1. A higher climb

The Celtics had been an up-and-coming team really since Isaiah Thomas showed up at the 2015 February trade deadline, but you could go back to the previous year of deconstruction when 19 players donned the Green in the wake of the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett deal with Brooklyn. Brad Stevens got his build-on-the-fly roster to the playoffs twice, but Cleveland swept them in four in 2015, and Atlanta hip-checked them to the door in ’16, but the C’s showed proper grit ultimately bowing in five games to Cleveland in the conference finals.

2. Myth-busting, Part 2

The notion spouted loudly by some that no important free agents would want to play in Boston was foolish before Al Horford chose the Hub in 2016. Then came July, when Gordon Hayward turned down better money in Utah and warmer weather in Miami to join the C’s. Free agents will go where they get paid and where they have a chance to play a good role on a team that can compete for a championship.

3. A seismic shift

In May, Isaiah Thomas and Kyrie Irving were All-Star point guards facing each other in the Eastern Conference. Three months later, they were All-Star point guards with different addresses. The Celtics had to include Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the last of the Nets picks and, when the Cavs complained about Thomas’ hip injury, a second-round pick to get Irving, but they have no trader’s remorse as Irving led the C’s to the best record in the league for most of the first couple of months.

4. Tragedy in Act 1

We were just five minutes and 15 seconds into the opening game of the 2017-18 season when the whistle blew and Gordon Hayward lay on the Cleveland court with his left foot pointing outward at a right angle. The blueprint for the Celtics’ season, then still a work in progress with new pieces in place, had to undergo serious change.

5. An impressive rebound

The Celtics came back from 18 points down to make that opener a game, but they still fell. And they were clearly not yet over the shock a night later when they lost to Milwaukee at home. But they rose from the ashes two nights later in Philadelphia, scoring 18 of the last 26 points to win by 10. The Celts wouldn’t lose again for some 4A weeks, running their winning streak to 16 games.



2018 CRYSTAL BALL

1. We’ve been saying since it was learned there were no bigger issues found in Hayward’s surgery that the accepted recovery time for such an injury could well have him back playing this season. Nothing we’ve seen or heard has changed our thinking, and with Hayward’s competitiveness, expect him to give this a shot in April or even late March.

2. People wondered if Danny Ainge was out of his mind when he finally got the No. 1 overall draft pick only to trade down to No. 3. Then people saw Jayson Tatum play. The Celts also get the Lakers’ 2018 first-round pick if it falls between No. 2 and 5, so the question then: Will Ainge want to add another very young player, or will he try to trade the pick for a veteran who can help more immediately?

3. No matter how things work out over the summer, the Celtics will go into the 2018-19 season with a target on their backs. Bringing back just four players from a 53-win 2016-17 team meant the C’s had to be given a grace period to get themselves together. There will undoubtedly be roster work this offseason, too, but with Irving and Hayward and Al Horford and the youngsters having had ample time to blend, the Celts may even be next year’s Eastern Conference favorite vs. an older LeBron & Co.