How did he do it?

Seriously. How did he do it? How did Brad Stevens coach the Boston Celtics to the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs?

The Celtics clinched a playoff spot on Monday night when the Nets were beaten by the Chicago Bulls. This sets the Celtics up for a probable first-round matchup with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Or perhaps a series against the Hawks if the Celtics lose last two and Pacers win last two.)

Will they lose in the first round of the playoffs? Undoubtedly. But the fact that Brad Stevens coached them here means he should win the NBA Coach of the Year.

This isn’t to discredit Steve Kerr of the Warriors or Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks. One of them will win the award, and no one could ever find anything wrong with what either did this year.

And sorry, Gregg Popovich. Actually, seriously, sorry Gregg Popovich. You deserve to win this award every year and we get tired of giving it to you. It’s dumb. Popovich should win every year until he retires.

But for my money, the most impressive non-Pop NBA coaching job this year belongs to Brad Stevens. He was able to drag this team to the playoffs while GM Danny Ainge and the rest of the Celtics front office did everything they could to land the Celtics a lottery spot.

The Celtics traded away Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green this year. They regularly put out a starting lineup of Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, Evan Turner, Brandon Bass and Tyler Zeller. How many of those players would start for the Clippers or the Warriors? One? Zero? Turner wouldn’t make the Warriors top 10, and he starts for the Celtics.

This is a team that gives regular minutes to Jonas Jerebko. Kelly Olynyk is a key cog. Jae Crowder is huge off the bench. The team’s best player, Isaiah Thomas, is 5-foot-9 and can’t play defense.

The Celtics don’t have a rim protector. They don’t have anyone other than Thomas who can create his own shot.

This isn’t an NBA playoff team. It just isn’t. And they’re in the NBA playoffs.

Stevens has gotten his team to buy in completely to the system. They defend well (somehow) and score the ball by moving it smartly. Stevens buys the team a few buckets a game with creative and wonderful inbound plays, and those points can come up huge at the end of a game.

Listen, either Mike Budenholzer or Steve Kerr is going to win Coach of the Year. Flip a coin, one will get it. But I hope Stevens gets some votes, because by getting this Celtics team to the playoffs, he deserves plenty of recognition.