The standard move for many borderline playoff teams is to build a defensive perimeter against the naysayers — the old “no one believed in us but us” argument.

That might work for the Celtics if they, too, weren’t surprised by how far they have come since their 4-11 record one game into December.

A newcomer like Isaiah Thomas can say he always believed the Celtics’ impending playoff seed was possible, even meant to be. The team has gone 18-10 since the point guard’s first game as a Celtic on Feb. 22. But those who started the season on Causeway Street have endured a much tougher journey, balanced out by significant early doubt.

“We didn’t even know we had a chance back at the beginning of January, and it says a lot about the group we have,” Tyler Zeller said after the Celtics beat Cleveland’s second team on Sunday.

But not enough, according to the Celtics’ ever-forward thinking coach.

“I always want more, and there are always things you can do better,” Brad Stevens said after the game. “We’re not in the playoffs yet and we’re not at .500. Progress has been made, but it’s not where any of us want to be.”

That said, several surprising traits emerged once Stevens was able to coach a stable lineup in the 54 days since the trading deadline.

Here’s five.

Less is really more

No one disputes the rare talent of Rajon Rondo, or what was evident in the occasional teases of Jeff Green. The silliest argument in recent memory insisted that the Celtics were a better team when Rondo went down for the rest of the season with a torn ACL in January 2013.

But the Celtics have found value in playing the game without a ball-dominating point guard, unless he can also score and get a team into its offense quickly. A player like Thomas, for instance. Yesterday he won his second Eastern Conference Player of the Week award since joining the Celtics.

Rondo’s deliberate approach and need to make the perfect pass has actually slowed down what should be one of the NBA’s most fluid offenses in Dallas. It’s the same stubbornness that frustrated some of Rondo’s most accomplished teammates, like Ray Allen and Jason Terry.

But the Celtics don’t live by the whim of one player anymore. Though Thomas is the most single-minded scorer the Celtics have had since Paul Pierce, he also swings the ball once an opportunity dries up.

In that respect he fills the same ballhandling function as Evan Turner, Marcus Smart and the Celtics’ emergency energy booster — Phil Pressey.

“Whoever gets the ball gets it and makes a play,” said Thomas. “The coaching staff trusts it, we trust it. If I see Evan get it I’m running the lanes and vice versa. It doesn’t matter. That’s how we go about that. It’s nice — kind of feels like Phoenix again where we had three ballhandlers. It’s tough to guard. The other team has to pick their poison with who you have on the floor.”

The Celtics have thus moved up in the league’s pace rankings. They are fifth with 98.35 possessions per 48 minutes. Golden State, everyone’s favorite offense, leads the category with a 100.58 average.

Resiliency counts

It might seem like an obscure goal — the commitment to winning on the second night of a back-to-back swing — until you realize how good the Celtics have become in something that has long provided veteran NBA teams with an excuse.

You simply can’t expect a road-weary veteran team, much less a young one, to be as good the second night in a row.

Stevens refused to buy into that thinking when he began speaking of these second nights as a chance to be special. His team has been young and energetic enough to respond.

They complete their last back-to-back tomorrow, the last night of the season, in Milwaukee. The Celtics don’t play well against the Bucks, who are at least as young and active as themselves. But on a night that could determine the Celtics’ playoff seeding, they have a very unusual track record working in their favor.

They are 10-1 on the second night of their last 11 back-to-back swings, including wins in their last seven chances. Of the 10 wins, eight have come on the road. Now if only the Celtics could take care of the front end, where they are 4-7 over the same stretch. They have dropped their last three, all at home.

Stevens works on his culture

Go back to last season, when the Celtics were a mismatched, trade-jumbled group in serious need of an identity.

Stevens was a rookie NBA coach. By his own admission he was learning as much from his players as they from him, and the results weren’t exactly textbook.

Those incongruous conditions continued right up until the Feb. 19 trade deadline this season, when every three weeks or so Danny Ainge flipped the roster. Stevens will probably never forget the night of Jan. 9 in Indiana, when Brandan Wright and Green were dealt away in separate trades.

Both players were still in the locker room 30 minutes before the game, taking congratulatory calls from agents and friends.

And yet the Celtics are on the verge of a playoff appearance in only Stevens’ second NBA season. They are known across the league for hard, if also inconsistent, play.

They reflect the modern league style, with skilled big men like Kelly Olynyk, Jared Sullinger and Tyler Zeller who pass and spread the floor. They have multiple ballhandlers, and an effective bench unit Stevens has patched together out of Ainge’s newest acquisitions. There are no stars, but in the Atlanta style, that’s an approach that works.

Stevens may hate the limitations that come with saying the Celtics are ahead of schedule, but they are ahead of schedule.

Smart’s biggest skill

CSN announcer and Celtics legend Tom Heinsohn burned eardrums with his over-the-top assertion Sunday that C’s rookie Marcus Smart was the best rookie defender he’s ever seen — tall praise from someone who came into the league with Bill Russell.

But beyond Smart’s rough patches, from shaky shot selection to rookie-level turnover issues, he has come as advertised. He’s probably the best defender in his rookie class, which is good enough for now.

“He reminds me of me,” Doc Rivers, a physical, rugged defender at his peak, recently said.

Turner’s best season

It took Stevens to nail down what Evan Turner is and isn’t. Despite attempts by past coaches to play him off the ball — to turn him into your standard spot-up shooter — the Celtics coach understood that to get the most out of the 6-foot-7 swingman, you have to put the ball in his hands. Turner has responded with the first three triple doubles of his career, and a career-high 5.4 assists average.

“I grew up playing with the ball in my hands, and it’s been more advantageous for me,” he said. “That’s why I got drafted so high, playing the point guard position. It’s definitely helped.”