know, there's always just potential. You have to go out there and do it. I've been proud of the way that our guys, we've all gotten better throughout the year.

"As the year has gone by, we keep getting better, and that's what it's all about."