Can the Celtics test the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals?

Plus, a dose of Gregg Popovich psychology and some spare thoughts from the NBA draft combine.

Do the Celtics have a path to competing with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals? Well, sure. Maybe. OK, probably not, because it involves many things going Boston’s way.

Among them: Role players must be great, stars must be superstars, and it would really help if they could keep the Cavs off the glass. Oh, and LeBron James always wins at least one playoff game on the road in every series he plays, so realistically the C’s would have to win at least once in Cleveland and hold serve at home three times.

We get into all that on this week’s Drive & Kick, plus some Popology and combine talk.

• The Kelly Olynyk game. It was as strange to everyone inside the Garden as it was to everyone watching from home.
• For the record, KO didn’t become a Garden favorite until Kelly Oubre ran him over in Game 3. Up until then, he’d been a target of the faithful for his inconsistent performances.
• Boston being provincial? No way.
• The Celtics are playing with house money at this point, but not if they get blown out.
• LeBron always wins on the road and more often than not, his teams have not had home-court advantage by this point. Just giving it away feels like an ultimate troll move.
• Gonz loves him some Danny Ainge and the job he’s done building this Celtics team. Hear that Boston? People think he’s really good at his job.
• We spent a lot of time trying to talk ourselves into this being a competitive series, but neither one of us is totally buying it.
• Transition! The unwritten basketball rulebook is getting awfully thick.
• A short digression into Popology. Flanns thinks it’s all performance art.
• The combine is weird.