Things haven’t gone to plan for the Boston Celtics so far, but were they ever really going to live up to the pre-season hype?
The unfortunate reality for Brad Stevens’ side at the moment is that things might not get much better over the remaining months of the season.
Boston’s young core surprised everyone on their run to the finals last season, and every man and his dog were predicting them to finish in the Eastern Conference’s top three this time around.
Al Horford is certainly an upgrade on the departed Jared Sullinger, but he’s not someone who will single-handedly change the face of the franchise.
Horford is very much an all-star calibre player who makes those around him better, even if it hasn’t panned out that way in his limited minutes so far. But to suggest the 30-year-old can help elevate this side from a surprise playoff package to a genuine championship contender is absurd.
It’s far too early to call curtains on the season, but from what we have seen, it’s fair to say this Boston side has a long way to go before they can compete with the Cavaliers and Raptors at the top of the Eastern Conference.
Thursday morning’s (AEDT) loss to Washington only further compounded what we already know about these young Celtics – they lack identity.
Isaiah Thomas made this team his own last season, and while he remains their go-to guy on offence, he certainly can’t be expected to shoulder the entire load.
Avery Bradley has his moments, and the absence of Horford and Jae Crowder certainly has played its part, but aside from that, there is no one player that they can rely on to keep them in games.
Twice in the past week, they’ve been blown-out early, and twice they’ve failed to really mount any sort of comeback.
It’s not just their lack of offence that remains a problem right now. This team, which was projected to be among the top four defences in the league, is lingering awfully close to the foot of the ladder.
After the Nuggets put up 77-points in the first half against the Celtics in front of a stunned home crowd, we expected the focus on Thursday to be all about getting stops.
Instead, the Celtics were the ones being stopped.
Washington’s 32-8 first quarter summarised Boston’s early season woes in 12-minutes of sloppy offence and non-existent defence.
While there’s plenty of time to rectify the issues at hand, and the return of two key starters will no doubt bring a change in fortune, Boston’s credentials as the Cavaliers biggest threat was certainly overstated.
Boston will be there come playoffs, and may well go one better than they did last season by reaching the conference semi-finals, but anything more than that is beyond imaginable for this young side.
Bexdog
Guest
Jae crowder is also out and olynyk has just returned. 5 of your top 8 out to start the year would hurt every team in the league. Let's see where the celtics are sitting at the all star break before we start writing uneducated articles. Our best defensive players are smart, Bradley and crowder. They haven't played together since late last season. "It’s not just their lack of offence that remains a problem right now." I believe before the loss to the wizards we were 5th in offensive efficiency. Avery Bradley is the leading rebounder amongst guards in the NBA. The only thing right about this "article" is that the celtics have had a slow start to the season. Finally, Marcus Smart hit 20 points in the 3rd quarter the other day. I'm pretty sure that there will be a lot more of that this season so let's watch this space.
KingCowboy
Guest
Kelly Olynyk is coming back from a major injury as well. We will see the Cavs in the final of the East.
Swampy
Guest
Bah - Celtics are fine. This is quite an over reaction. Al Horford missed 3 games and Marcus smart missed the first few. They will come together and by the new year I feel the tables will have sorted themselves out a bit. Avery Bradley has been a revelation on offence but for what he's added on offence he's subtracted on d. In the past he's been a lock down defender so that is clearly an area where he can make the Celtics a lot better. Early days still. Denver are probably the big surprise at this point. And going well on the road. Expect their win column to pile up once they play more home games.