Robb: Celtics' Road Winning Streak Takes Us Back To Big Three Era
BOSTON (CBS) - The Celtics accomplished a feat on Friday night that few thought was possible at the start of the 2014-15 season: winning six straight road games.
A hard fought victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena capped the impressive run of solid road play over the past couple weeks, putting the Celtics in stronger position than ever to secure a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
With just three regular season games remaining, the Celtics hold a one-game lead over the Pacers and are two up on the Miami Heat.
Remarkably though, the six-game road winning streak is an achievement the Celtic franchise, as play-by-play man Sean Grande points out, had not pulled off since December 2010. It's also a sign of progress to see just how much Brad Stevens had had this squad progress in the past three months alone with a less than stellar roster.
In a fun exercise to see how quickly things have changed around these parts in the past four-plus seasons, let's take a closer look at the winning streaks of 2010-11 and 2014-15 Celtics to see how each squad compares.
2010-11 Celtics Starting Lineup: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Shaquille O'Neal
2014-15 Celtics Starting Lineup: Brandon Bass, Evan Turner, Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Tyler Zeller
Record at time of road winning streak: 2010-11 Celtics (20-4). 2014-15 Celtics (37-42)
Players on both rosters: 1 (Avery Bradley)
Teams beaten during 2010-11 road winning streak: @ Atlanta (99-76), @ Cleveland (106-87), @ New Jersey (100-75), @ Philadelphia (102-101), @ Charlotte (93-62), @ New York (118-116)
Teams beaten during 2014-15 road winning streak: @ Brooklyn (110-91), @ New York (96-92), @ Charlotte (116-104), @ Toronto (117-116), @ Detroit (113-103), @ Cleveland (99-90).
Average margin of victory during winning streak: 2010-11 (16.8). 2014-15 (9.6)
Most memorable moment of road winning streak:
2010-11: Paul Pierce's Buzzer-Beater at Madison Square Garden
2014-15: Marcus Smart's Putback Buzzer-Beater vs. Raptors
Notable Celtics traded during 2010-11 season: Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Semih Erden, Luke Harangody.
Notable Celtics traded during 2014-15 season: Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green.
End result of 2010-11 season: Second-round loss to LeBron James and Miami Heat in five games.
End result of 2014-15 season: To be determined.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
