The Celtics clinch a playoff spot, they take on the Pelicans tonight at home

a blog by Big Red

Despite Kobe putting on a shooting parade with 34 pts, the Celtics were able to pull out a 107-100 victory over the dying Los Angeles Lakers. Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics with 28 pts, with 21 of them coming in the first half. The Lakers made a late run off a Kobe 3 in the 4th quarter cutting the lead to 99-93 Boston. However, Isaiah Thomas quickly fired back with a layup of his own, pushing it to 101-93 and basically killing all Lakers momentum.

In case anyone missed the game, here's some highlights from the win in LA. 

Is there anything better than beating the Lakers and clinching the playoffs in the same night? For me, it doesn't get any better than that. After what was a huge upset earlier in the season, the Celtics needed this win to prevent a Lakers sweep. This season the Celtics have proved to a lot of teams in this league that we are legit, and come playoff time I hope this team makes a real run at the title. Many Boston fans thought this would be another rebuilding year, and while it may have looked that way in the first few games of the season, Brad Stevens has done wonders with this team. 

I think Brad Stevens is such a key component with this team, and I truly believe there isn't another coach besides Pop that could turn this club around in the amount of time Stevens has done it. Celtics fans need to appreciate Stevens while we have him, because god knows how teams will want him when his contract expires in Boston. 

Anyways, the Celtics face off against The Pelicans tonight at 7:30 at the Garden. The Pelicans look to steal a game from Boston despite being pretty banged up. With Ryan Anderson and Norris Cole out of their lineup, the Celtics should be able to put a beat down on this team. With Evan Turner sitting out tonight with an eye injury, we hope to see strong play from the bench players like Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier. In addition, we cannot afford to see guys like Jerebko come out flat-footed. We can put this team away in the first half if we play right, and I look forward to seeing what happens. Follow us on twitter for more interesting stories @ForTheBoys_Blog