Boston Celtics: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season

4. Double-digit comebacks against the West’s elite

While an early-season surge saw the Celtics rip off 16 straight victories, it was after the 13th win that had the skeptics out and about, due to a large chunk of those games coming against less than competent opponents, including the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings.

The 14th victory is where the doubters turned into believers as Boston took down the Golden State Warriors, overcoming a 17-point deficit to win 92-88.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Celtics, while their defense held Stephen Curry to just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting.

Their victory against the defending champions showed that Boston’s season wouldn’t simply be spent beating up on the NBA’s tankers. 2017-18 would be filled with games just like this one, with the Celtics showing they were, in fact, one of the best teams in the league.

Then, in late December, the Houston Rockets came to town, spending little time getting acquainted with the TD Garden as they built a 26-point lead that would appear to stick for the entirety of the game.

Boston didn’t seem to care, slowly chipping at the deficit, enough to narrowly escape with a one-point victory.

Houston’s biggest lead was 26. The Celtics’ largest and only lead was one. There was a single lead change throughout the 48 minutes, and it came off an Al Horford hook shot in the closing seconds.

Not only did Boston beat the teams that would finish No. 1 and No. 2 in the Western Conference standings, it came back from nearly insurmountable odds to pull it off.

No matter the circumstances, these Celtics always seemed to find a way to compete until the very end throughout the year.

Taking down two NBA elites put the C’s in a new light among NBA followers, one that had many thinking about a possible run to the Finals.