Boston Celtics: 3 key improvements for rest of the season
1. Someone other than Kyrie Irving step up on offense
I think it’s safe to admit that the Celtics are not a good offensive team. They have players that have the ability to score, but they struggle to do so. There’s no question that their best offensive player is Irving, but there isn’t much help behind their star point guard:
- Kyrie Irving: 24.7 PPG
- Jaylen Brown: 14.0 PPG
- Jayson Tatum: 13.5 PPG
- Al Horford: 13.3 PPG
- Marcus Morris: 12.2 PPG
That’s a significant drop from your top scorer to your second – over a 10-point difference. The rest of the team must be more aggressive in scoring the ball. Brown has improved greatly after a rather disappointing rookie season. His improved play is certainly beneficial to the team’s success on offense.
One player who has a lot of talent on the offensive end but has had a hard few months is Tatum. After torching defenses from 3, he has fallen back to earth. In college, he averaged 34.2 percent from 3, so it was a little odd that he was able to come out and hit that many 3s when the line is further back in the NBA. He’s had a rough two months:
- January: 11.7 PPG, 41.9 FG%, 34.1 3P%
- February: 13.3 PPG, 41.9 FG%, 31.3 3P%
Boston needs to have Tatum bounce back in order to have an offense that can compete with other teams. Without him, there’s no way the Celtics can sustain a deep playoff run just off the offensive production of Brown, Irving and Horford.
There are a few other glaring issues in the offense that needs to be fixed. The Celtics’ offensive rating this season is ranked 19th at 104.3. They rank 25th in points per game with an ugly 103.1. Lastly, they must find more production out of their bench, as they’re one of the worst in the league. They rank 23rd in the league in bench scoring at 32.1 points per game.
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Boston will need to fix its offensive woes, get back on track on the defensive side of things and find time to rest. If the Celtics can do these three things, then they will be sitting pretty and should be able to reclaim the top spot in the Eastern Conference.