{"id":99707,"date":"2022-02-26T15:11:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T20:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707"},"modified":"2022-02-26T21:58:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T02:58:06","slug":"boston-celtics-cedric-maxwell-jayson-tatum-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707","title":{"rendered":"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just a couple of months ago, a lot of people considered this season to be over for the Boston Celtics. They were hovering around .500 and had shown no signs of getting above that mark. Then 2022 came around.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Celtics are 19-7 in 2022 and 10-1 in their last 11 games. With the recent surge, some have begun to question what the true ceiling of this team is? Could they end up surprising most of those fans who had given up on the season?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the latest edition of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/category\/celtics-beat\/\">Celtics Beat podcast on CLNS Media<\/a>, Adam Kaufman posed an important question to Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell &#8211; is this level of play sustainable? Maxwell pointed toward Boston\u2019s bread and butter for his answer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"What is the Ceiling for this Celtics Team? w\/ Cedric Maxwell | Celtics Beat\" width=\"788\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hpNs06Yx-Cg?start=1411&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDefense is always sustainable. Because it\u2019s about effort. And if you give that maximum effort, then you\u2019re going to get those maximum results.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2022, Boston has posted the best defensive rating in the NBA (100.9), with the next-best team being a full four points behind them. They\u2019ve only allowed 98.1 points per game over that same time span.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the flip side, the C\u2019s have continued to struggle shooting the ball. Maxwell stressed the importance of emphasizing defense over shot-making.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen they decide they\u2019re going to out-defend you, they win their share of games. When they decide they\u2019re going to out-shoot you, they lose those games. Last night would be one of those examples [Pistons game]. They never really out-defended Detroit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/bos-vs-det-0022100788\/box-score\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Boston\u2019s loss to Detroit<\/a> snapped their nine-game win streak. It also marked the first time the Celtics have given up over 100 points in a game since January 19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Maxwell pointed toward the Detroit game as a poor example, he simultaneously looked at the game against the Philadelphia 76ers as the quintessential example of how the C\u2019s should be playing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMost games you\u2019ve seen in the last couple of weeks, they\u2019ve defended at such an extraordinary pace that the other team never really even had a chance. You think about the Philadelphia game, Philly was down 20 before you could blink your eye\u2026 The Celtics have been ahead with most teams this year, especially during this refound energy of just playing the game at a very high, consistent level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And as Maxwell explained his thoughts on the sustainability of Boston\u2019s recent improvements, Kaufman had one more important question to ask &#8211; what is this team\u2019s ceiling? According to Maxwell, that answer is the Conference Finals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI still think they have a lot of growth. From their coaches, to the players, to everybody around. Their ceiling for me, I said if they can get to the Conference Finals, I think that would be the gem of gems. And then kind of build from there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just a couple of months ago, a lot of people considered this season to be over for the Boston Celtics. They were hovering around .500 and had shown no signs of getting above that mark. Then 2022 came around. The Celtics are 19-7 in 2022 and 10-1 in their last 11 games. With the recent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":131990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,48,3181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","category-cedric-maxwell-podcast","category-nba","category-nbahistory","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals - CLNS Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With their recent surge, the Boston Celtics have turned some heads. According to Cedric Maxwell, the Conference Finals should be their goal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals - CLNS Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With their recent surge, the Boston Celtics have turned some heads. According to Cedric Maxwell, the Conference Finals should be their goal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLNS Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CLNSmedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-26T20:11:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-27T02:58:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1-1024x749.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"749\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Simone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@clnsmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@clnsmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jack Simone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jack Simone\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/80753ecc4d1b5ba9d0454944e6088016\"},\"headline\":\"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-26T20:11:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-27T02:58:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707\"},\"wordCount\":483,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Cedric Maxwell Podcast\",\"NBA\",\"NBA History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707\",\"name\":\"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals - CLNS Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-26T20:11:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-27T02:58:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"With their recent surge, the Boston Celtics have turned some heads. According to Cedric Maxwell, the Conference Finals should be their goal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png\",\"width\":1990,\"height\":1456},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=99707#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"CLNS Media\",\"description\":\"Covering Boston Sports Since 2009\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CLNS Media Company\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/clns.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/clns.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"CLNS Media Company\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/CLNSmedia\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/clnsmedia\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/clnsmedia\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCTNMXdUDhy_ivZkhbsQ_7ZA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/80753ecc4d1b5ba9d0454944e6088016\",\"name\":\"Jack Simone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/avatar_user_270_1638553407-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/avatar_user_270_1638553407-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/avatar_user_270_1638553407-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jack Simone\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?author=270\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals - CLNS Media","description":"With their recent surge, the Boston Celtics have turned some heads. According to Cedric Maxwell, the Conference Finals should be their goal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals - CLNS Media","og_description":"With their recent surge, the Boston Celtics have turned some heads. According to Cedric Maxwell, the Conference Finals should be their goal.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707","og_site_name":"CLNS Media","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CLNSmedia\/","article_published_time":"2022-02-26T20:11:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-27T02:58:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":749,"url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1-1024x749.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jack Simone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@clnsmedia","twitter_site":"@clnsmedia","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jack Simone","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707"},"author":{"name":"Jack Simone","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/80753ecc4d1b5ba9d0454944e6088016"},"headline":"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals","datePublished":"2022-02-26T20:11:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-27T02:58:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707"},"wordCount":483,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png","articleSection":["Cedric Maxwell Podcast","NBA","NBA History"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707","name":"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals - CLNS Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png","datePublished":"2022-02-26T20:11:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-27T02:58:06+00:00","description":"With their recent surge, the Boston Celtics have turned some heads. According to Cedric Maxwell, the Conference Finals should be their goal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-07-at-9.37.42\u202fAM-1.png","width":1990,"height":1456},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=99707#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cedric Maxwell: Celtics Ceiling is the Conference Finals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/","name":"CLNS Media","description":"Covering Boston Sports Since 2009","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#organization","name":"CLNS Media Company","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/clns.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/clns.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"CLNS Media Company"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CLNSmedia\/","https:\/\/x.com\/clnsmedia","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/clnsmedia\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCTNMXdUDhy_ivZkhbsQ_7ZA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/80753ecc4d1b5ba9d0454944e6088016","name":"Jack Simone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/avatar_user_270_1638553407-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/avatar_user_270_1638553407-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/avatar_user_270_1638553407-96x96.jpg","caption":"Jack Simone"},"url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?author=270"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100145,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99707\/revisions\/100145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/131990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}