By: Nick Frieburger
It is safe to say that the Celtics’ season so far has been a disappointment. After falling a game short of an NBA Finals berth last season-despite being led by the young studs Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Terry Rozier-the Celtics were not expecting to struggle this much in the 2018-2019 season.
With stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward returning to the floor this year, everyone thought that Boston was destined for the Finals. The team has all the talent and tools to win a championship, but it seems like a lack of chemistry is holding them back from blossoming as a unit. After a 105-103 loss to the Orlando Magic in January, Irving was visibly upset after Hayward didn’t pass him the ball with 2 seconds remaining.
After the loss, Irving questioned the young guys on the team in a post-game interview. “The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team. What it takes every day,” said Irving. “And if they think it’s hard now, what do they think it will be like when we’re trying to get to the Finals?” Another incident occurred after the Celtics blew a 28 point lead to the Los Angeles Clippers when Marcus Morris said, “We don’t have no attitude. We don’t have no toughness. We ain’t having fun. It’s going to be a long season.” Morris also went on to say that he doesn’t see the Celtics as a team, but just a bunch of individuals.
With all this conflict and struggle, the Celtics still control their own destiny. At the All Star break, the Celtics have a 37-21 record, which is only 3 games worse than their record last year at this time (40-19). With all the media attention on the Celtics’ struggles this year, it’s promising to have that close of a record to a team praised for its success. Boston has a 7-4 record against Milwaukee, Toronto, Indiana, and Philadelphia, which shows they can hang with the top teams in the East.
This Boston team is one of the most talented teams in the league and must fix something to avoid disappointment. The good news is, the Celtics still have time to figure it out and have played very well against the better teams in the league. We will have to watch these last 22 games closely to see if they can finally click before playoffs and make a run at the finals.
One Comment