CHICAGO — The season is no longer young. We’re 28 percent into the Celtics’ campaign and no one in the organization expected just 12 wins in that span.

The Celtics spent training camp telling us about intense workouts in Waltham that began right after Labor Day. And the ones at UCLA when Los Angeles residents Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett participated. This was designed for a fast start. The Celtics said they learned their lesson from 2011-12, when a 5-9 start was critical to their fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.