Boston Celtics: It’s not time to panic just yet
Thus far in the month of December, the Boston Celtics have been going through a bit of a rough patch. Here is why it’s not time to hit that shiny, red panic button just yet.
After a strong start of the season, the Boston Celtics have hit a cold streak in the month of December (pun intended). So far, the team is now 9-6 for this month. There are still two games remaining, only one of which should be a challenge. They will be playing the Houston Rockets (buckle up), and the Brooklyn Nets (should be a win).
The Nets can be sneaky because they do have the ability to pull off an upset. On the Rockets side of things, they are… well, how do I put this? Very good!
Anyway, let’s get to the real point… the struggling Celtics. Many teams would be happy or okay with a 9-6 record in a single month. For the case of the Celtics, it’s a major disappointment. Before December, the team was sitting pretty at 19-4.
At one point of the season, they had the best record in the NBA and held the top spot in the East for a long time. This recent skid has caused the team to fall to the second seed (briefly) with the LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers breathing down their necks.
There are two reasons as to why there should not be any panic just yet.
1. Team record
I’ll keep this simple and too the point. The Celtics are 28-10 (.737 win percentage), and because of that, they currently have played the most games of any team to this point. Currently, they are the third-best team in the NBA, with only the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors ahead of them.
The Warriors have played in 35 games, which is the closest team that is ahead of them with the most wins. Meanwhile the Toronto Raptors, a team who is playing for the top seed in the East, is tied for the least amount of games played in with 31. The Rockets have only played in 32 games to this point. Until those teams can catch up to the amount of games played, then it is too hard to tell how things will play out too that point.
The Celtics could possibly have the same record as those teams or even a better one for that matter if they too played the same amount. So in the mean time, a 28-10 record is very, very good.
2. Injuries
Through no fault of their own, the Celtics have had an injury-riddled season. There are only three players on this squad who has played in all 38 games to this point — Aron Baynes, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier. Everyone else except Marcus Morris has played in 35 or 36 games.
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Marcus Morris has been in and out of the lineup with injuries. To this point we have only seen him play in 17 games. With all of these injuries and a lack of depth, the Celtics are running into an issue of who should play. Now we are seeing the likes of: Kadeem Allen, Jabari Bird, Semi Ojeleye, Abdel Nadar and Guerschon Yabusele.
For many people, these are all names that they don’t recognize and have never even seen before. Not to use that as an indicator of how they are panning out for this club, but things are not going smoothly. None of the players that were just listed above averages more then three points a game.
For a bench that mostly sees these kinds of players throughout the game, you’re hoping you can get a little more then just a few points from them. The starting lineup has been great so far, playing well on both sides of the floor. However, when players are getting injured, they have to look at the bench for someone to pick things up, and that clearly isn’t happening.
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So don’t worry, Boston fans. Things may seem a little gloomy, but it’s nothing to be concerned about. The Celtics’ record is still one of the best in the league, they hold the No. 1 seed so far, they’ve played the most games, and the injuries have slowed their season down. When players start to get healthy, look for things to pick up where they left off.