The Boston Celtics’ 2014-15 season can already be considered a success. How much of a success depends on their play over their final seven games, however. The team has already won nine more games than last year while shedding several expensive ”“ and not so relevant for the future ”“ players. In return for dealing the likes of the mercurial Rajon Rondo, Boston has gained several promising young players and draft picks. In fact, the loss of those departed has allowed other players, such as Evan Turner, an opportunity to shine while giving a chance for second-year coach Brad Stevens’ “team first,” pass-oriented strategy to work.

The Celtics currently stand 34-41 overall ”“ 19-19 at home and 15-22 on the road. It’s a significant improvement from last season’s record of 25-57 overall, when they went 16-25 at home and 9-32 on the road.

As a result of Wednesday’s 100-87 victory over Indiana (32-43), the Celtics increased their lead over the 11th-place Pacers to 2 games. They are 1 1/2 games in front of 10th place Charlotte, and after Miami’s loss on Thursday, Boston finds itself tied with the Heat for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics are just a 1/2 game behind seventh-place Brooklyn, which also won on Wednesday and for its fifth straight victory. Boston holds a tie-breaker advantage over Brooklyn if the two teams should end the season with the same record. Also within reach is sixth-place Milwaukee (3 games ahead of Boston).

The Celtics get a crack at the Bucks this evening in Boston and then again in Milwaukee during the season finale a week from Wednesday, on April 15. Between the Bucks home-and-away sandwich comes visits to Toronto and Detroit, back-to-back games with Cleveland and the home finale against the Raptors.

In short, Boston has seven games remaining, all against Eastern Conference foes. They play two games each against Milwaukee, Toronto and Cleveland and one at almost playoff-eliminated Detroit. The Celtics could catch a break as playoff-bound Toronto and Cleveland could be resting some of their key players for the postseason. The games against the Bucks could be life and death matches.

After the Celtics host Milwaukee tonight, they begin a three-game road swing at Toronto Saturday. The road trip continues with games next Wednesday and Friday at Detroit and Cleveland, respectively. The Celtics play their last two home games of the regular season on Sunday, April 12 and Tuesday, April 14 with Cleveland and Toronto. Their final game is at Milwaukee on Wednesday, April 15.

In the Celtics’ last game, Turner, who came to Boston this year as a free agent, had a triple double with 13 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds and 12 assists, against just one turnover. According to a tweet from Celtics radio voice Sean Grande, the 6-foot-7 Turner (drafted No. 2 overall by Philadelphia in 2010) was the only NBA player this season, among the six who accumulated 350 rebounds and 350 assists, with fewer than 200 turnovers.

The Celtics also continue to be helped by trade deadline acquisition Isaiah Thomas. The 5-foot-9 guard scored at least 20 points in eight of his first 10 games in Boston before being sidelined by a bruised back, which kept him out of the lineup for eight games. Thomas has since played in the Celtics’ last five games and is averaging 18.2 points and 5.3 assists since joining the team.

— K.Z. Levinsky is a freelance writer for the Journal Tribune. He can be contacted at [email protected].