We know the ownership group in Boston feels confident with Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens at the helm rebuilding their franchise, but we didn’t realize just how presumptuous they were becoming.
The Celtics have announced that they will hold a pre-sale for playoff tickets on Tuesday, where fans can gain early access to purchase them simply by signing up to be on an e-mailing list.
One problem: Boston has not yet clinched a spot in the playoffs.
As of Monday, the Celtics are currently holding down the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. But it’s far from confirmed that they’ll get into the postseason, with the Pacers and the Heat each just a game back in the standings.
Boston has five games left in the regular season, few of which are easy. The team’s next two games are at Detroit and at Cleveland, then they’ll host Cleveland and Toronto, before finishing the season at Milwaukee on the second night of a back-to-back set.
The team will offer a full refund to the fans if the team fails to reach the playoffs, so there’s no financial pressure. But pulling a stunt like this is just adding pressure to an already inexperienced team with a second year head coach.
So why is the front office so confident they’ll make it? The Celtics have won more games (12) in the past 5 weeks than any other team in the NBA, aside from Cleveland (13).
Not only are they peaking at the exact right time, but they also received surprising news last week that Jared Sullinger would be rejoining them. The young, talented big man had suffered a stress fracture in his foot earlier in the season and the team had feared he would miss the remainder of the year.
Now, the Celtics, Sullinger, and the fans are gearing up for the Playoffs – they just have to make it there first. Putting the tickets on sale early will do nothing but hurt those chances if you ask me.