After going as far as the eastern conference finals during the NBA Playoffs last year, the Celtics were expected to be one of the best teams this season. But with a record of 19-17 before the halfway point of March 6th, just what has gone wrong?
“The Celtics this year--although going into the season seemed primed to be a championship team--have completely ruined those expectations,” said GHS Junior, Tyler Podolski. “One of the problems they have faced is the hesitation to start Robert Williams. Although very small he has been the most consistent big man for the Celtics, who has still been reluctant to start him.” Here Podolski claims that one of the factors for the Celtics rough start to the season is an issue with the bigs in the rotation, with Podolski wanting more time for Rob Williams. But what about the other guys?
The main core of the Celtics roster consists of Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum. “That grouping has started just two games together this season and has shared the court for a grand total of 28 minutes,” said Tim Bontemps of ESPN. One of the biggest contributors to the Celtics underperforming so far is injuries. With it normally being inevitable for teams to occasionally have a player out for health issues especially with Covid-19 causing some players to quarantine, such as Donovan Mitchell and Nikola Jokic in the past, it seems the Celtics have received some serious bad luck in the injury department.
Another big contributor to the Celtics recent dry spout is their poor performance in away games. The Celtics are 12-5 at home vs. 7-12 on the road, pointing to a big weak spot for the Celtics playing outside of Boston. Based on these stats and recently returning from a west coast road trip, it makes sense that the Celtics have lost some momentum going into All-Star Weekend of March 6th-7th.
One last reason for their underwhelming 1st half of the season is the Celtics poor 4th quarter performances. According to Teamrankings.com, the Celtics are dead last in the NBA for average 4th quarter margin with -1.6 points. And getting away from the technical numerical stuff, watching the Celtics give up numerous leads going into the 4th, it's not that surprising why they rank so low, nor does it give much hope for them to bounce back in the second half of the season.
Of course there is still a little bit of hope for this team. The General Manager of the team has mentioned making trades, “If there’s players we can get that can put us over the top and keep us under the hard cap, we’ll do a deal that falls into that category,” Danny Ainge said during an interview. “But we’re not going to do it for a band-aid, or somebody that maybe, maybe will help us win a game or two.” Danny Ainge doesn’t plan on making a minor deal, but rather one that will substantially increase the Celtics attempt for an 18th banner.
Other positive signs are that Marcus Smart will have gotten over his injury for the second half of the NBA season and we will hopefully see him receive more playing time with his teammates. The Celtics are also scheduled for a 7 game stretch of home games starting March 29 all the way through April 9. The season is not over yet, and by being overlooked this far, hopefully it will only fuel the Celtics to take on an underdog mentality and win the games left.